As some of you know, I’ve been trying to learn the acoustic guitar (you know, in all that spare time I have…lol) so I thought I would take a moment to write a quick post regarding a few of the BEST online resources and iPad/iPhone apps out there for the beginner. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am obviously no expert on the subject of guitar…hence, the first sentence saying that I am LEARNING the guitar…but the “tools” I’ll be recommending have helped me, and I thought they might help you too. So here they are, along with a description of each app from the iTunes app store page:
GUITAR TOOLKIT (iPhone & iPad): Essential guitar utilities, including an amazingly accurate tuner and a library of over 500,000 chords, all on your iPhone or iPod touch. One of the highest rated applications in the App Store.
FEATURES
– Direct support for 6- and 12-string guitar, 4-, 5- and 6-string bass, banjo, mandolin, and ukulele with a full chord library, standard and alternate tunings for each instrument.
– Highly accurate chromatic tuner using the iPhone microphone (or iPod touch with microphone headset).
– Precisely accurate metronome with a visible flash option, tempo tap pad, 13 sound effects and 12 time signatures.
– Massive chord library (over 500,000 chords) for quick and easy reference: strum chords to hear what they sound like. Includes chords for alternate tunings.
– Chord finder: simply touch the notes on the fretboard that make up a chord, and GuitarToolkit tells you what that chord is! This is a lot of fun and a great way to learn about those great-sounding chords you’ve been playing.
– Scales references in standard or alternate tunings: use the interactive fretboard to touch each note and hear what it sounds like.
– Supports “lefty mode” which adjusts chords and scales to reflect a left-handed instrument.
SONGBOOK CHORDPRO (iPhone & iPad): SongBook manages your song collections (free song downloads available via Chordie.com) complete with lyrics and chords.
FEATURES
– Tap on any chord name to see its definitions.
– Comes with comprehensive, extensible chord libraries for guitar, ukulele and mandolin.
– Transpose songs on the fly.
– Define playlists (sets) for performances or practicing.
– Auto-scrolling, metronome and much more.
– Based on the popular chordpro format. Automatic conversion of tab/crd files.
– Songbook has a simple Internet search for chordpro files built-in. You can use one of the two main search providers, or type a URL of your own. If the displayed page contains a pre-formatted song, the Import button in the lower right will become active and open the song editor. You can then save the song in the song list or cancel the edit and get back to the search view.
YOUTUBE (Web, iPhone, iPad): This has been one of my FAVORITE online resources for learning the guitar. There are literally HUNDREDS of free lessons and tutorials on there…tons of different styles, from beginner to advanced…did I mention it’s TOTALLY FREE?!?! Just do a YouTube search for the name of the song you want, along with “acoustic guitar” or “tutorial” next to it. Some of them only teach you a portion of the song, but they are a great way to get you started!
Here are a few of my favorite songs that I learned on YouTube:
“I Hope You Dance” – http://youtu.be/8j9Tx40rQN4
“You Were Meant For Me” – http://youtu.be/vz1_WPZwyXQ
“Mad World” – http://youtu.be/HZ8tIClSuGk
MY SONG LIST: Here’s a list of some of the songs I am currently working on using my Songbook Chordpro app…easy songs that for the most part ANYONE can play using the following EASY chords: A, Am, Amaj7, C, D, Dm, D7, E, Em, Em7, F, G, G7…learn those chords (and if you want to sing along, simply use a capo to put it in your key) and you can play virtually ANYTHING!
Ain’t no Sunshine- Amazing Grace
- Before He Cheats
- Big Yellow Taxi
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Bubbly
- California Dreamin’
- Colors of the Wind
- Country Roads
- Cowboy Take Me Away
- Danny Boy
- Forget You
- Gravity
- Have You Ever Seen the Rain
- Here Comes the Sun
- House of the Rising Sun
- I Can See Clearly Now
- I Hope You Dance
- I’m Yours
- Jambalaya
- Johnny B Goode
- Landslide
- Leaving on a Jet Plane
- Lesson in Leavin’
- Love Song
- Lucky
- Mad World
- Margaritaville
- Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
- Soak Up the Sun
- Stand By Me
- Sweet Home Alabama
- Up On the Roof
- What’s Up
- Wonderwall
- You Were Meant For Me
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!
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