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Why let other musicians clog-up your iPhone with their music when you’ve got a catalog of your own killer tunes just waiting to be made. The best iPhone apps for musicians put all the power in your hands and transform your iPhone from a music playing device to a music making device. Practicing, recording and editing your own tracks couldn’t be simpler and whether you’re a budding Elvis or Michael Jackson, these iPhone music apps will get you closer to a hit record than you ever thought possible. Here are the Best iPhone Apps for Musicians:

Musician’s Practice Journal Practice, track and save the progress of all the songs you’re trying to learn with this iPhone music app. This application allows you to get a piece-by-piece breakdown of each song and the graphing feature is great for keeping you motivated in your quest to emulate your musical idols.

4 Tracks Audio Recorder 4 Tracks Audio Recorder is the perfect iPhone music app if you’re a budding singer, songwriter or producer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re jamming in the park or tucked away in your room dreaming up your next musical masterpiece, this iPhone music app is like having a recording studio in your pocket. The software allows you to burn four simultaneous beats on one track and the inbuilt metronome and tracking features help turn that rough tune into a smooth beat.

Metronome TS Click, click…click click click. Whatever tempo you need, this handy metronome app will keep you in time. Metronome TS has the ability to keep tempos from 30 to 250 bpm and the swinging pendulum animation creates an authentic looking application. Users can also input their own beats by tapping the screen which makes this the perfect digital music aid.

Chord Play Having trouble with that tricky guitar chord sequence but don’t want to keep disturbing your musician friends? Well, Chord Play is an iPhone music app that accurately mimics the set-up of a standard 6 string guitar and helps you to improve your hand positioning without ever needing to pick up your axe. Multiple guitar sounds (including acoustic and electric) are available and you are able to have 12 simultaneous chords on display at any one time. You’d better get your hands on this app if you want to play awesome chords.

Johnny Jams Piano Take any notion you have of a traditional instrument and throw it out of the window because Johnny Jams Piano is unlike anything you’ve seen before. The unique application turns your iPhone into a full scale melody maker that you can play with both hands. The iPhone’s tilt technology makes it possible to slide up and down the full musical scale and the simple user interface makes mastering this instrument far easier than the piano or guitar. This app hits all the right notes for beginning musicians.

RelativePitch “An interval is the gap between two notes” is all you need to know to start learning relative pitch. This iPhone application makes music theory easy and teaches you everything you need to know about the range of musical pitches. Start off in basic mode and work through the levels of complexity, testing yourself at each point, until you have the harmonic ear of a concert composer. You will be performing and appreciating music even more with this perfectly pitched app.

Play on Cue Your waiting in the sound booth, just as the grand finale of the theatre’s biggest production is about to start and disaster strikes: you can’t find the right song. If only you had an iPhone music app that made it so simple to play the right track on cue, you’d be saved. Play on Cue is a nifty little application that allows you to pre-load a track order and start playing the tune with one touch of the screen. Each song stops playing after the last note, which leaves you free to prepare yourself for the next cue. Even if you’re a sound technician with ADHD, this iPhone app for musicians couldn’t make your job any simpler.

Local Concerts The iPhone has a vast array of great apps for helping to improve your own musical talents but sometimes you just want to be able to listen to the best do their thing. Local Concerts is a great free iPhone music app that tells you exactly where and when your favorite artists are in your area. This is one of the best iPhone apps for musicians because it uses the contents of your music library and quickly and effortlessly directs you towards the best places to buy tickets for all the gigs near you. Neither you nor you friends need miss a concert again with this amazing application.

Blue Note Music Flash Cards If you know your alphabet you can easily learn the notes of the musical scale and with Blue Note Music Flash Cards the job is easy. The intelligent system randomly plays a note and asks you to identify (by touching the screen) which note: A, B, C, D, E F or G it is. The software recognizes which notes you are having difficulty with and will provide you with more practice on them until you can nail them every time.

LyricPad Sometimes the perfect lyrics strike when you least expect them and if you don’t have a pen and paper handy, that killer line could be lost for eternity. LyricPad turns your iPhone into a pen, notepad and MP3 player in one. With one of the best iPhone apps for musicians, pen a new song or edit an existing masterpiece over the top of your favorite tune; whenever inspiration strikes, never be at a loss for words with LyricPad.

Checkout our roundup of top iPad music apps.

For someone who wants to learn a piano chords lesson, there are a lot of ways to do that. All it takes when you will want to start learning how to play piano is a little dedication and of course, some time. But you should know that there are some things that you will have to take care of before you go ahead and proceed to learning the piano chords.

So before you will get to attempt on learning the piano chords, you will need to find out what a keyboard is actually made of. You will see that on the piano you will find the black and white keys. For example, on a piano with eighty eight keys, you will find that the left most key is A. You will find out that this is indeed the lowest one you can find on the piano. Also, another thing that you will notice when you will look at a keyboard is that the black keys will be aligned in groups of 2 and 3.

