Learn to play guitar with the GuitarBots iPad app

GuitarBots isn’t just an app for kids, but we think children might be able to get a lot out of this musical education app for iPad.

Released by developer this weekend, it’s a game that you play by playing a real guitar. The app uses the iPad’s microphone to listen to the notes and chords being played, and analyse whether they match what it’s asking you to do.

These aren’t dry exercises though: instead, the learning happens over 300 levels of a simple, colourful action game, making it more fun than sitting down with a big book of chords (although it complements that too).

GuitarBots is aimed at complete beginners and more experienced players alike: we think it might be fun for parents and children learning guitar together, for that reason.

“It teaches you the most popular chords, and also includes melody and scale exercises for lead guitar playing. The game is played with a real guitar (acoustic or electric), and requires no additional equipment to be played. The iPad recognises each chord and note you play, and tells you whether you’re playing right or wrong,” explains the App Store listing.

“To play the first exercises you don’t need any previous guitar experience. Master one level, and you unlock the next one. The following levels are just slightly harder than the previous ones, so you can pass them after a few tries as your skills improve. However, there are some really hard levels, and for premium users there is super awesome shredder stuff too!”

on Apple’s App Store, but it does use in-app purchases. These can be used to refill your virtual guitar picks that control how long you can play the game for at once, or to buy premium subscriptions to unlock new stuff in the web browser version of the game.

Pick refills range from £0.69 to £4.99, although be aware that a year’s premium access will cost £57.99, so make sure your in-app purchase restrictions are set to ensure your child doesn’t buy that without your permission!

An alternative for younger children from the same developer is , which has been available for iPad for a while now – it may be the best thing to start kids on before they graduate to GuitarBot.

Read about more on Apps Playground.