Overview

iShred is a great electric guitar program for the iPhone or iPod. It is extremely playable, loaded with features, and an endless variety of killer sounds. With iShred you can combine powerful chords and leads lines with a wide array of stompbox effects quickly and easily. Use it to explore musical ideas, learn songs, and even play along with your iTunes music.

The layout

iShred is divided into 3 main sections:

1. The main screen where you play music by selecting a chord or fret button, and then strum or tap individual strings.

2. General functions are accessed by tapping the General Menu button (in the bottom left on the Main screen). This pop-up list is where you will configure system Settings, manage and backup songs in your Playlist, begin making a New Song, or activate AirPlay.

3. Song-specific functions can be seen by tapping the Song Menu button in the lower right corner. This lets you edit existing songs, access your effects pedals, and record your best licks.

Other menus and dialogs will appear to help you complete tasks. And you can always tap the Menu buttons to see what actions you can perform.

Playlist, Songs, and Buttons

click to zoom

Your playlist is the list of all your songs. The playlist can be expanded, reduced, and reorderd as described in the Playlist chapter.

In iShred a song is:

1. A unique song name

2. A set of 10 buttons that define how iShred plays its strings. More on Songs can be found in the Song Editing chapter. Buttons can be programmed into several different modes such as Chords, Scales, or Frets. The different modes are described in detail in the Button Types chapter.

3. A "Sound" which includes the set of active effects and all the effects settings you have chosen for the song. The Effects chapter teaches all about iShred's incredible selection of effects.

4. If you have recorded a performance of the song, the recorded sequence will also be saved. Recording is a great way to sketch musical ideas, or just show off your iShred chops to your friends.

iShred lets you save your songs wirelessly over the web to the Frontier Song Server. You can later retrieve them from the server to your iPhone. This keeps your work safe in the event something happens to your iPhone or iPod. More on this feature in the Backup chapter.

iShred version 1.3 and later includes AirPlay. With AirPlay you can listen to shared songs from other iShred or Guitar users worldwide. Hear one that your really like? Save it to your own Playlist with the tap of your finger and practice it yourself. Or share your best licks and hear them online as well!

The rest of this help information describes all the facets of iShred in detail ... how to configure it, how to play it, and how to use each screen. While many people figure out iShred quickly without reading this information, there are a few shortcuts that are not obvious in the interface. These are described in detail, along with other tips and tricks in the Shortcuts chapter, and might be worth a look even if you don't read any other chapter.

We hope you enjoy making great music with iShred!