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Tried them all? IOS app with chord recognition and chord diagram notation for guitarists
Sorry for the long post. As a guitarist I used to compose my progressions in the app „guitartoolkit“ and its chordsheets (inapp purchase) that covered most of my needs gloriously, but the app is abandoned by its developers since many years and I never found find a replacement. So I spent several days lately trying to find an IOS app especially for guitarists that allows
- composing your own chord progressions (no song database needed)
- by entering notes (while they sound) into a virtual fretboard
- without necessarily setting a song key first (and be tied to the rules of a fixed key)
- that are recognised by the app resulting in a chord symbol and the chord diagram below/above
- which must include the often used rootless chords
- and voicing variations of the chord (real life diagrams not algorythmically made up garbage)
- and not to forget: the dots of the chord diagrams showing the function of the notes (root, 3d, 7th etc.) instead of the fingerings
Then have the
- chord diagrams layed out in a chord sheet
- that allows the chords to be moved horizontally or according to a bar/beat grid to see when the chord changes happen.
- The chord diagrams - not only chord symbols - should be seen in the line
- where they occur (not only as a summary on top of the song), because you want to see the right voicing straight away.
To say it upfront: I haven‘t found a single app that covers all of the features I listed.
Many of the apps I tried are clearly coded by developers who come from the piano side. Others promote their app by mentioning the many thousands chord variations the app can come up with - but this is a hint to an algorythm solution that may present „correct“ chords, which you will never use because they sound like garbage or can hardly be gripped on your guitar. These apps do not deliver for a guitarist who does not need a hundred (!) variations of C13. Most do not offer rootless chord detection etc.
But maybe you are on the same search but with slightly different goals and needed features, so I will list some of the apps I looked into which may inspire you to try or look further.
1.Guitartoolkit (with chordsheets) - unfortunately abandoned and not on the appstore anymore
2.Suggester 2 - tried it, was disappointed. I have Suggester 1 plus Chordshapes (from the same dev.), Suggester 2 does not offer more than version 1 except the addition of chord diagrams, which are better covered by Chordshapes. Suggester 2: No rootless chords detection (the dev. wants to add this later), wrong suggestions in the chord detector, no export to pdf.
3.ChordShapes - from the same developer as Suggester. A simple great app with a very decent chord recognition, an option to create your own diagram (unfortunately no way how to rename the chord you entered) and a very basic function to line up one chord behind the other under Chorus, Verse etc. - exportable as pdf with chord diagrams - not to compare with a real lead sheet but good enough to remember your chord progression voicings. This was one of the two best app solutions I found for my purposes.
4.Songkit - at first sight a great (looking) app, but then found lots of quirks: The app froze several times during my use, it is not stable (ipad ios 16.6). Chord recognition by entering notes in the virtual fretboard resulted in strange chord names: D13, the 7th as bass note? The app suggested Bmaddb2/C, however: rootless chords or inversions were not detected by this method. But I found the correct diagram and name under the variations (140 different ones) but could not find a way how to enter the variation: you tap on it, nothing happens. And quite a few more quirks. The developer (who also develloped the quite popular Chord! app which imho has a terrible UI), didn’t answer my mail and my questions.
5.SongOne - no way how to show chord diagrams along the text, only chord symbols. The diagrams can be shown as a collection of used diagrams in the song at the beginning/end or somewhere in between the song. When I entered a D13/C through the fretboard the chord recognition suggested Bm/C or B5add#9/C. Oh well. Lots of people seem to like this app, I found the User Interface too much all over the place and did not like it. Lost 30 Euros here.
6.Guitar Notation - nice title, but inside the app your confronted to subscribe to 7 Euros/week. Sums up to, what, 350+ Euros / year?? - No, thank you!
7.Tonality - nice design, but the chord detection is unusable for me. AnotheOOr case of algorithmic. suggestions you will never play as a guitarist in real life. D13? 50 suggestions with lots of stupid fingerings.
8.Oolimo - great little app with brilliant design. Unfortunately no rootless or root anywhere chords recognition. No way how to export into a pdf leadsheet or graphically arrange the chord diagrams.
9.Ireal pro - very known chord sheet app amongst jazz musicians. Unfortunately now way how to edit your own chord voicings.
10.Dorico for ipad - this is a master piece from Steinberg, for composers who have way more ambition and knowledge than me and need to create partitions with several voices etc. However, I did not find a way to create chord diagrams from the virtual fretboard to appear in the sheet and I dont think it exists after posting in the Dorico forum. IT can be done by midi keyboard but I am not a keyboard player. The desktop app seems to have more options but I want IOS for my purpose. The User Interface imho is quite clunky with the settings all over the place, but the results of the app seem to be beautiful. However: way too much for my needs and lacking in the diagram department.
