After writing about preferred programs and learning systems with interactive lessons, video tutorials and exercises in our article Guitar Learning Apps: The best apps for learning guitar , today we turn our attention to the small, useful helpers that should be on every guitarist's or guitar student's smartphone.
These days, almost everyone carries the processing power of a small computer in their pocket. Even if you might see your smartphone as a distraction from playing guitar, it can also be a valuable tool. The best guitar apps can truly help your musical endeavors by seamlessly integrating into your practice routine and supporting you in becoming the guitarist you've always wanted to be.
Whether it's a simple tuner or a full-fledged multi-track recorder that lets you realize your ideas using equalizers and effects: the modern guitarist has a wide range of options when it comes to guitar playing apps – and these are constantly getting better.
You don't need to be an experienced player to benefit from these applications – there are numerous excellent apps that help you solidify what you have already learned through targeted exercises, such as metronomes and loopers .
To make it easier for you to find the various options in the Google Play Store or App Store, we've compiled a careful selection of the best guitar apps currently available. This excludes dedicated guitar learning apps , which you can find by clicking the link in our separate article.
Essential apps for guitarists and guitar students – tuners, metronomes, tabs, amps & more.
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Guitar tuner apps use the microphone on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop/PC. As long as a microphone is enabled on your device, tuner apps can be used without any problems. However, they are unusable without a functioning microphone. When the microphone is switched on, the app captures the sound of your guitar.
While some smaller tuners attach directly to the headstock of your guitar and use vibrations for tuning correction, this is not the case with tuner apps.
These smartphone tuning apps are generally very good at detecting the frequency of each string without direct contact with the guitar. However, there shouldn't be too much distracting ambient noise.
01 Fender Guitar Tuner
Price/Cost: free
Features: Metronome, rhythm/beat generator, song playback, 7000 interactive chords and scales, drum tracks
What we like:
Excellent graphic representation
Multiple tuning settings (for guitar, bass, electric guitar, ukulele)
Many additional features
No ads in the free version
Free use of Tuner PLUS
We like this less:
Registration is required for additional features
Setting the BPM is a bit fiddly
Fender Guitar Tuner
The Fender Guitar Tuner features two modes – Auto Tuner and Manual Tuner – which are suitable for electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars and ukuleles.
The app combines elegant simplicity with reliability and offers a highly intelligent graphical user interface. The auto-tuner impresses with an excellent display that is easy to understand even for beginners, while the manual tuner plays a note for tuning, which may be the preferred option for some users.
For those who sign up, a "Pro Tuner" with chromatic mode is available; however, the standard options are more than sufficient for most musicians' daily use.
Although tuning is the main focus of this application, it offers a variety of other features such as a metronome, chords, scales, and even songs to play along with. To access these extra features, Fender will ask you to create a user account – which is currently free. If that's acceptable to you (including occasional advertising), Fender presents the best tuner app available.
02 BOSS Tuner App
Price/Cost: free
Features: Tuning range A#0 (29.14 Hz) to G8 (6.2 kHz), tuning accuracy +/- one cent
What we like:
Offers excellent tuning accuracy
Suitable for a wide variety of instruments
Free use
We like this less:
Requires a quiet environment for accurate results
No additional features
BOSS Tuner App
The BOSS Tuner App is an indispensable tool for every guitarist, whether beginner or seasoned professional. Its ease of use is remarkable, and with over a million downloads on the Google Play Store alone, it demonstrates that it excels in its function.
The tuning options range from A#0 (29.14 Hz) to G8 (6.2 kHz), which means you can tune any instrument across the entire frequency spectrum, not just guitar and bass.
The app also offers two different designs – one based on the classic Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner pedal, while the other is based on the Waza Craft TU-3W version. A guitar tuner is essential for every musician.
Since you probably carry your smartphone with you at all times, the BOSS Tuner app lets you quickly and easily ensure that you always find the right notes with your instrument, wherever you are.
B. Metronome / Timekeeper
A metronome is a tool used by many musicians, not just guitarists. It's an excellent aid for developing your sense of rhythm and playing in a steady beat. The metronome creates a consistent tempo at set intervals, which we call the beat
How sophisticated does a metronome really need to be? As long as it keeps a steady time, it should be sufficient, right? This may be true for a simple metronome, but today's apps offer a variety of exciting and modern features that can significantly improve your practice sessions.
We downloaded and tested numerous metronome apps ourselves to select the two best ones for you.
03 The Metronome by Soundbrenner
Price/Cost: free
Features: Speeds from 20 to 400 beats per minute, 64 time signatures, 20 metronome sounds
What we like:
Comprehensive selection of tempos and time signatures
Ability to save songs and setlists for later retrieval
We like this less:
It does nothing more than set the pace
Advertisement by Soundbrenner
The Metronome by Soundbrenner – a simple but remarkably well-designed practice tool
We tested numerous metronome apps in the Google Play Store and concluded that The Metronome by Soundbrenner is the best among them.
