Happy New Year $.99 Sale for iOS Apps!!!

Happy New Year Guitar Addicts.  We are excited to announce our end of year $.99 sale for all iOS Apps and in-app purchases.  This is a great time to load up on Guitar Addict so enjoy the sale.  The sale will end on January 2nd 2012 and normal pricing will resume.  Thanks again to our fabulous community for all of the support and feedback.

New Demonstration Video For Fretboard Addict on iOS

Fretboard Addict v1.4.3 Is Live In The iOS App Store

We are pleased to announce Fretboard Addict v1.4.3 is live and available in the iOS App Store.  v1.4.3 is a minor update that is iOS5 ready.  We've made some under the hood enhancements and a couple of fixes to improve the fretboard addict experience.

We thank everyone for their continued feedback on our products!

Happy Halloween!

Have a Happy Halloween everyone.  Be safe and have fun!

Fretboard Addict v1.4.2 is Live!

Hello everyone.  We are pleased to announce Fretboard Addict v1.4.2 went live in the iTunes App Store.  In addition, we are celebrating 370,000 iOS users.  We would like to thank everyone for the continued support of our products.  It has been an amazing year for Guitar Addict Products and we appreciate all the feedback from the community.  If you have any suggestions for features or improvements, please continue sending them to support@guitaraddict.net.  If you like our products, please consider leaving us a nice review in the iTunes App Store.

v1.4.2 is a minor update that brings:
-Fix for resuming where you left off in the app if it is closed
-Some minor additions to help 'i' buttons throughout app

Celebrating 300,000 Users!!!

Wow, we are thrilled to be celebrating 300,000 users of our products.  What a great 6 month ride it has been in the iTunes App Store.  To celebrate this milestone we have REMOVED ALL ADS from our products.  If you like using our products, we appreciate you leaving 5 star reviews in the App Store.  If you have feedback for us, please email us anytime at support@guitaraddict.net.  We appreciate and encourage any open feedback.  We thank you all for continuing to support our products.

Fretboard Addict v1.4 Is Released

We are thrilled to announce that Fretboard Addict v1.4 is released and live in the iTunes App Store.  Here is a summary for v1.4:

✔ This update makes the app more exercise centric with a new exercise selection in the Features tab. You can select from built in Key exercises for both Notes and Chords or select Custom to create your own exercises. To access the custom fretboard setup screen and options tab, please select Custom from the exercise selection and touch Play. 

✔Take the Fretboard Addict Challenge and get rewarded! Complete 1 Notes or Chords exercise and claim your prize! Learn Notes & Chords fast by completing the built in exercises or easily create your own Custom Fretboard exercises. The Notes and Chords exercise rounds are progressive in difficulty and will challenge any level of player. 

✔Notes - Learn the Fretboard Notes in 11 major Key exercises or create your own Custom Exercises. Each built in exercise contains 115 progressive rounds. After completing each Key exercise, you will know the fretboard by Note, by Position, by String, by Fret, Forwards, Backwards, and Randomly. The ear training rounds and standard music notation displayed will help you learn to recognize notes, pitch, and intervals. 

✔Chords - Learn Triad Chords(maj,min,dim) in 11 major Key exercises or create your own Custom Exercises. Each built in exercise contains 28 progressive rounds. After completing each exercise, you will know all Triad chords by Notes, by Position, by Inversion, Forwards, Backwards, and Randomly. 

✔Added Restore Purchases button on Home tab for easy restore of in-app purchases across all devices. 

✔Many under the hood optimizations and enhancements

Get Ready For The Fretboard Addict Challenge!

Take the Fretboard Addict Challenge and get rewarded!  Complete 1 New built in Notes or Chords exercise and claim your prize!  Learn Notes & Chords fast by completing the built in exercises or easily create your own Custom Fretboard exercises.  The Notes and Chords exercise rounds are progressive in difficulty and will challenge any level of player.


Stay Tuned!  The Fretboard Addict Challenge is coming in July in v1.4 for all iOS devices

Fretboard Addict Demonstration Videos For iPhone

This 2 part video gives a demo of the Fretboard Addict series of apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices. The Electric Guitar instrument is featured. Other instruments available are acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and ukulele.

