TheQuantumByte

Hi all, here’s a full tutorial on how to play a full rock song in iShred, from finding the guitar tabs, to setting up the user chords in iShred and the digital effects pad(s) as well.

To begin, search for the tabs for your chosen song on 911tabs.com. I find this a full and complete database of guitar tabs/chords for almost any song under the sun. In this tutorial, I have chosen to play “Gotta Be Somebody” by Nickelback, and the chords I found for this song can be seen here: Gotta Be Somebody Tabs.

Now fire up iShred on your iPhone (latest as of this tutorial, v1.41: download here). View “more” to continue on tutorial.

Using the small arrow on the bottom left, create a new song.

Name the song by tapping on the default new song name in the bottom bar. I named mine “Gotta Be Somebody”.

Now to start entering in the chords in the song. There are a maximum of 10 chords that the iShred window allows, but most songs should not exceed this number anyway. If you’re playing a song with simple standard chords, you can choose “Chords” in the slide-up menu, and select from a wide range of the standard chords: “C major”, “D minor”, etc. In this tutorial however, I will demonstrate how to key in user chords. In the first chord box, select “user chord”, and then tap on the arrow in the bottom right corner. Select “New User Chord”.

Referring back to the tab for your chosen song found on 911tabs.com, select the fret position for each string. Also, give the user chord a name by tapping on the bottom bar. As can be seen below, the first chord of “Gotta Be Somebody” has the fret positions: X-3-5-5-X-X. Save the chord by tapping on the lower arrow.

Now continue to key in all the remaining chords. There is no need to key in repeated chords: just remember to switch back to them when you’re playing the completed song. Rearrange the chords if required by tapping on a square a dragging it around accordingly. The screenshot below is my completed “Gotta Be Somebody” with a total of 7 different chords.

Hit “Save Song & Exit”, and return to the main interface. Give your song a test strum to see if everything sounds right. If so, continue on!

Now, it’s time to play around with the built-in effects, including a wide range of overdrives, compressors, wah-wahs and tremolos. For a rock song like “Gotta Be Somebody”, I suggest to just turn on the blue-looking “Trembler” and the red-looking “Hot Fuzz”. Also, select “Overdrive” in the main effects screen. When you’re playing around with the effects, note also that the 8 different effects pads can be custom rearranged. Their order in relation to the main amp does make subtle changes to the sound, which could help polish your sound.

Like I said, you’ll have to play around with the effects settings to find a configuration that suits your song. For me however, this satisfies me.

Now, to give your song a play! The effects should now be in action. There are several ways that you can finger and strum the iShred interface. For me, what works best is if I play the iPhone on a flat surface, with my left fingers pressing down on the chord ‘squares’, and with my right index finger, strum all strings from left to right. Again, play around with it! Here are some screenshots of me playing “Gotta Be Somebody”:

Well that marks the end of this tutorial. If you haven’t seen it already, a fantastic next step would be to Record a iShred Guitar in GarageBand (a link to another one of my tutorials). This is real cool.

That’s it for now. Here’s a quick recording of the result. This was recorded in GarageBand with an added drum loop. The guitar you hear is 100% iShred!

[audio:http://www.thequantumbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/gotta-be-somebody-loop.mp3]