This app offers an impressive range of speed settings, from 20 BPM to a ludicrous 400 BPM.
Furthermore, you can create any number of time signature variations, from the classic 4/4 time signature to more unusual time signatures like 11/8. You have the option to save your metronome rhythms and organize them into setlists, so you can access them at any time.
As a nice extra feature, you can make your phone blink in time with the beat.
04 Metronome Beats
Price/Cost: free
Features: Tempo adjustments, complex rhythms, tempo trainer, setlists and song tracks (with upgrade)
What we like:
Some appealing and original features
The user interface is clear and easy to navigate
The speed can be quickly adjusted using a slider
The metronome displays the beats per minute and the tempo marking during the adjustment
Separate layout for larger screens
We like this less:
The subdivision function is missing, which in our opinion is essential for any metronome
Many advertisements
Metronome Beats – a simple, free metronome app
A versatile metronome designed for both amateur and professional musicians. Features German voice output. The Metronome Beats app can be used not only for practicing and playing music, but also to maintain rhythm while playing, dancing, and many other activities.
What makes the Metronome Beats by Stonekick app special is its "Tempo Trainer" . This allows you to program bars where the tempo increases or decreases at set intervals. The app also offers the option to automatically switch off the metronome after a certain number of bars.
Aside from the advertising banners at the bottom of the screen, the app unfortunately has numerous features that require payment or the download of an additional add-on.
C. Guitar tabs, songs & chords
Guitarists, whether beginners or advanced, can benefit in many ways from apps for guitar tabs, songs, and chords. These digital tools offer a wealth of features that can significantly facilitate and enrich learning, practicing, and performing.
Apps for guitar tabs and chords offer quick and easy access to a wide variety of songs and musical styles. They allow guitarists to learn new songs and familiarize themselves with various playing techniques.
Thanks to interactive features, such as slowing down difficult passages or looping certain parts of a song, the musician can specifically work on his weaknesses and make continuous progress.
05 Ultimate Guitar Tabs
Pricing/Costs: Free (Free Version), €24.99 annually for Pro Version
Features: Over 1.6 million tabs and chords (which can be saved for offline access), 7,000 high-quality tabs with backing tracks, metronome & tuner, forum, online community
What we like:
The most comprehensive tab library under the sun
Ideal for guitar, bass and ukulele players
Helpful forum and active online community
We like this less:
Many advertisements in the free version
You need to upgrade to the Pro version for a fee to get the most out of the app
Partly buggy and unstable
Not all tabs and chords are correct
Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords – The largest guitar tab database for your pocket
An entire generation of young guitarists began playing their instruments after being inspired by the tab website "Ultimate Guitar" , which was launched in the late 1990s.
Over time, UG has evolved and now offers a dedicated app for Android and iOS, bringing the world's largest tab database right into your pocket. With virtually every imaginable song, as well as a wealth of lessons, scales, and chord charts, this app is a treasure trove for self-directed learning.
If you upgrade to the Pro version, you'll discover an impressive selection of high-quality tablature that you can play along to, speed up, slow down, and even convert into different keys.
This is one of those apps that there's hardly any reason not to install on your smartphone. The ability to quickly find a chord chart for a song or determine the correct notes for a scale is a real boon for every musician – whether a beginner or an experienced player.
06 Chordify
Pricing/Costs: Free (Free Version), €8 per month for Premium
Features: Over 22 million songs, transposition (Premium), MIDI export (Premium), tuner with advanced functions (Premium), metronome with drum rhythm (Premium), chord training and chord recognition (Premium)
What we like:
The most comprehensive chord library available
Chords for guitar, piano and ukulele
Tuner for polyphonic sounds (multiple strings at once)
We like this less:
There are no regular tabs
Premium upgrade required to unlock most features
Chordify – Here you can find chords for pretty much every song ever made
Chordify offers the most comprehensive chord database for electric guitar, ukulele, and piano, with over 22 million songs. The user interface is extremely well-designed and clearly structured, making it perfect for beginner guitarists.
The app works somewhat differently than other learning apps. It plays the song you want to learn via a YouTube video and simultaneously shows you the correct chords in the right timing.
This gives the user an excellent feel for the rhythm of the song, which is far more effective than simply looking at a chord chart and trying to recall the feeling.
To use Chordify effectively, an upgrade to Premium is required. The upgrade grants you access to a range of very useful features, such as transposing, speeding up or slowing down playback, and downloading MIDI chords for use in other software.
Another feature of Chordify is the ability to tune all strings simultaneously – similar to TC Electronic's Polytune pedal – although this is not particularly practical in practice and you will probably end up tuning one string at a time again.
