Composer, teacher, and app designer Julian Wright designed iReadGuitar as a simple and efficient learning tool for anyone who wishes to learn to read music and play the guitar.
On the surface, iReadGuitar is a clean application with little to no distractions. There are no distracting ads, few things to click, no menus or buttons. The app functions with a simple touch and easy-to-follow instructions. While simple in its design, iReadGuitar is a powerful reading app with a great list of lessons and a large library of sheet music to play through.
Submitted into the App Store only a few years ago, iReadGuitar is now in version 3.2 comes in two models: Free, and Pro. The free version provides the early lessons which serve as a wonderful introduction to reading notation and playing guitar. Student users will start with just a few simple notes. Rhythms begin with quarter notes (crotchets), ease into half notes (minims) and whole notes (semibreves), and eventually, lead into eighth notes (quavers.) In the Pro version, users pay a very low price of $4.99 (approx. £3.5) as a one-time cost unlocking even more.
In the Pro version, 40 lessons with 4 exercises each are presented. That’s 160 exercises that take players from beginner readers to comfortable players with a wonderful repertoire of songs ranging from classical to folk classics. These familiar melodies are accompanied by chords throughout the learning process. The chords provide a basic rhythm while bringing the songs to life with harmony to accompany the melody. The most important aspect of learning any form of music is using your ear and feeling the music. Julian accomplishes this by providing these accompaniment parts while keeping the player focused on simple reading instruction.
In the early levels, measures are in 2/4 time (2 beats) which work in conjunction with very simple melodies and rhythms. Each measure is approached one at a time, displaying a single measure to the player. This is very similar to rudimentary reading methods where single words are presented teaching a reader to recognize and read words faster as they work towards more complete, longer sentences. Music is no different. The phrases start as small and simple groups and exercises in iReadGuitar and later progress into full songs.
An adjustable tempo is presented before each exercise and song allowing the player to play determine their comfort levels and play at a speed that doesn’t rush them. All lessons can be repeated. A simple increase of the tempo at your leisure provides a more challenging experience. After completing lesson 10, PDF downloads are available allowing users to save and print the music to use as a personal collection of songs to play. All of the PDFs are also downloadable on Julian’s website, LinwoodApps.com.
iReadGuitar is designed to work with any age student who wishes to learn to read music notation.
Julian Wright created iReadGuitar to help guitarists learn to read music notation and expand their musical vocabulary. His love for music is expressed through the fun process that iReadGuitar provides. Like all of us who teach music, we want to pass along our love for music to others, too.
Visit Julian’s website, LinwoodApps.com, and look for iReadGuitar in the Apple App Store and Google Play store. Also, for something fun, you can check out Julian Wright’s app, CountryDIY. This is a fun little app that allows users to create and fiddle with music using a virtual 5-piece country band. Tempo can be set, chords orchestrated, and instrument volume modified allowing users to have fun with a simple country music app. CountryDIY is easy to use and completely free. Much like iReadGuitar, CountryDIY is 100% ad-free so users can stay immersed in their experience without distractions.
Courtesy of Niko Lalangas