Comparing iPhone guitar apps

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But now I'd like to talk about my new iPhone.

I've been curious about all the music apps coming out for the iPhone. You can turn your iPhone into a piano keyboard, drum kit, xylophone, theremin, and other instruments.

I've been especially interested in the guitar apps. I used to do my songwriting with a guitar on my lap, but I've found that the prolonged strumming isn't good for my tendons. I compose with a keyboard now, but I prefer a guitar because it's easier (for me, anyway) to come up with chords and chord progressions for Allison to play.

With a keyboard, it's too easy for me to slip into chords and an accompaniment that would be very difficult to translate into something a 12-string guitar could easily play.

Which is why I've been delighted to find all kinds of cool guitar apps appearing in the Apple iTunes store. Here are mini reviews of some of the apps I've been trying out, but I welcome feedback from other iPhone users.

CHORD PLAY (v1.0)

Chord Play (v1.0) lets you pick up to 12 chord names to display on the main chord index. You just tap on any chord name then strum the strings displayed at the bottom of the screen. After just a few minutes' practice, I could tap chords with one hand and strum with the other -- I might try this out in an open filk sometime. :-)

String response is fast, and I like the fact that you can exchange the chords on the main page with any other chord. You can also make up new chords and save them.

Cost: $1.99

CHORD PRO (v1.3)

Chord Pro (v1.3) lets you pick chords with slider wheels instead of buttons. This means that you have immediate access to all the chords, but it also means that it takes more time to pick the chords -- using this for live accompaniment is probably out of the question.

As a chord dictionary, it would also be nice to see alternative chord variations. There's also a slight time lag when strumming chords, but at least this has improved since the first version.

Cost: $1.99

GUITAR TOOLKIT (v1.1.1)

GuitarToolKit (v1.1.1) is pricier than the previous two apps, but also includes an adjustable metronome, chromatic tuner and the ability to tune to any musical note or from 40+ standard tunings (standard, open G, drop D, etc.). You can opt for audible tones for tuning by ear if you don't want to use the chromatic tuner.

There's a library of over 260 chord maps and 1600 variations. My only beef is that you can't "strum" the strings to hear what the chord sounds like, but apparently the developers are working on this and a new version will be released in a few weeks.

Cost: $9.99

SUMMARY:

I'll likely stick with Chord Play for basic songwriting and campfire singalongs but will opt for Guitar Toolkit for everything else.



While our renovations are going on, we've got plastic sheeting hanging all over the place. I keep expecting to see people in protective environmental suits wandering around.



Renovations are going well, however! I'll post more pics soon.



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