D. Amps, Effects & Presets
Virtual amps, effects, cabinets , and presets offer guitarists a revolutionary way to shape and expand their sound without the need for physical equipment. These digital solutions combine a multitude of features and benefits that appeal to both beginners and experienced guitarists.
If you are not yet familiar with these terms:
Virtual ampsare digitalrecreations of guitar amplifiers and offer a wide range of sounds, from classic tube amps to modern high-gain amps. They allow guitarists to use different amplifier models without changing physical equipment.
Effects (FX):Virtual effects processors offer access to a wide variety of effects such as distortion, delay, reverb, modulation effects (chorus, flanger), and more. These effects can be individually adjusted and combined to create unique soundscapes.
Virtual cabinets (speaker boxes) simulate the behavior and sound characteristics of real guitar cabinets. They offer the possibility to experiment with different speaker models and microphone positions to achieve the desired sound.
Presets are pre-configured settings that contain specific combinations of amps, effects, and cabinets. They offer ready-to-use sounds for various musical styles and make it easier for guitarists to quickly find the sound they want.
07 IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 MAX (V2)
Price/Cost: €99 one-time fee for software download (includes 2 activations)
Features: 111 stompboxes, 111 amps, 106 cabinets, 33 speakers, 18 microphones, 48 rack effects, and 8 rooms; up to 57 effects, 3 cabinets, and 3 amps simultaneously; VIR (Volumetric Impulse Response) cabinet emulation with up to 600 impulse responses per speaker; loading of custom impulse responses; Dynamic Response Modeling
What we like:
Huge collection of amplifiers (amps) and effects
Complex rig configuration:Users can configure a complete signal chain with amps, cabinets, microphones, and effects.
Modeling is first-class
Loop and recording function: With the built-in 8-track DAW and looper function, guitarists can capture and edit their ideas.
Many models are officially approved Fender, Marshall and Mesa/Boogie).
Extensive routing options
Enormous fun factor
for professional studio applications and live performances
Custom Shop b offers access to a variety of additional modules that can be purchased separately.
We like this less:
The user interface is ultra-realistic, but therefore somewhat clunky
This version is only available as desktop software and not as a smartphone app (Light version for smartphones: Amplitude CS)
Possibly a bit overwhelming for beginners
IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 MAX – Huge package of amplifier modeling and FX software for PC
Guitar plugins like AmpliTube have evolved into something far more comprehensive than just a collection of amps and effects. The software allows any guitarist to use models of amplifiers that most could never afford in physical form, such as a 1957 Bandmaster.
The real joy of AmpliTube lies in developing sophisticated routings that would be almost impossible to configure in real life. AmpliTube is no longer just a fancy collection of amplifiers and effects; it's a comprehensive sound design package.
AmpliTube 5 is available in three different versions. First, there is AmpliTube CS , the streamlined version, which is available for free as a teaser via the Android and Apple app stores and offers 42 amplifiers and effects.
Think of AmpliTube SE as a more palatable snack, offering 80 equipment components for€49 at ThomannTerms & Conditions . This desktop software allows you to add individual components within AmpliTube or purchase larger packages as upgrades.
Last but not least, AmpliTube 5 MAX the ultimate feast. This version includes virtually every conceivable option – over 400 equipment models, including 11 brand/artist collections – and is available from Thomann for a very reasonable one-time fee of €99 . Previously, the manufacturer IK charged $599.99 for it in their online shop.
For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that this is the version of AmpliTube 5 we primarily focused on. However, the less expensive versions share most of their basic functionality and only lack the complete catalog of amplifiers and effects.
With version 5, AmpliTube has transformed into an extremely powerful platform for sound design. The quality of the emulations is first-rate, the variety of available devices is unmatched, and the resulting possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
Large storage capacity (approx. 1 GB) for smartphones
BIAS FX 2 Mobile is currently only available for iOS (no Android version)
BIAS FX 2 offers numerous multi-effects in one app – plus a tuner
Bias FX 2 from Positive Grid is primarily known for the excellent modeling and effects of its software and hardware.
BIAS FX 2 allows you to tune and maintain complete setup with pedalboards and an impressive amplifier sound
the tuner is somewhat hidden, it impresses in operation with its high level of detail, even if it is sometimes a bit sensitive via the microphone of your instrument.
The looper is the ideal companion for capturing riffs and solos for your musical ideas. BIAS FX 2 Mobile offers seamless integration with AudioBus, GarageBand, and other IAA host applications, allowing you to refine your sound design.
To make the most of all the features of BIAS FX 2, you should get an audio interface that is compatible with your device. This also makes the tuner less susceptible to external interference.
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Owner and Managing Director of Kunstplaza. Journalist, editor, and passionate blogger in the field of art, design, and creativity since 2011. Successful completion of a degree in web design as part of a university study (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expressive painting, and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.
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