Guitar How-To

Posts Tagged ‘Guitar Software’

The standard you should use when it is time to choose guitar software is how you feel about a particular program. The computer age has given us a whole range of software to be used in conjunction with acoustic or electric guitars. Now you have programs that help you learn how to play the guitar. There are programs that help you write songs and there is software that turns your computer into a guitar amp with a multitude of effects. There are also many computer chord dictionaries. Deciding which guitar software to buy can seem daunting given the range that is out there, but your own personal preference should be your guide. The advantages of one software over another are not important if you do not feel happy or confident using it.

If you want to play electric guitar in your home with all the effects you need plus some vintage guitar amps, many guitar players swear by “Guitar Rig” by Native Instruments. Guitar Rig is and amplifier and effects emulator that has a foot controller with an assignable expression pedal. It will give you distorted sounds and clean sounds with many modulation possibilities. Any enthusiastic electric guitar student should download the trial version of this software and fool around with it. You will learn alot. You can play your guitar using simulations of some classic amps with simulated cabinets and simulated distortion pedals to satisfy your curiosity about guitar software and the various effects available.

As for teaching software, Guitar Method Version 4 is supposed to be the most popular CD-ROM for novice guitarists in the world. It contains well over one hundred-and-fifty lessons including over fifty videos which cover the complete spectrum of learning how to play guitar. You will learn all the exciting stuff like power chords, strumming patterns, finger-picking and riffs. You can practice playing any song at any tempo using the variable speed MIDI tracks. If you want to learn to read sheet music you can, or you can take the course using tabs. You also get an automatic tuner, a metronome and a chord dictionary.

If you are interested in guitar teaching software compare Guitar Method 4 with Teach Yourself To Play Guitar and Interactive Guitar. Teach Yourself to Play Guitar by Alfred Publishing gives you the basics needed to become a real guitarist without taking expensive lessons. You get to learn chords and scales, how to read tabs and music from several different genres. Interactive Guitar by SOS Network claims it will teach you to “think musically”. You can compare your playing with some samples and with the program’s virtual fretboard you can see the names of the notes and fingering.

For chord software chordAlchemy by tonalAlchemy is the top of the range. It allows you to see what chord you are playing. You can generate variations on chords, add a bass note or eliminate the root note. As you make changes to chords the program generates the revised diagram. You can print or play any chord you generate. chordAlchemy combines sophisticated technology with ease of use for people who do not consider themselves computer-minded.

A long list of software with their various advantages will just wear you out so I have listed what many guitar players consider to be the top programs. Now that you have some idea of what guitar software contains you should be able to choose much more easily.