Fretboard Addict gives you a fun and quick way to learn the fretboard notes, learn chords, solo, ear train, and sight read. Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, and ukulele instruments are available.

You can purchase the app in the iTunes App Store at the following link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/electric-guitar-fretboard/id415230280?mt=8

Fretboard Addict v1.3 Is Live In The iOS App Store!

We are pleased to announce that Fretboard Addict v1.3 for Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Ukulele has gone live in the iOS App Store.

v1.3 brings the highly anticipated 5 String Bass Guitar Instrument addition to Bass Fretboard Addict and Super Guitar Fretboard Addict Bundle for FREE!  In addition, there are some awesome app performance enhancements for iPad users.

Fretboard Addict v1.2 Is Live In The App Store

We are pleased to announce that Fretboard Addict v1.2 for acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, and ukulele went live in the app store earlier today.  v1.2 brings the highly anticipated solo feature for practicing notes, chords, or just relaxing and creating some music with real instrument sounds.  All of your favorite Notes presets are available for highlighting notes on the fretboard by Key, by Notes, by String, and by Fret.  The solo feature is a $.99 in-app purchase.  Enjoy!

Fretboard Addict for Mac Is On Sale And Available For Instant Download

We are pleased to annouce the addition of acoustic, bass, and electric guitar Fretboard Addict apps for Mac are on sale and now available for instant download in our online store.  Don't miss out on this special pricing!

http://guitaraddict.net/iOSPage.aspx.

New Solo Feature Coming Soon To Fretboard Addict iOS Apps

We are pleased to announce that our v1.2 update to the Fretboard Addict Franchise for iOS has been submitted to Apple for review.  By popular demand, v1.2 will bring a new Solo feature that will be available by in-app purchase for $.99.  The solo feature brings you a fretboard that you can practice Notes, Chords, or just relax and create some music by touching the notes on the fretboard.  In addition, all your favorite Note presets are available for highlighting notes on the fretboard by Key, by String, by Note, and by Fret.  This gives you a nice platform to practice what you've been learning with the Notes and Chords features.  Have fun with this feature and hone those fretboard skills you've been working on!  We enjoy all of the feedback we get from you all sharing your fretboard addict experience.

How To Get Started Programming iOS iPhone/iPad Apps

I get a lot of questions from friends, family, customers, and just curious people on how I learned how to create iOS applications for the iPhone and iPad.  I would like this post to serve as a starting point to guide people on how to get started.  Feel free to comment if you have more specific questions you would like me to address.  I realize that everyone's background is a bit different so some people may have a steeper learning curve than others.  For starters, a little about myself.  I have a degree in computer engineering and over 10 years experience developing software, firmware, drivers, and hardware for embedded systems.  Developing for iOS is some of the most exciting work I've done.  Apple has created a great ecosystem and opportunity for developers.  I think for newcomers to software development, the iOS platform is a great one to start with.  For experienced developers, it is a matter of learning the tools, learning the language specifics, learning iOS specifics, and learning the App Store submission process.

What hardware and software do you need to develop for iOS:

• A Mac computer. The lowest cost entry point is a Mac Mini which at the time of this writing is $699 new or $619 used on amazon.com. I use a MacBook Pro and it really is an awesome experience for developing.
• Xcode IDE. This can be purchased through the Mac App Store or if you sign up to be an Apple Developer and pay the $100 annual fee, you can get it free at the iPhone Development Center.
• A iOS device.  Xcode contains a great iOS simulator for iPhone and iPad that works really well and will be enough for you to experiment with and lay the groundwork for your app.  When you are getting serious about development you need to get a real device to make sure your app runs correctly.

