Android Musical Instrument Apps

GuitarFlex by VirtualCode.es (free) - Play a guitar with the following features:

• Solo - Tap the strings at the appropriate frets to play the notes (if you're holding the phone as you would hold a guitar, then tap all the way to the left for an open note). Tap the "guitar" button to select a steel-string acoustic guitar or a nylon-string classical guitar or an electric guitar. For each type of guitar, select whether you want it to sound like you're playing with a pick or playing fingerstyle. Tap the "gear" button to change some settings, such as displaying the names of the notes, and displaying up to 8 frets (starting on fret 0 up to fret 12), and changing the tuning.
• Arpeggio - Each of the frets shows a chord name, and you tap or strum the strings at any fret to play the associated chord. Tap the "guitar" button to select a steel-string acoustic guitar or a nylon-string classical guitar or an electric guitar. For each type of guitar, select whether you want it to sound like you're playing with a pick or playing fingerstyle. Tap the "gear" button to open the config screen for changing the chords. Near the bottom of the config screen, use the left and right arrows to select a set of chords to modify (at the bottom of the screen, tap the "+" button to add a new set of chords, or tap the "A" button to rename the current set of chords, or tap the "-" button to delete the current set of chords). On the fretboard, tap a chord to highlight it and play it (drag it to move its position one fret at a time). On the right side of the config screen, tap the "+" button to duplicate the highlighted chord, or tap the "pencil" button to open the chord editor, or tap the "A" button to rename the highlighted chord, or tap the "-" button to delete the highlighted chord. When you tap the "pencil" button to open the chord editor window, the highlighted chord will be displayed on a fretboard with the I, III, and V notes indicated (i.e. if it's a major chord). At the bottom of the chord editor screen, use the left and right arrows to select a chord to replace the highlighted chord. At the top of the chord editor screen, the "two dots" button gives you another way to select a chord (indicating which string the root note is on, such as "R6"), and the "three dots" button lets you create custom chords by moving the notes up or down the frets. Tap the "green checkmark" button to replace the original chord with the current chord, or tap the "red x" button to cancel.
• Strum - This is the same as Arpeggio (above), except that you strum by tapping a chord name instead of sliding your finger. Therefore, you can't play single notes in this mode.

My Guitar by Borce Trajkovski (free) - Play a guitar with the following features (in the menu):

• Guitar Type - Select steel acoustic, nylon classical, electric, or muted. Tap the "X" to close the window.
• Chords - Tap one of the frets to change its chord (the Settings menu allows you to select 4, 5, or 6 frets to be displayed, which means that you can have up to 6 chords). In the "Select chord" window, tap a root note and a chord type, then tap the "Select" button. Tap the "X" to close the "Chords" window.
• Play mode - In "Solo" mode, place your fingers onto the frets and then strum the strings (past the last fret), just like on a real guitar. In "Tap" mode, simply tap the strings at the appropriate frets to play the notes (if you're holding the phone as you would hold a guitar, then tap all the way to the right for an open note). In "Chords" mode, each of the frets shows a chord name, and you tap or strum the strings at any fret to play the associated chord. I'm not sure what "C+Tap" mode does.
• Effects - Allows you to select various effects (tremolo, fuzz, reverb, etc.). Tap the "X" to close the window.
• Settings - Allows you to display 4, 5, or 6 frets. Allows you to play left-handed or right-handed. Allows you to adjust the volume based on the pluck pressure. Allows string bending or muting or damping. Allows you to tilt your phone for changing the volume or the tone pitch (like a whammy bar). Allows you to place a capo on one of the first 5 frets.

My Bass by Borce Trajkovski (free) - Play a bass guitar with the following features (in the menu):

• Bass Type - Select electric, acoustic, picked, or slapped. Tap the "X" to close the window.
• Play mode - In "Solo" mode, place your fingers onto the frets and then strum the strings (past the last fret), just like on a real bass guitar. In "Tap" mode, simply tap the strings at the appropriate frets to play the notes (if you're holding the phone as you would hold a guitar, then tap all the way to the right for an open note).
• Effects - Allows you to select various effects (tremolo, fuzz, reverb, etc.). Tap the "X" to close the window.
• Settings - Allows you to display 4, 5, or 6 frets. Allows you to play left-handed or right-handed. Allows you to adjust the volume based on the pluck pressure. Allows string bending or muting or damping. Allows you to tilt your phone for changing the volume or the tone pitch (like a whammy bar). Allows you to place a capo on one of the first 5 frets.

