Quality Apps For Musicians

The other day here at the Bbop office we had a discussion about how mobile apps are changing the world; Pokemon Go, Instagram and portable Youtube has virtually turned the world into zombies. But what about using apps to take your music to higher level? Here are a few apps we found which can be of help to improve your musical knowledge and performance. If you have any other apps which you use and recommend then don't hesitate to drop them in the comments box below!

1) Metronome Beats - Free

This metronome app is not only precise and effective but free. An aesthetically pleasing interface is coupled with perfect practicality, allowing musicians to train their timing and improve performance. This will help youexecute accurate timing and increase your ability to play with a band. 

2) Ultimate Guitar Tabs / Songsterr - Both free, with membership for $4.99

Costing $4.99 each, both apps offer guitar tab to help you play any song. Ultimate Guitar Tabs is definitely the easier to navigate of the two, offering over 1,000,000 tab at the click of a button. 

Songsterr, on the other hand, offers a service where you can watch the tablature being played in real time to get a feel for the rhythm of the music and then slow it down. It is an invaluable tool for both budding guitarists and accomplished musicians. A similar feature is available for $9.99 with the GuitarPro add-on, although its bank of lessons of this type are not quite as extensive and come at a higher price. In short, for thousands of tabs of varying quality go to Ultimate Guitar Tabs, and for higher quality but more limited choice Songsterr is your best bet.

3) Garage Band - $4.99

The easiest and most popolar music production software in the world, Garage Band also has a mobile app version. Create music using built in synths and other instruments, or plug in your guitar or microphone to record your own sounds. Then you can cut, slice and blend back together multiple tracks and even edit to a degree. 

4) Musicopoulos - $3.99

Are you one of those guitarists who knows nothing about music theory (like us)? If you need to brush up on your intervals, chord constructions, sheet music or key signatures then Musicopoulos is a great place to start. At a very affordable $3.99 you can learn most of what you would learn in a one-to-one course which would cost ten times that amount. 

5) Chords And Scales - Interactive Scale, Chord And Chord Progression Reference Dictionary For Piano - $1.99

For any 'advanced-beginner' level pianist or higher. This is an invaluable tool to extend your ability, allowing you to play freely in a band or solo. The app boasts an extensive list of all the inversions of a chord signature from Major to Diminished Minor 7s and many more. It demonstrates these inversions this for each note of the chromatic scale. There is also a list of all the scales and their included notes. Very handy for anybody who needs a hand with the theory but doesn’t have the time to learn it by heart!

6) GuitarTuna - Free

A tuner app is a must-have for many musicians. This free app is one of the most accurate tuners on the market and will always be in your pocket. 

7) Vocal Warm Up by Musicopoulos - $3.99 

An often-forgotten necessity is a vocal warm up before performing, and a cool down afterwards. This application allows you to enter in your known vocal range (if not known then this can be tested on the app) so that the warm ups can be personalised to your voice and not cause strain.