The links below are good starting points for experienced developers that are new to iOS.
iPhone Development Center
http://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action

iPhone Application Development (iTunes U Course)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=384233225

Developing Apps For iOS (iTunes U Course)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=395605774

Good Objective C Language Book
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Objective-C-2-0-Stephen-Kochan/dp/0321566157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303790312&sr=8-1

Good Book That Walks Through App Development
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-iPhone-Development-Applications/dp/0596803540/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1303790456&sr=8-2

WWDC Session Videos:
Apple now posts all the WWDC sessions videos from their cool annual developer conference.  All you have to do to view them is sign up to be an Apple Developer.  You don't even have to pay the $100 annual developer fee to view them.  I have viewed applicable sessions from 2010 and I am currently going through the 2011 sessions. These are great for learning new concepts and staying on top of what Apple will be bringing out in the future.

At some point you have to just dive in and start experimenting.  A suggestion for getting started is to print out the first assignment walkthrough for the iTunes U Course listed above.  It is a calculator app.  The assignment gives you a complete walkthrough on how to build your user interface in XCode and the code behind it.  I think it is a great start for diving into Apple's environment and objective C.

If you run into any additional resources worth adding, please feel free to comment them.

Fretboard Addict v1.1 is released and live in the App Store

We are pleased to announce that Fretboard Addict v1.1 for Super Guitar Bundle, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass, and Ukulele went live.  v1.1 brings the new Triads Chords Feature through in-app purchase for $2.99, ukulele & electric guitar sound improvements, and optimizations.  You can initiate the Chords Feature in-app purchase by touching the Features tab and then selecting chords with the wheel.  Enjoy this new feature, we have more great features coming soon.  For bass guitar players, 5 string bass is coming in a FREE update early May.

Here are some iPhone screen shots from Super Guitar Fretboard Addict Bundle for the new Chords Feature:

Electric Guitar - Fret To Note Game

Bass Guitar - Fret To Note Game

Ukulele - Note To Fret Game

Acoustic Guitar - Note To Fret Game

Easy Fretboard Setup - Touch the chord root on the fretboard or use the preset buttons & wheel

Calling All 5 string Bass Guitar Players

You asked for it and we've listened.  A 5 string Bass Guitar is coming soon to Bass Fretboard Addict and Super Fretboard Addict iOS Apps.  This will be a FREE update.  It should be coming out towards the end of April or early May.  Stay Tuned!

Triad Chords Are Coming Soon To Fretboard Addict iOS Apps!

We are thrilled to have submitted our v1.1 update for all the Fretboard Addict iOS Apps for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.  This feature will be an available via in-app purchase on your device after it finishes apple's review cycle.  For users that are using the FREE version of our app, all of the frets must be unlocked to use the chords feature.

Here are some of the highlights of the Chords Feature:
-Learn & Practice Triads Chords (maj,min,dim,aug)
-Learn Triads by Key, by Strings, by Inversion, by Type, and by Root
-Touch the chord root note on the fretboard setup to select a chord or use the presets
-Sounds play a strummed chord.  Ear training mode arpeggiates chord notes.
-All your favorite guitar addict game options for configuring the game
-Hundreds of unique triad chord positions to practice and learn

Now that you have played Fretboard Addict and have mastered all of the Notes, take the next step and master Triad Chords.  This will make you proficient at playing chords moving up and down the neck as well as moving side to side.  In addition, you will begin to understand chord anatomy which will help you understand other chord types.

Enjoy!

Update:
-v1.1 is now released and live in the app store

Guitar Addict Products For Mac Released

We are pleased to announce the release of Guitar Addict Products For Mac.  You can check them out and purchase for instant download at http://guitaraddict.net/iOSPage.aspx

A Great iTunes App Store Launch

We couldn't have asked for a better launch with our iOS products.  Every product was featured in the New & Noteworthy, What's Hot, Top Paid, Top Free, and Top Grossing for the Music category.  Electric Guitar Fretboard Addict soared into the Top 10 Music category on day 2 of the launch.  This was an exciting time.  Thank you to our great community of users for all of the support!

Busy in 2011

In December 2010, we launched Guitar Fretboard Addict in the iTunes App Store.  The launch was a big success and we now have Guitar, Electric Guitar, Ukulele, and Bass Guitar Fretboard Addict Apps in the iTunes App Store.  The Apps are Universal so this means they will natively run on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.  We have a solid road map of updates and features for all the products this year.  I think you all will be excited to take your guitar playing to the next level!