David Mead : Guitar Gym

The exercises are variously technical and you are basically doing “reps” to increase muscle strength, dexterity and memory. This is just what I need to enable me to play more interesting, creative stuff. It may seem dull and repetitive but once you get into a routine of a few minutes a day your playing abilities will advance rapidly, possibly even exponentially.

Having studied degree in music and worked as a music teacher and head of music department for over a decade - I had taken a long break in playing. This app really helped to improve my skills and stamina whilst reminding me about good technique- a little buggy by perfectly functional! Some of the scale shapes seem a little unusual but you can substitute them yourself- some lovely arrpeggios up the neck in the newer versions too- definitely worth it!

Love the structure and simplicity of this app, and when it only takes ten minutes to do some useful guitar practice I really have no excuse to not do it every day! All of my quibbles with the app are on the technical side - it doesn’t display well in landscape mode on iPhone for instance, and it can sometimes be fiddly to connect to Bluetooth devices. It would also be nice if it made more use of modern iPhone features like notifications, 3D Touch etc., for a smoother experience. Finally I’d really like to see new exercises released periodically. So overall, love the idea behind the app but would like to see more done to keep it up to date.