Not long ago, guitars and cell phones were merely separate things. In fact, the only time your cell phone crosses its wires with your guitar is when the phone creates the buzzing sound whenever it receives transmission which can be heard through your guitar amp. When this happened, you took your phone out of the pocket and placed it somewhere from your guitar as far away as possible. However, with hundreds of guitar related apps introduced in the iPhone apps market, you can now teach yourself how to play, tune your real guitar and play guitar using various sound effects on your iPhone. Most of these apps are not only educational as well as useful but it’s also entertaining. No longer will your band mates be complaining about your phone being turned on; they’ll insist that your phone be turned on. Here are some of my favorites:

Chord Play ($1.99): lets you choose up to 12 chords, which will display on your iPhone screen. This app is great when you’re studying a tab of a song and you can’t figure out the chord progression or how the chord might sound, simply choose those chords and tap the screen to hear the sound. With some practice, you can actually start playing real songs by tapping the phone.

Chord Pro ($1.99): Want to write a song but have limited chord knowledge? Fear no more. This app acts as a chord dictionary. Simply use the slider wheels on the screen to pick and choose your chord and the screen will display the tab.

Guitar Toolkit ($9.99): If you’ve got the real thing, you need to download this app. It not only acts as a chord dictionary, but it also acts as a metronome, chromatic tuner and the ability to tune any note or from 40+ standard tunings. To hear the sound of the chord, simply strum your iPhone. I’ve lost my real tuner countless times, so I know this app is a real useful tool for any guitarist out there. (also check out: TyroTuner and OmniTuner)

PocketGuitar ($0.99): This is the one that everyone wants when they purchase an iPhone. It has been one of the most popular and widely downloaded music app for iPhone. PocketGuitar turns your iPhone into a guitar neck. You can play either electric, acoustic, classical, electric bass and also a ukulele. The feature also comes with effects pedal that allows you to change the sound of your guitar tone much like from your effects pedal. The only downside is the strumming part. You can hold the chords with your fingers but you need to actually tap the strings in order to get the sound but otherwise, this is a really fun little app (also check out: Guitar).