4 Awesome Apps For Guitar Players

Now that everything you can point a stick at seems to have a mobile app related to it, why would guitar players be left out of the mix? Well, truth be told, they never were but a good companion app for musicians is hard to find, other than chord charts and garage band, there’s not too much. Now, as a guitar player myself, I’m obsessed with finding the ultimate tone. I’ve gone through more guitars, pedals, and amplifiers than I have room to mention , and I’m still searching for the ultimate tone. Well I’ve looked around and found a few iOS apps that mimic specific modeled amps that are worthy sidekicks for any guitar aficionado so grab your guitar interface and let’s get to it. 

Ampkit by Peavey

It is basically a modeling application It requires an individual iRig interface and has 12 amps, 20 channels and this one has 16 different pedal simulations to choose from. They sound pretty nice, but in my opinion it sounds very digital when distortion is used which is a turn off if you’re into the analog sound. This is ideal if you just want to jam without the hassle of actually hooking up your rig, or, if you’re on the road and you want to get some ideas down. http://peavey.com/products/recording/ampkitlink/

Stomp Shop by Digitech

This app simulates a variety of Digitech pedals so you can buy and download the pedals, both well-known and Digitech specialties onto your iPad or iPhone. It comes with a built in delay and gain pedal and you can then shop from a variety of effects, and each display gives you read out of the pedal, before you buy the pedal and gives you a 5 minute preview of the pedal to try it out before you purchase the pedal, for 99 bucks. You can then upload the pedal effects to an external iStomp pedal and play it through your rig. You do have to purchase the iStomp pedal separately however. http://digitech.com/en/softwares/stomp-shop

AmpliTube by IK Multimedia

AmpliTube is one of the better modeling applications on the market for iPhone. The pedal variations sound quite true to the original counterparts and its interface is quite intuitive. It lets you select from a variety of modeled amplifiers, racks, and amplifiers  as well which make it one of the most worthy of these simulators. It comes with a variety of pack add ions and now, it comes with Slash’s presets and offers, for the first time, Marshal settings so if you want the tone of slash on your recording, this is a good app. In fact, Slash recorded his last album with this little app so that says something. From what I can tell, you can go through your laptop or computer and even run it through a speaker system. This is one versatile little app. It requires the additional iRig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJNec1MEDzg

Rock Shop by Pocketlabworks

Yes, this is a bass centered app but this is my personal Favorite. First, it was designed in conjunction with Bassist David Ellefson form Megadeth who has a very savvy way with anticipating the need of the average musician. Not only was it designed with is specific presets for bass, but it allows a guitar player to use it as well, which for me makes it quite versatile right there but he also has integrated it with all of his social media sites. It interfaces with moist iOS music apps and uses the iRiffport, which connects to the dock and is superior to the iRig because  it eliminates noise. You can plus it in to your computer or a speaker system. It has a variety of treble, gain, and boost effects, and you can pull in songs right off your iTunes playlist and play along with your favorite tracks.

 It combines a mobile work studio, practice station with social media outlets YouTube and Facebook. For a truly unique and interactive experience you can share with your friends. Oh I nearly forgot to mention that it automatically plays in a variety of tunings so you don’t have to adjust the tunings on your instrument. See also its companion, the pocket amp,  designed for guitars specifically although, it’s not quite as interactive it’s still pretty cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVgJABScCiY

In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourself which one you like best, but in any event, we are definitely entering into a new age of technology for musicians. Soon the age of totting around cumbersome amplifiers may become a thing of the past.