Tune, strum, solo, and shred with apps designed to help you get the most out of your six-string.

GuitarToolKit

With a tuner, a metronome, a chord finder, and scale guides, this app is a must-have for every guitar player with an iphoness. (Don't worry, banjo, ukulele, and mandolin players; the app can be set to work with your instruments too.) It also supports custom tunings and left- or right-handed fingering.

WIRED More than two dozen options for metronome click sound, plus 22 for time signature.

TIRED Despite price, still requires additional in-app purchase for printable chord sheets.

$9.99 ioses | GuitarToolKit

Guitar Lessons: Rock Prodigy

Think of it as Rock Band with an actual guitar. Rock Prodigy helps you work on your chops by using your device's microphones or a direct line-in to hear how well your actual playing matches the notes scrolling across your screen. Choose between free lessons or the $4-a-pop instructional sessions built around songs by bands like Modest Mouse and Megadeth.

WIRED Difficulty settings range from Easy to Prodigy. Progressive lessons will help you move through at least some of those levels.

TIRED Note detection through mic is iffy.

$19.99 ioses | Guitar Lessons: Rock Prodigy

Ultimate Guitar Tabs

Search Ultimate Guitar's massive online repository of guitar tablature by title, difficulty, or rating, or see a list of what's popular now. Interactivity is mostly limited to transposition and auto-scroll, but if you want to know the chord changes to "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in a hurry, it'll give you what you need.

WIRED Tab Packs provide an overview of genres from grunge to Christmas songs.

TIRED Tabs become difficult to read if phones is more than an arm's length away.

$2.99 ioses | $2.99 androids | $2.99 WP | Ultimate Guitar Tabs

Guitar Jam Tracks: Scale Trainer & Practice Buddy

Is that a band in your pocket? Choose a major or minor key and hit Play. Jam Tracks provides drum and rhythm-guitar backing for you to practice pentatonic scales or just rock out.

WIRED Shows chords and scales that work for current track.

TIRED Tracks last three to five minutes—or about 1/14,000 as long as a true jam session.

Free ioses | Guitar Jam Tracks: Scale Trainer & Practice Buddy

HardWire HT-6 FastTune

Traditional guitar tuners allow you to tweak only one string at a time. With FastTune, you strum all your strings at once, and colored dots—blue is good, red is bad—appear on the onscreen fretboard to tell you which parts of your E-A-D-G-B-E array are out. (It also works as a plain old single-note tuner.)

WIRED Capo mode with automatic fret detection.

TIRED Supports only one alternate guitar tuning: drop-D.

$4.99 ioses | HardWire HT-6 FastTune