Live Guitar app for iPhone and iPad


4.8 ( 8448 ratings )
Music Entertainment
Developer: Secret Base Design
7.99 USD
Current version: 2.1, last update: 6 years ago
First release : 12 Jul 2011
App size: 34.04 Mb

Live Guitar is designed to support playing complex chords, arpeggios, and finger-style guitar lines on your iOS device. Because the iPhone and iPad are not shaped like the neck of a guitar, the app provides an innovative way of selecting chords, while also leaving enough room to play individual strings accurately and expressively.

Chords are organized in sets, which you can customize and change on a song-by-song basis. A single touch on the fretboard selects the first chord of a set; two touches selects the second, and so on. Its possible to move quickly and accurately between fifteen different chords without needing to look at the screen. When playing guitar, switching between chords smoothly is critical; the app has been designed so that you can play music, not just notes. By making switching between chords quick and easy, you can play complete songs, rather than just noodling around, locked into a single scale.

Single string notes and strums can be played with touches or swipes; the organic sonic texture that comes from varying note intensity is obtained by adjusting where on a string you touch. The interface orientation on the iPhone gives more space between the strings, allowing you to play individual strings more accurately.

Sets of chords can be assembled quickly within the app -- choose from standard chord constructions, with dozens of chord types, or select specific chord voicing from the standard-tuning guitar interface. Sets of chords can also be imported and shared easily using the built-in Twitter interface.

MIDI connects your playing to laptop or desktop recording tools like GarageBand, Logic, Reaper, or ProTools. CoreMIDI, Virtual MIDI, and DSMIDI are all supported; you can choose the interface that gives you the best performance on your system. Live Guitar can send MIDI to the GarageBand app, as well as most other synthesizer apps.

Each string can be mapped to a different MIDI channel, to work with guitar tablature and transcription programs. Use Jam Maestro, Progression, or GuitarPro, and others -- by using chords based on a standard tuning guitar, and a MIDI channel per string, you can capture every detail of your playing with ease.

Live Guitar has hundreds of sounds built in -- guitars, basses, pianos, organs, and more. The app uses the acclaimed General MIDI SoundFont by Christian Collins, which can be found in many of the leading music apps. With support for Audiobus and Inter-App Audio, you can integrate Live Guitar with your other music apps, to add a natural and realistic guitar sound to your music.

Latest reviews of Live Guitar app for iPhone and iPad

Yehhh!
Right on !! This app rock Guitar with midi :D Maybe put easier chord enter. Like just enter Cm should be enough
Interesting concept with poor implementation
Synths are awful and there are absolutely no guitar features except basic strumming. No bends, no palm mutes, nothing.
Perfect app for songwriters
Pros: great interface, midi integration, different guitar tones, notepad/web browser Cons: unable to transfer notes to and from other apps, windows midi setup not well documented. I had been looking for an app like this for quite a while. It provides an easy way to experiment with chord progressions and the inclusion of a notepad and web browser is a great idea. The different guitar tones give you a good idea of what the chords will sound like on a broad range of guitar setups. The midi integration was also really easy. I currently have my iPhone hooked up to my windows DAW through rtpmidi. Although a little more documentation for windows based midi setups might help less experienced users. Overall this is a great app for songwriters who want to experiment and sketch out ideas when their equipment isnt around.
Midi works instantly in windows
I got irritated because I couldnt find the midi configuration panel. But then it just worked with Live no problem! I must have rptMidi going in the background, but I didnt have to configure anything. Nice! Very playable
Great!
Very useable and enjoyable! Would like to see DSMI integration too, because coremidi can be a pain on Windows, but still very playable. Thanks!
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