Real Bass by Rodrigo Kolb (free) - Play a bass guitar. Eight frets are displayed, plus you can tap the "blue right arrow" icon to see nine more frets. If you're holding the phone as you would hold a guitar, then tap all the way to the left for an open note. At the top left corner of the screen, the "curved arrow" icon returns you to the main screen. The "red circle" icon starts recording the notes that you play (tap the "green square" icon to stop recording). The "blue triangle" icon displays a list of the recordings that you've made (tap an item in the list to play the recording). Open the menu and tap "Delete Records" to delete any recordings.

My Piano by Borce Trajkovski (free) - Play 17 keys on a piano (a bit more than one octave, although the Settings menu lets you display two full octaves). Tap the "keyboard" icon at the top right corner of the screen to change instruments (pianos, keyboards, guitar, saxophone, etc.). The icon next to the "keyboard" icon allows you to record your own samples. Tap the "speaker" icon to select various effects (reverb, echo, etc.). Tap the "curved arrow" icon at the top right corner of the screen to reveal a set of icons (at the left side of the screen) for recording and playing back your music.

Congas & Bongos by Mobjog (free) - Play a pair of congas and a pair of bongos with multi-touch. The left and right sides of the congas make different sounds.

Drum Set by nullapp (free) - Play drums (six different drum setups) with multi-touch.

Pocket Drums by Cody Rotwein (free) - Play drums with multi-touch. Open the menu for these options:

• The "wrench" icon opens the Settings menu.
• The "metronome" icon opens a menu containing metronome settings and drum beat settings.
• The "drum" icon lets you change the look and feel of the drums.
• The "red circle" icon starts and stops recording. The "triangle" icon plays the currently-selected recording (if the "double curved arrows" icon is lit up then the recording will loop over and over). The "single curved arrow" icon lets you select a recording.
• I'm not sure what the other icons are for.

Shakers by Borce Trajkovski (free) - Play various sound effects such as maracas, castanets, tambourine, bells, and so on.

Harmonica: Free Edition! by Pocketglow (free) - Play a harmonica in any key. On the left is the "blow or draw" button, and on the right is the "single note or chord" button.

Ocarina by Egert (free) - Play an ocarina with multi-touch. Open the menu to change the root note and the type of scale (Ionian, Zeldarian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.). In the menu, tap "Blow" to play notes while blowing into your phone's microphone (for more realism). The menu also allows you to select a song, then you'll be prompted which holes to touch in order to play the song. The menu also has a chart which shows how to play each note.

Plasma Sound HD by RM Mobile (free) - Make strange and eerie sound effects by sliding your fingers up, down, left, and right.

Xylophone by Easy Labs (free) - Play a xylophone with multi-touch.

Zampoña by Uri Shaked (free) - Play a Zampoña (Andean pan-pipe) with multi-touch. Tap the "Record" icon to record and save your music. Tap "Recordings" in the menu to play your saved recordings. Tap "Tutorials" in the menu to learn how to play various songs (by watching YouTube videos).

Caustic 3 by Single Cell Software (free) - This is an amazing synthesizer and sequencer app, inspired by rack-mount synthesizer/sampler rigs, with tons of customizations. See the Help files and tutorials and YouTube videos to learn how to use it.

Walk Band - Music Studio by Revontulet Soft Inc (free) - Allows you to play various pianos, keyboards, guitars, drums, and basses, with other features for recording tracks.

Complete Ear Trainer by Binary Guilt Software (free) - Provides theory and drills and games to help train your ears to recognize intervals such as fourths and fifths, or to recognize augmented and diminished chords, and so on.

Guitar chords and tabs by xssembler (free) - Allows you to search for the guitar chords and tabs for hundreds of thousands of songs. When you've selected a song, tap the name of a chord to see how to play the chord. Near the top right corner of the screen, tap the "left arrow" icon to see a "play" button. While you're listening to the song (this app doesn't play songs), tap the "play" button to start the lyrics and chords scrolling up so that you don't need to manually scroll the display while you're playing along with the song. The "play" button will change to a "pause" button after you tap it, and you can slide the "pause" button up or down to change the scrolling speed. You can save your favorite songs for offline access.

Mobile Metronome by Gabriel Simões (free) - A metronome app which can play tempos from 10 BPM to 230 BPM (and it shows the Italian tempo markings such as Andante, Allegro, etc.). You can also select the tempo by tapping with your finger. The time signature is adjustable for simple, compound, and complex meters, from 2 to 20 beats per measure.

Tuner - DaTuner (Lite!) by Applaud Apps (free) - A nice guitar tuner app.

• January 14, 2015 - Added Caustic 3, Complete Ear Trainer, DaTuner, Guitar chords and tabs, Mobile Metronome, and Walk Band.
• May 26, 2013 - New page.