Who hasn’t dreamed of being in a band? The glitz, the glamor, the mad, cheering fans fawning over you – all of it is very appealing, but if the only experience you’ve ever had with music is rocking out to Guitar Hero, you probably aren’t quite ready to call up your closest friends and start laying down the riffs just yet.
Well, with summer beginning, now is the perfect time to dust off that old drum kit, push the stack of books off that piano bench, and start tuning your guitar! With a little bit of perseverance, your instrument of choice in hand, and these awesome apps on your iPhone, you, too, could be finding yourself wowing crowds of adoring fans, or at least being the one cool person who can lead a tune around a summer campfire.
50in1 Piano – $0.99
This is essentially an entire keyboard band in one convenient app. The 50in1 Piano serves up 50 studio-quality instruments, real-time effects, 100 beat loops, and 100 lessons to help you become the keyboard prodigy that you were destined to become. The list of practice songs includes either classical or public domain songs.
But what if you want to learn to play on your real piano? Well, good thing there’s the…
Piano Dust Buster – free
More of a game than a tutorial, the Piano Dust Buster has players fight off waves of dust blobs that move across the screen. The catch? Each blob corresponds to a note on your real-life keyboard. Using the iPhone microphone, the app listens for which notes you are playing, and the corresponding dust particle is destroyed. Of course when done correctly, the dust blobs correspond to a real-world song, so in essence you end up learning how to play the piano and read sheet music by playing the game. The game also features a virtual piano for those who don’t have their own full-sized, real-world piano.
Pocket Drums – $0.99
Do you live in a space where it just isn’t feasible to practice the drums all night and day? Well, then do we have the app for you! Pocket Drums replicates 24 different 6-piece drum kits that were all professionally recorded. Not to mention the app allows you to play your own music in the background while playing the drums over it. WOW! Eat your heart out, Phil Collins!
Rock Prodigy – $1.99
Do you play the hit game Guitar Hero? Ever wish you could shred like some of your favorite rock legends? Well, stop wishing and start practicing! Rock Prodigy is an awesome app that works a little like Guitar Hero for a real guitar, showing you where to place your fingers and when to strum, then grading you on how well you are performing. The app comes with some familiar rock songs and offers different difficulty levels for each song to help ease you into playing wicked complicated riffs. Before long, you’ll be shredding that 6-string like Slash!
The app works great with both acoustic and electric guitars. For the former it uses the iPhone’s microphone to detect which notes you are playing, while for the latter it allows you to plug your guitar into the phone!
Voice Tutor – $4.99
What good is a band without an awesome lead singer? In case your voice could use tuning up, check out the Voice Tutor app. The app starts off by diagnosing your vocal weaknesses then builds a custom lesson plan to help you improve. You’ll be taking center stage on American Idol in no time!
So there you have it, you rock prodigy, you! Practice your craft with these apps, get some friends together, and jam to your heart’s content. And while you’re at it, keep an eye out for our Bodacious Cases, coming this summer!