If you come from the same generation as me, you might remember when phones were big, clunky things attached to the wall, with a long twisting cord acting as an an anchor for whoever was using the thing. Now, cell phones have more processing power than the lunar lander, and are less phones and more miniature computers, social media machines, and personal music halls. This week, we’re going to focus on that last bit, specifically the top “must have” apps for musicians and music students alike! And so we make sure every device is covered, we’re braking it down into two top 5 lists, one for Andriod, and one for Apple!

Top 5 Apple Apps

Pro Metronome

As you probably guessed from the name, this is a metronome app. This is essential for any professional musician, teacher, or music student. Yes, metronome apps are a dime a dozen, but they’re important to have, and this one is extremely user friendly. The app makes changing tempo and time signature a snap, and even boasts a feature that lets you subdivide the beats. With loud, clear beats, and some great features, you’ll be keeping perfect time no matter when or where you practice. This one’s available for Android too!

piaScore

Putting this app on your iPhone, or better yet, your iPad, is like carrying around over 70,000 classical music scores everywhere you go. You can even add your own score files to the app through iTunes. Using the larger screen of the iPad, the scores are easy to read, pages can be turned with a simple swipe, or gesture, and the app features some pretty interesting abilities. You can make notes on the scores, record yourself playing, and watch instructional videos, all within the app. It also has it’s own tuner, metronome, and keyboard built into the paid version.

Yousician

Are you new to music? Even if you’re not, and you want to try something different, Yousician is a fun way to learn and play piano, guitar, bass, and ukulele. The interface is somewhat similar to games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band; you follow and play along. Except, instead of musical notes flying at you, they scroll from right to left, similarly to how you would read music, and almost exactly how guitar tablature is read. The music moves similarly for the piano, but these players get the added bones of a “cheat sheet” that show’s which keys to use.

Epic Chromatic Tune

Everyone needs a tuner at one point or another. And like metronomes, there are a lot of options out there. I’m recommending this one for the simple reasons that it’s easy to use, it’s accurate, and it’s extremely useful if you play multiple instruments, or just play with people who forget their tuners. This app can be used to tune a variety of instruments, including guitars, pianos, woodwinds, and stringed instruments. As the makers say, “If it can sustain a tone, The ‘Epic Chromatic Tuner’ will let you tune it to perfect pitch on the fly.”

GarageBand

Easily one of the most popular music apps for Apple, there’s an amazing amount of functionality crammed into GrageBand. In essence, it turns your Apple device into a collection of “Touch Instruments” and a full-featured recording studio. You can record tracks, and play with friends remotely with virtual jam sessions. With it’s “Live Loops” function, you can try your hand at making music like a DJ, triggering loops and audio effect. Basically, this app does it all when it comes to making music.

Top 5 Apps for Android

Guitar Tuner Free/GuitarTuna

This one is for the guitar, bass, and ukulele players out there. This app has a great design and is great to have around to tune your instruments. It can tune each of the three instruments I mentioned, and includes games for learning to play, a metronome, and a beautiful, user-friendly design. And for people who care about such things, it also touts “award-winning audio technology,” and “professional accuracy for advanced players.” It’s also been downloaded over ¾ of a million times.

RecForge Pro

If you’re not into recording your music, this one might not be for you, but if you are, RecForge Pro is about the closest to the high quality sound recording of studio standards you’re going to find in a mobile device. This is a serious audio recorder that can record in mp3, ogg, or wav, and you can even convert all your files between those formats. You can store clips on the cloud, and edit them before use. There’s even a huge variety of tools and setting to make your sound as perfect as it can be. The only thing to be aware of is that your device wont have the best microphone, so you might want to invest in a better one if you’re going to use some of the advanced tools.

Walk Band

Have you ever found yourself inspired in the worst place possible? No matter where that place is for you, you most likely didn’t have access to your instrument in that moment. Enter Walk Band. This app is meant more as a music making app than some of the others on this list, including multi-track recording, and a list of digital instruments to play around with. It’s a fun and useful tool for songwriters who want to see how something sounds when they can’t get to their instrument, and for the more casual music-making commuter!

YouTube

This one might seem a little obvious at first, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless. If you’ve never followed the YouTube rabbit hole, you might be missing out on a whole new world of music you never knew existed. YouTube is great for finding new music, instrument tutorials, and learning new songs. If you’re already making your own music, this is a great app to help you get it out there, especially if you can make a video or two. Additionally, if you’re in the market for new gear, YouTube is a treasure trove of product reviews, so you can make sure you spend your money wisely.

MuseScore

One for the classic music lovers! Similar to piaScore for Apple, MuseScore can help you practice reading sheet music, allows you to pick out specific parts to learn, and much more. Specifically designed to utilize the larger screen of a tablet, this app allows you to listen to the sheet music, change the tempo in real time, and offers a pretty big library of scores. The app is highly rated, and even more exciting, it’s free!