Two Best Apps for Beginner Guitarists

    As a music teacher, giving students the right tools to succeed is very important to their success. The digital age has introduced free new digital tools that musicians can use to learn, practice, and create music, as well save money on hardware. One essential tool for all musicians is a tuner. Stringed instruments need to be in tune to sound good, especially when being played with other instruments. This is done by loosening or tightening the strings until they reach the desired pitch. Tuning an instrument by ear can be challenging and confusing for a beginner guitarist, and an easily accessible and free tuner can be very helpful. 

    My favorite tuner app is called Guitar Tuna. It’s very easy to use and understand and can show you a tutorial on how to tune your instrument string by string if you need help. This app eliminates the need for multiple tuners with the function of tuning guitars, ukuleles, bass guitars, violins, banjos, mandolins, and many others. It allows you to choose between multiple different tunings for your instrument and has other helpful music tools such as a metronome, a chord library, an ear trainer, and more. 

Although digital tuner pedals or clip-on tuners might be preferable to some musicians due to their accuracy and versatility, almost all musicians still use tuner apps. I know many musicians who prefer physical tuners and still have tuner apps installed on their phones for when they can’t find their tuner or forgot it at home. Some instruments like guitars or ukuleles can swell or shrink based on humidity and temperature changes very quickly and require their string tension adjusted almost every day; taking the time to find a clip-on tuner before practicing every time before you pick up your guitar can be frustrating, especially when your phone is already in your pocket.

Another essential tool for beginner guitarists is music tabs. Tabs are simplified versions of sheet music that show lyrics and the chords to the songs in order and in sync with the lyrics. These are very useful for beginners because they allow you to quickly and easily play along with and learn songs, and because beginners often can’t read sheet music. My favorite app for this purpose is called Ultimate Guitar: Chords and Tabs. Ultimate guitar is a vast online network of guitar tabs for users to download and share. This app allows users to also create and edit their own tabs, which ensures that the network of tabs is constantly updating and charting new music that comes out. Ultimate Guitar also has a feature where users can upload short videos of themselves playing and singing, which can inspire other musicians to learn songs. This global network of learning students in combination with the fact that so much of the material on the app is user generated makes Ultimate Guitar qualify as a Community of Practice. This is because the app’s features encourage users to interact with each other, react to each other’s content, rate each other's tabs, and collaborate with other musicians. This app isn’t just for sheet music, it’s a global community of musicians reliant on it’s users to work.