So, you will first see one group of 2 black there and after that you will see a group of 3. Each one of the lefts keys of the 2 black ones is named C. You will also find there are 2 black keys in the middle of the piano. The black one you will be able to spot on the left is named middle C. You will find the music notes to run in groups of seven.

So what are piano chords? Well, a chord is practically a combination of multiple notes that are played at once. After you will delve into your piano chords lesson and you will get to have enough experience to play it without any further problems and difficulties, you will be able to take on the chords easily. You will find that there are simple chords that feature three notes and there will also be four to five and even greater chords. One thing in mind when you will be learning about the chords is that there are 3 chords that are connected to each major keys, minor keys and also the seventh chord.

Within your piano chords lesson you should try and find something to keep practicing and learning continually, as its this dedication and practice that make beginners great pianists.

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chord charts.

Learning to interpret and play jazz piano chords is necessary whether you are a beginner or an expert musician. Jazz notes are not like ordinary chords, which are heard in most music styles. Playing jazz involves several notes, such as the major, diminished, minor and augmented chords. A basic understanding of music may help, but playing with a swing rhythm is even more necessary in playing this style of music.

Making up rhythms spontaneously is necessary when playing the piano. Musicians who are naturally talented in improvising will find it easier to learn this playing style. It may help to have an innate ability to create rhythms on the spot.

The most helpful thing you can do to sharpen your craft as a musician is to listen. Playing records from great musicians creates a deeper enjoyment for this music style. Listen to any record you can find, even those from the swing era. Fusion artists add a touch of diversity to your listening experience. You can even pick up a few pointers from up-and-coming musicians.

There are countless ways to interpret these instrument notes. The best thing about this style of music is that it can be played in a variety of ways. Depending on the mood of the musician, the same song can be performed in many different ways. Improvisation is a key factor when playing. The same piece can be performed several times, yet it would always come out differently.

One must know the most basic musical instrument notes before he can play. Unlike other genres, this style of music involves more than just basic minor or major notes. One of the most commonly used notes is the sixth. Chord charts may present this chord as Cadd6 or C6. This sound is produced by playing A-G-E-C at the same time.

The 7th is another popular note. This is played by adding the 7th note of the scale, then lowering it by a half-step. The major 7th, on the other hand, requires the player to add the 7th note of the scale to the original chord. These two notes are often mixed up. You will learn to tell them apart with more practice.

Remember to keep practicing even if your instrument-playing sounds terrible at first. It does not have to come out perfectly during the first few tries. Your efforts will be rewarded with enough time and practice. Just relax and let loose. Soon, you will notice that you are playing without even thinking. Remember that this style of music is all about spontaneity.

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chords chart.

Ah, broken chords. The sound. The cascading pattern of chordal notes. It’s beautiful. There’s no doubt about it. And this technique is one of the easiest to learn. After all, all you need to do to create it is have a chord under your fingers and be able to “break it up.”

What do I mean by break it up? You’ve probably heard of solid chords. This is when all tones are heard at once. For example, if I finger a C Major triad and play all three keys at once, I’m playing a solid chord. But, if I break this chord up into it’s 3 notes and play them one at a time you get a broken chord.

Broken chords are used frequently in New Age piano music. There’s something about playing notes of a chord in broken style that’s very appealing. Maybe it’s because it makes the piano sound fuller. Or it could be that it just sounds lovely.

Now, let’s take a look at how we can easily create it.

In the lesson “Reflections in Water,” we have 4 open position chords. These chords are ideal for “breaking up” because they are so wide-spaced. Over two octaves of notes lay under your finger tips. Once we finger this chord position we are able to play the broken-chord style. How? By simply letting your fingers play around with the note possibilities! And there are many of them.

When you listen to me play this piece, you’ll notice that it’s nothing to write home about. That is, I’m not after a “sophisticated” sound here. I’m just gently playing around with the notes and using the element of time to create a calm ambiance. And it works! The notes float out into the air and music is created. Not by planning or trying to come up with material but by following a few simple guidelines and letting go of the need to control the outcome.

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chords chart.

Learning piano chords is, for most people, the first thing they do before embarking on the ABRSM or Trinity exams.

Learning piano chords helps people understand more about the geography and feel of the piano, and in the meantime they can at least play some music that has some melody and meaning to it. This article explains piano chords more in-depth, and gives a few examples of different chord changes, and you can try them yourself.

