Common Questions and Their Answers

I can't hear any sound on my iPhone!

Most likely you've turned the silent/ringer switch to silent. Flip the switch back to ringer and you should be ready to rock (or roll).

Can I do anything to help iShred run well?

Absolutely! After you install iShred on your device, we strongly recommend that you power it off and then on again. Not just put it to sleep and back. Hold the power button down until the "slide to power off" slider appears, then use it.

Like many large, powerful iPhone apps, iShred works best when as much system memory as possible is available. Apparently some other apps, like Safari and the music player can hang onto memory even when they have stopped running. Power cycling your iPhone or iPod touch reclaims that memory for use by iShred. There are also a couple of iPhone apps to reclaim memory that you might find useful, such as Free Memory and Memory Status.

There are other guitar programs for the iPhone. Why should I buy this one?

Good question. We have used then all. Maybe you have, too. We think iShred is the best electric guitar app available for these key reasons:

• iShred Sounds Amazing! With multiple pickups, 8 exciting stompboxes, and an amp with flexible overdrive, iShred is a fantastic tone laboratory! With a little experimentation you can create loads of custom sounds. Trippy psychadelic, heavy metal, outer space, clean jazz, 60's surf ... whatever your style or mood, you can create the tone you want with iShred.
• iShred is Easy to Play You can set up iShred to play most songs in less than a minute. Less than 10 seconds if it is a song that you've set up before! You can instantaneously switch from playing a chord to a melody, from frets near the nut to the highest frets, all by sliding one finger. Watch demo videos and ask yourself if you can play so easily with any other guitar app.
• iShred is Simple, Yet Powerful All your playing happens on the same screen, and there are only three main screens total. Further, navigating between them is iPhone-quick and iPhone-easy ... no getting lost in your workflow. And you still have quick access to over 2,100 built-in chords and scales in just a few taps of a finger. Add to that a fast and easy recorder, and web-based song backup. Hey, there's a turbo-charged V8 under the hood of this app!

Want more details? Feel free to read through the online documentation if you want to learn about more of iShred's features.

Want an acoustic guitar app that is just as easy to play? We would strongly recommend our related Guitar app!

What are all the built-in chords?

There are 31 of them, and they are: Major, Minor, 7, Minor 7, Major 7, 9, Minor 9, Major 9, 6, Minor 6, Sus 4, 7 sus4, Sus 2, Dim, Dim 7, 5 (Power Chord), Maj/3, Maj/5, add 9, Aug, mMaj7, mMaj9, m add9, 6 add9, 7 sus2, 7 #5, m7#5, m7 flat5, 11, Minor 11, 13, and Minor 13.

And remember that each chord type is available in 5 variations on the fretboard, and in all 12 keys. And you can always quickly define any custom chord you want.

You say there are 21 built-in scales. What are they?

21, and all available in all 12 keys! OK, here we go: Major, Minor, the standard modal scales (Dorian, Phrigian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian), Harmonic Minor, Harmonic Major, Pentatonic, Minor Pentatonic, Blues, Blues Heptatonic, Melodic Major, Melodic Minor, Hungarian Minor, Hungarian Major, Neopolitan Minor, Neopolitan Major, and Hungarian Gypsy.

The sustain is great, but how do I make the strings stop ringing?

This all about Button Lock on the Preferences screen, which gives you a simple tradeoff. With Button Lock set to ON, it is easier to hold the iPhone in one hand while playing it with the other. When you tap a button, it stays active and strings that you play (with the same hand) keep playing until the next chord or melody is played.

With Button Lock set to OFF, the strings only play while you hold a finger on a button, and mute when you take your finger off the button. Great for controlling sustain! It also means using at least two fingers to play. This works fine if the iPhone is on a table or on your lap. There are even creative ways to hold the iPhone with your "fretting" hand while strumming with the other, but that's not for everyone.

By the way, you can slide your "button finger" from button to button without muting the strings. This is great for fast chord transitions. The old chord doesn't stop when you move to a different chord button and the new chord doesn't start until you strum or tap the strings.

How do I show note names on the strings instead of fret numbers?

Go to the Preferences screen and find the "Chord String Labels" selection at the bottom of the screen. You can select "Note Names" there, or "Scale Degree" or "None" if you don't want those labels at all.

How do I play along with tunes on the iPod/Music player?

You can read how to do this in detail at the bottom of this page. You can also watch it happen in action in this video.

I have more questions or want to share my own tips and ideas.

Be sure to swing over to our new User Forums and read what others have shared. And please feel free to post your own tips, tricks, videos, and questions.