11.Chordai et al. - I also tried apps which claim to recognise chords from audio files. Chordai seems to have one of the best AI audio chord recognition in the business. Quite a piece of art but it was not able to detect some jazzier chords from my guitar, let alone the voicing as this is just technically not possible.
12.Chord Love - this great little app is for free and beats any of the other apps I tried in the chord recognition field. The guy who developed it put a lot of guitar competence into this app. Sadly, no creation of chord sheets or export to pdf. Only lining up the chords you have chosen for your progression. Therefor quite a lot to learn about chords and scales. However: Usable to some extent for my purpose.
13.MTH pro - an interesting composition tool where you can learn a lot about progressions. I did not get to grips with the user interface and did not find a way how to enter chords with a virtual fretboard. I simply gave up, but it‘s clear that the app is going into a different direction.
And so on and so forth. I did not mention all the apps I tried, but the list contains the ones that seemed to be nearest to what I wanted to use.
Maybe you found some alternatives? Please chime in.
Comments
I'd like to be able to play a chord on a keyboard, then have the software show fret positions on a fretboard simultaneously. I find chords on instruments intuitively. This puts me at a disadvantage when I'm communicating with other musicians, but I always try to be direct about how I work to save everyone time.
Is there an app which shows both fretboard AND keyboard positions simultaneously? I'd really like that. And being able to export or retain that as MIDI data would be ideal.
No comment at all? Wow, I hoped to see a few hints, but radio silence. Maybe my post was way too long ;-)
The Songkit dev had another app called Chord! which might be more stable.
https://getchord.com/docs/ios/home-screen/
I have a suggestion, there is an app that is just a way to print blank sheets and chord symbols. Then you can write it down with a pencil. But I guess that is not what you want.
https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/mustud-make-music-worksheets/id930222649
And I think the Jam Maestro and maybe Guitar Pro apps give you some options to write your own score. Guitar Pro I am not sure, it looks like you only can load files?
https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/jam-maestro/id596628003
And an other suggestion is, on PC or Mac, the Band in a Box software. So easy to write and print your own chord sequences (with an instant backing track). There is a tool to display the chordnotes on a fretboard. You can choose between standard chords, or jazz chords, and more. Lot of possibilities, it goes pretty deep. You can even generate a guitar solo in a chosen style, by a chosen player, and that is displayed as a guitar tab.
And maybe this can help you, the Reverse Chord Finder Pro app, enter the notes on the fretboard and it shows the chord, with multiple solutions. But you have to do it manually.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midimorphosis-2-tune-tone-tab/id1345154822
Meets some of your requirements ?
Guitar Tool Kit still works fine for me.
Maybe because I'm still on iOS 15 since my device doesn't support 16+?
Sorry I'm from my phone and didn't read the whole post, but have a look at
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/staventabs-compose-notate/id947545539
And
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/notion/id475820434
I have the app Chord! since many year, but I never bonded with it because of the complicated user interface and the dated look.
Thanks indeed for your thoughts. I used pen and paper for many years, but wouldn’t bother with it anymore even if it’s almost the fastest way to achieve your goal. Erh, where did I have these sheets again?? ;-)
At the moment I am comparing guitar pro 8 (trial), Dorico and Musescore on my macbook though I would rather prefer a more portable option. I ruled Musescore out already, with Guitar pro and Dorico, well, I am quickly overwhelmed because both can do some heavy composer sheet lifting and there are loads of settings I have to remember to get where I want to. The chord recognition feature of both are lacking in some areas or way too overloaded with algorythmic suggestions you will never use as a guitarist. But I would not want to use a second app to cover this.
Good old BIAB - I used it many, many years ago to practise some songs, but the sounds and rhythms felt a little outdated then…
Good idea, thank you, I’ve been there with the competitor Guitar Midi 2, but setting up the apps, using an audio interface and then going from tabs to chord diagrams was too much for me. I am looking for a simpler solution.
I fear it will stop running in the near future. I have quite a few compositions buried in the app. Sharing the files is impossible already, the app shuts down when I try. Time to say Goodbye…
I tried Stave n Tabs before: Lotes of quirks. The design of the app is nice, but the chord recognition does not work well, rootless chords are not recognised though the dev. wants to add them later, and there are chords like major/minor 13s where the app does not show a single variation, seems the dev. forgot to add them and some more.
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Well I have the 2022 version with the Realtracks, and that sounds pretty good in my ears. But I mentioned it for the chord sheets and tabs.