Aug 19, 2011 Simply connect Jam to the dock port on your iPad using the provided cable. Plug in your guitar with a standard 1/4' guitar cable Choose one of the many amps in GarageBand. In this 9 chapter guide we discuss everything related to using an acoustic and electric guitar with GarageBand, for both amp modeling, effects processing and recording. Re-download GarageBand Learn to Play Artist Lessons Learn how to resume interrupted or re-download previously purchased Learn to Play Artist Lessons. If you’ve started to download Learn to Play Artist Lessons and the download is interrupted or is incomplete, you can resume the download from the Lesson Store in GarageBand. GarageBand Guitar lessons for PC – Play Like a Pro. Step 1: First you need to go to Garageband and when you open it, you can see many projects. In the left side, you can see the option for “Learn to Play”. When you click it, a new screen will appear where different instruments options are given, like Guitar, Piano and so on.
When I decided that I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, I wasn't sure where to start –- so I turned, as I always do, to my trusty iPad.
I'm not the most spontaneous person in the world – my wife and kids would say that is a huge understatement. I am a bit programmed and disciplined and really work on 'trying new things.'
So, in my disciplined way, I decided that at 48 years of age, it was time for a mid-life crisis. Since I'm not terribly spontaneous, I have an amazing, beautiful wife and six great kids, my mid-life crisis needed to be something out of the norm.
I thought about getting a motorcycle, but my family seems to think I lack the proper coordination and that it might end very badly for me if I tried that. Then it dawned on me – what I wanted to learn how to do was play the guitar. I have been playing the piano since I was about six, I knew music theory and I played in bands in high school; but what I really wanted to do was learn the guitar.
I found my goal, and set upon my journey with iPad 2 in hand to start my adventure. The first thing I needed to do was buy a guitar. I fired up my eBay app to see if I could get a good used one. When nothing jumped out at me, I launched the PriceGrabber app and looked for a guitar that got a great write up in Guitarist Magazine that I had just read using iOS 5's Newsstand.
PriceGrabber - Free - Download Now
I ordered my new guitar and started looking for apps to teach me how to use it. I was very surprised that when I did a search for 'Guitar' in the App Store, I found over 800 iPad apps and close to 2000 iPhone apps. Where to start? I narrowed my search to 'Beginner Guitar' to narrow the field a bit. Pay dirt!
Beginner Guitar Songs - Free - Download now
I found Beginner Guitar Songs from GuitarJamz.com. Marty Schwartz, who is an amazing guitar teacher, showed me how to hold the guitar, how to hold the pick, basic strumming patterns and then introduced easy chords to learn. I quickly progressed through the Beginner Lesson Series and advanced to Important Guitar Chords. After an afternoon, I could play an E minor, A major, D major, G major, E major, A minor and C major chords –not bad for the first day.
The next morning of my first weekend with a guitar, I fired up the Beginner Guitar app again and went through the Strumming Patterns and tried to learn some songs from the Easy Guitar Songs section. This was so much fun and I could really see some progress.
One thing that Marty did mention in the lessons was keeping your guitar in tune. I had forgotten about that. I touched base with some musician friends and read up on line. It seems that the 'purists' like to use a tuning fork, the 'realists' like to use an analog chromatic tuner and the 'techies' like the digital chromatic tuner. I just couldn't see dropping close to a hundred bucks on a tuner when I knew there must be '…an app for that.' Back to the App Store – this time searching for Guitar Tuner. I came across many options, but I settled on Cleartune Chromatic Tuner. For $3.99, I figured it would be worth a shot and it is great. Play a note on the guitar and the 'analog looking' dial shows you how far off from the actual note you are. I just tuned my strings and kept plucking and tuning until the guitar was in perfect tune.
$3.99 - Cleartune Chromatic Tuner - Download now
Now I was ready to learn more chords – I had about seven under my belt and I wanted more. I found the Howcast Guitar Lessons app and found over 140 video lessons – mostly chords and progressions. I spend the better part of the day learning more chords. I continued each day; adding a new chord and then reviewing the ones I had learned. By the end of the first week I had about 10 chords I was comfortable with. By the end of the second week, I had about fifteen I could remember and play. The Howcast app also taught me how to play scales and I learned the Pentatonic scales and the Blues scale and felt like I was ready to dive into some music.
$1.99 - Guitar Lessons from Howcast - Download now
I so enjoyed the GuitarJamz app that I looked for more stuff from Marty Schwartz and found Blues Licks, Solo Guitar and 100 Lessons and I downloaded all those apps. I then saw that in addition to the apps and the website, Marty had hundreds of lessons for free on his YouTube channel. I watched, learned and experimented to see what I could do. I had to remember, I was only a little over two weeks into my new hobby.
What I learned was that some of my favorite classic rock songs were pretty easy. America's 'Horse With No Name' – two chords. The Beatles' 'Let it Be' – four chords. Cat Stevens' 'Peace Train' – four chords. I could do this.
Over the next few weeks – and now after about four months – I have been watching YouTube videos, using the Chromatic Tuner app and downloading guitar sheet music via the Songsterr Plus app. The guitar learning apps showed me how to read guitar tablature and chord diagrams – so I can do that as well.