We will take the most basic piano chord of C Major. No fancy stuff, just plain C major. There are always three instances of a piano chord: these are called the root position chord, the first inversion chord, and the second inversion chord. The root position chord of C Major consists of C, E and G (in order from lowest to highest note) We will place our thumb on C, third finger on E, and pinky finger on G. Now with the first inversion chord, we slide our fingers up so we are on E, G, and C (in order). Now our thumb is on E, and our third finger is on G, and our pinky finger is on C- note that this is not the same C as the previous chord, this is the C an octave higher- sometimes called, “High C”. If you play the root position and first inversion chord, you will notice the melody difference. There is also the second inversion chord. We again, slide our fingers up, so we are on G, C and E (in order as well). Our thumb is now on G, our third finger on “High C”, and our pinky finger on “High E”. You should see the progression from root position to second inversion, and how in sounds. Now when you see a piece of music asking you not just for the C major chord, but for its first or second inversions, you will know how to find out easily. This method of “stepping up” also applies to all other chords.

Another example I will give is G Major. The G Major root position chords are G, B, D (in order from lowest to highest note). The first inversion of a chord is a “step up”, so a step up would make it B, D, G (lowest to highest)- and second inversion would be D, B, G (lowest to highest as well). All other chords use this method too, even if they are fancier ones like augmented or diminished chords.

I hope this article has been educational for your understanding of piano chords, and learnt a bit about how they work too. Best of luck on your music journey!

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chord chart.

Learning the chord progressions used in piano music can make the difference between having to play note for note like the sheet music is written and having the ability to understand the chord base and knowing where the next notes can be played to make the music you play your own. When learning to play the piano in the traditional sense, you learn one note at a time. You first learn where middle C is located and then you add more notes from there.

The learning you receive allows you to see the note on a piece of sheet music and then be able to transform in your mind where that note relates to the piano keyboard and where you need to press a key to hear that note. What you are not learning is the idea that piano chords have a certain pattern and in order to hear an “A” chord you can only press certain keys and if you press any other, then it is not an “A” chord or does not belong in the “A” chord family and that these chords are repeated over and over again in each octave.

Learning piano in the traditional fashion, one note at at time, has made it difficult for some to learn how to play piano. When learning piano, if you can understand the chord structure and how they work in relation to the piece of music you are playing, you will enhance your knowledge in a very short time frame and be able to understand the piano and the way it works differently than when being trained in the traditional method. You start to understand flow and why the fingers end up on certain keys and not others, you start seeing the patterns.

Human minds learn best by being shown patterns so learning chord music is more natural than learning note for note. Just learning the piano chords is not the answer to playing piano in a day, or in twenty four hours like some books would like you to believe. It takes practice in order to become proficient at anything and piano is no different, but it does not have to be complicated. Once you start down the path of learning to play the piano, the music you get your fingers to play will hopefully be an inspiration to continue to practice and get better.

Practicing is one of the joys of learning anything and being able to be good at it. I can remember crying at the piano begging my mother to let me get away from the piano. My mother made me take lessons at five years old. I can still remember banging my head on the keys wanting to get away. I really did not appreciate the ability I had been forced to learn until much later in life, but the piano really made an impact on me when I learned the piano chords.

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chord charts.

Learning chords is one of the basic piano lessons. There are some prerequisites however that you should be proficient with before proceeding to chords. Before you learn about the chords you must know what a keyboard is comprised of. There are keys in black and white. On an 88 keys keyboard the left most key is an A. This is the lowest note on a keyboard. If we notice, the black keys are arranged in groups of two and three alternatively.

There is group of two black keys and then there is group of three black keys. Each left black key of the two black keys group is called C. In the middle of the piano there are two black keys and that left black one is called middle C. Music notes run in group of 7. Starting from middle C there is C, D, E, F, G and then again A and B. When we move from C to right side like CDEFGAB the notes are called up notes and when we move backward like CBAGFED the notes are called down notes. CDEFGAB is called the major scale. The 7 white keys (CDEFGAB) together with the 5 black ones make a set of 12. Each black key has two names; sharp and flat. The black key on left of a white key makes sound one half of that white key and is called flat for that note.

Similarly each black key on right of a white key makes sound higher by one half of that white key. Suppose there is black key between C and D. Now if we move from C to right and press black key it will be C Sharp. One the other hand if we move from D to left and press same black key it will be D flat. One you learn about the notes on a scale you are ready to move to the next step i.e. learning about the chords.

A chord is basically a combination of notes played together. Once you get proficient with how to play the notes and have practiced about the note and their position you can play chords easily. There are simple chords with 3 notes and then there are 4 to 5 and even more complicated chords. While learning about the chords you must know that there are three basic chords associated with each key namely major, minor and seventh chord. For instance there will a C major, C minor and seventh C chord and so on.

These chords make use of both white and black ones of the keyboard. For example C major is C, E, G. C minor chord is C, E flat, G and a C seventh chord is C, E, G, B flat. Learning the three basic chords for each key (CDEFGAB) is likely to build a solid foundation of your knowledge of Piano and you can then move to more complicated chords.

Need help figuring out piano chord? Check out our awesome piano chord chart.