Which apps make beautiful music for guitarists?

There are two key phases of every guitarist’s day: The hours they are playing guitar and the hours they wish they were. And depending on how you use it, the iPhone and iPod touch can either lessen the withdrawal symptoms or make your practice that much closer to perfect--but can it replace your guitar altogether?

Making music begins with being in tune, and since I’ve actually been ridiculed for carrying a tuning fork with me at all times, maybe it’s time to go digital. Peterson’s tuners are the industry standard: When each of the four strobing stripes on the display no longer move, you’re perfectly in tune. Peterson’s stripped-down iPhone app, iStroboSoft (Peterson Strobe Tuners, strobosoft.com/istrobosoft, $9.99), works fine simply by setting your iPhone on your guitar, but you can also connect with a cable (not included) and go direct. Either way, this is the easiest and most accurate tuner you’ll ever use--app or otherwise. Considering the most affordable physical Peterson tuner is $200, iStroboSoft is tuning nirvana on the cheap.

Each stripe gets you closer to perfect pitch.

Now, what to play? To learn a few fresh licks, I fired up TabToolkit (Agile Partners, agilepartners.com, $9.99), which not only displays digital sheet music in standard notation and tablature, but plays it as MIDI while an onscreen fretboard shows you exactly where your fingers should be for every note. The app comes with several songs and lesson files, plus there are thousands of free, homemade tab files online, but it’s worth noting you’ll only get the deluxe playback options (including variable speed) if your tabs are in the Guitar Pro format. They’re easy to find, making this a great private tutor.

And of course, there’s always more to learn. Guitarist’s Reference Lite (maj9, maj9.com, free) features a robust chord and scale dictionary and a Chord Quiz to keep your ears on their toes, as it were. I upgraded to the full version for $2.99--less to get rid of the ads and more for the Pro edition’s Chord Finder feature. Now when I strum something weird on my guitar, I can tap in those finger placements on the screen and say, “So that’s a Bb major 7 (#5)!” It gives my random fretboard explorations some context.

The crayon color scheme is unfortunate, but the content is quality.

So apps can clearly enhance your guitar…but can one replace it? Guitarist (MooCowMusic, moocowmusic.com, $3.99) offers itself as a touchscreen substitute: place your fingers on its virtual fretboard, set up your effects pedals, tap in your tablature, and even record your ideas on the go. While it does a lot, I never found it comfortable, even after several weeks. Its virtual guitar works better than some other fretboard apps out there, but it’s simply awkward to fret and strum the screen. So despite its wide feature set, Guitarist feels more like a complicated novelty than a useful composition tool.

In Guitarist, this is where your fingers go. No, it doesn't feel natural.

For me, there’s no replacing the real thing--and that’s where PRS Jam Amp (Bond Research Music, prscables.com, $9.99) comes in. It’s a full headphone practice amplifier, complete with reverb and crunch effects, with the bonus of letting you play along with your favorite songs, adjusting their speed and pitch along the way. Unfortunately, the virtual amp aspect isn’t worth much without the PRS Guitarbud cable (PRS, prscables.com, $29.99), which is sold separately but works with other apps, including iStroboSoft. I tried it with a Fender Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul, and a Taylor T5; in all instances, it was easy to overload, resulting in a farty fuzz sound (not to mention feedback). There’s also a slight delay between what your hands are playing and what your ears are hearing--and since the apps can’t access your iTunes library, you’ll have to load any jam-worthy songs onto your device twice. But once that was done, I really enjoyed playing along to Van Halen with headphones on…though probably not as much as my neighbors did. Clearly, I need to focus more on those instructional apps.