$9.99 - Songsterr Plus - Download now
As I write this, I have just learned the guitar solo to Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' – something I never envisioned I would be doing four months into learning how to play the guitar. Now, I still need lots of work and I'm sure my technique needs improving. Thanks to a Valentine's present for my first 'in-person' guitar lesson, I hope to work on those things and more. However, the reality is that I really did learn how to play the guitar using my iPad.
Have you learned how to do something new using your iPad? Let us know by posting a comment below or joining this discussion thread in our forums.
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More then ever, it has become easier to lay down your song ideas while on the move. With GarageBand for iPad, we are also closer then ever to having a full professional recording studio in a very thin
More then ever, it has become easier to lay down your song ideas while on the move. With GarageBand for iPad, we are also closer then ever to having a full professional recording studio in a very thin package. And at a price of $4.99, who can complain? For those who are just starting out, here's a first tutorial on recording guitar to get you and your iPad rocking.
Setup and Equipment needed
First off before even starting the application, you should get the hardware you need to enable you to record your guitar to your iPad. There are two basic input types you need to consider:
Guitar Input for Electric Guitar and Bass (IK Multimedia iRig, Apogee Jam, AmpKit Link)
Mic Input for acoustic guitar (IK Multimedia iRig Mic, Blue Yeti Pro -- requires Apple's Camera Connection Kit)
L to R: IK Multimedia's iRig, Blue Yeti Mic, Apple's Camera Connection Kit
Guitar Amp
Launch GarageBand for iPad and plug your guitar into the iRig. On the left of the screen is a ' 1/4' jack' button which lets you add a noise gate. Handy for those distorted tones. Next to it is the guitarist's best friend: the Tuner.. no excuses for a flat g-string!
In the middle, you can select from different amp combinations and even save settings of your own. You can also swipe the amps to keep the same preset settings and try these settings on different amps.
On the far right is the 'pedals' section. Here you can add up to 4 pedals, change their effects level and remove pedals. To get back to the amp section, tap the 'Amp' icon on the right of the screen. One nice thing about GB for iPad is that you can change the amps settings after you've recorded your part and even create your own presets for future recordings.
Audio Recorder
If you want to record acoustic guitar, you can use the iPad's built in microphone but I would recommend looking at Blue Microphone's 'Yeti Pro' or Apogee's upcoming 'Mic' to add a professional sheen to your recordings. When you first open Audio Recorder it gives you a VU meter to check your audio input levels. A noise gate is also available by tapping on the '1/4' plug' icon.
Once you record a take, you can then add processing to the sound from a preset selection that include effects and voice transformers. The effects also give you sliders for compression, reverb, chorus, etc. depending on the effect you choose.
Playing Guitar On Garageband Ipad
Recording Tips!
First and foremost.. PRACTICE! GB on the iPad does not allow editing like GB on a Mac and you don't get features like Flex Time, multiple takes, pitch correction, etc. Also, you will have to play the parts at the tempo of the song unlike those who slow a song down, record their part, and speed it up after. While some would look at this as a detriment, I look at it as positive growth for musical skills and it ultimately gives you a better understanding of your song. After all, becoming a better musician is a life long process and not a means to an end.
After recording an electric guitar you have plenty of options to affect the tone as the amps have EQ and FX pedals to compress, etc. If you want to record feedback on the electric guitar, you will need to connect the output to your speakers and boost the main volume. But.. be careful as each amp/guitar has it's own characteristics for feedback and some are just plain uncontrollable ear-piercing squeals. Layering guitars also has the usual big sound but also eats up tracks so planning is crucial.
Also, when planning your song parts, take into account that GB for iPad does things in 'sections' and only up to 10 sections. While this may not seem like a big deal, you will want to figure out the parts/sections of your song beforehand. For example, song intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, verse 2 with added guitar, pre-chorus with organ, Chorus, verse 3 with less instruments, bridge, intro, Chorus, Chorus 2, End, etc. You can put the 'Sections' into 'Automatic' mode which gives you whatever amount of bars you want i.e. Record intro and verse 1 together.
When recording an acoustic guitar or instrument, be sure to try different takes with your USB microphone or iPad mic on different spots and distances from the guitar. Mic placement is very critical to get a decent sound. For example, placing a mic close to the sound hole of the guitar can add unwanted bass frequencies. Although with the iPad mic I found this to be the best spot.
Effects, EQs, filters and loops all benefit from major quality enhancements. Djay Pro never sounded better! Djay pro how to put a drop on a song. Icon-visual-fxPost-fader FXNEW Created with Sketch.Audio effects have been significantly improved in djay Pro 2.
Also, there are No EQ Frequency bands to allow you to fix things after recording. For a brighter tone, consider newer strings or a harder pick. If using the iPad's mic, make sure your room is as quiet as possible, because it'll pick up every little sound as the signal to noise ratio is not great. Another trick is to use the Guitar Amp settings for EQ control. I found the most natural to be the Clean Combo setting with the gain off. As you increase the gain, it adds some crunch to the tone. This way you can EQ somewhat and even add some nice compression and chorus. Even playing with the Noise Gate setting gave some interesting results. Metal Acoustic! Experimentation is key.
Garageband Learn Piano
Stay tuned for more GarageBand for iPad tips and tutorials on recording synths, pianos, etc. and vocals!