Tuning

The next control lets you adjust the tuning as much as + and - 2 semitones. Why adjust the tuning? There are a few possible reasons including matching the pitch of music you are playing along with, making small changes to a song's key (to help the singer reach those high notes, perhaps), or staying in tune with a piano, organ, or other fixed-pitch instrument.

The "0" center position of the tuning slider corresponds to an A note of 440 Hz. As you move the tuning slider and release it, if it is very near one of the marked semitone positions, it will "snap" to that mark. After moving the tuning slider, you can check the result by tapping the "Strum" button.

Help and Strum

The "Help" button brings up the Index of the iShred Help documentation ... what you are reading right now. "Strum" is used to hear how the guitar sound may have changed after changing the volume, tuning or other parameters.

Animate Playback

Th Animate Playback button affects how iShred's graphics behave when you play back a recorded song, and determines whether or not iShred will automatically select chord, fret, or scale buttons for you to match the original recording. With this feature turned ON iShred highlights each button as it is automatically "pressed", as well as flash a blue dot on each string or fret as they are played. Using this feature you can see exactly how a song was played when it was recorded. If you play along with the song you will not need to manually select the buttons to play the same chords, frets, or scales.

However, even with Animate Playback enabled you can still play along with the recorded sequence using other button combinations. Manually pressing ANY button will instantly suppress all of the animation graphics until you release. This way you can play an entirely different part without being distracted by the animation. Animate Playback does NOT affect playback of the recorded song, only the graphics.

With Animate Playback OFF iShred will not automatically select any buttons, or display the graphics. To play along you will need to manually select buttons to change string sounds. For example, if you want to use Fret mode to play a lead line along with strummed chords. Again, Animate Playback does NOT affect playback of the recorded song. (More on recording can be found in the Recorder chapter.)

Pitch Bend

With Pitch Bend turned ON, you can add slammin' pitchbends to your lead riffs anytime you are playing on a fret view (Scale, Chromatic Scale, or Fret mode). Play a string, and then bend it up in pitch by moving your finger to one side or the other. Rock your finger for a subtle vibrato effect. (More on performing pitch bends can be found in the Playing iShred chapter.) The Pitch Bend switch is OFF by default.

Safe Controls

By default, a single tap on any of the control buttons along the bottom of the main screen will activate that control. For example, tapping the General Menu button in the bottom left will pop-up a menu of possible actions. While fast, this immediate control behavior can sometimes cause problems if you tap a menu button by mistake, or tap the wrong one.

If you set the "Safe Controls" switch to ON, then two taps are needed to activate the controls at the bottom of the main screen. The first tap makes the bottom controls bright, and the second one engages the button. Double-tapping a control with "Safe Controls" ON is just like single-tapping with it OFF. When the menus close, the bottom area dims again.

For example, to go to the previous song in your Playlist with "Safe Controls" ON, tap anywhere in the bottom control area (the bottom row becomes bright) then tap the previous song arrow. The previous song is now loaded and the bottom row becomes dim again. With "Safe Controls" set to ON, if you tap in the bottom control area by mistake and it becomes bright, just tap elsewhere, on a top button or a string, and the bottom controls become dim again.

Left-Handed

This is for all of you Jimi Hendrix impersonators out there. The "Left-Handed" switch is a simple ON/OFF switch that rearranges the order of iShred's 6 strings. When "Left-Handed" is ON, the High E string is on the left and the Low E string is on the right. All string labels and fret inlays are moved to remain on the correct string.

Button Lock

To the right of the "Safe Controls" switch is the "Button Lock" ON/OFF switch. In general, you set this depending on if you are playing one- or two-handed. For details about this setting and the tradeoff between one- and two-handed play, see the One- and Two-Handed Operation section of the Playing iShred chapter.

Chord String Labels

The last control on the Settings screen is for setting Chord String Labels. When a Scale, Chromatic Scale, or Fret button is pushed, the label on each string always shows the number of the first fret displayed. But when a Chord or User Chord is being played, there are other options.

The possible settings for the string labels when a chord is played (the "Chord String Labels") are None, Fret Number, Scale Degree, and Note Name. When "None" is selected, no label is shown. "Fret Number" is the default setting, and shows the fret selection for each string. This is particularly handy when using guitar tablature. When "Scale Degree" is selected, root notes of the chord are labeled with an "R" and others by their scale degree (5th, flattened 3rd, etc.). Finally, selecting "Note Names" results in the note name for each string being shown. These names are relative to the selected root. So, for example, a C-flat Minor chord will show a string or two as being E double-flat.

Two important notes about the Chord String Labels setting: First, remember that it only applies to Chords and User Chords, not to Scale, Chromatic Scale, and Fret buttons. And second, since you do not declare a root for a User Chord, a User Chord cannot be labeled by scale degree. If "Scale Degree" is selected and a User Chord is active, each string's note name will be shown instead.

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ABOUT

In the upper left corner of the Settings screen is an "About" button. This includes a link to learn more about other popular iPhone applications from Frontier Design Group.