Guitar Songs is a free database of rock and pop songs with their chords as well as lyrics ready and waiting for you to play no matter where you are. The database is updated daily with new songs, too. Designed as a way to carry hundreds, if not thousands, of different songs from hundreds of different artists, Guitar Songs can help you learn songs chord-by-chord, as well as easily line up the lyrics with each part of the song. It also features a search option, a favourites list as well as the ability to import your own songs, too. It’s free to download, and is a great way of jogging your memory of songs that you’ve learnt over the years and need a little refreshing, let’s take a look, shall we?
All you need is a guitar, an audience and of course to download Guitar Songs from the Play Store. When you first launch the app, you’ll see a list of songs offered by the app.
Pulling out the menu from the side will present you with a number of different options:
One of the nicer inclusions of the settings menu is the ability to change the theme.
So, choosing the more rock-orientated black theme, the app changes its look and feel:
As well as that, you can find options to tweak the database location and be updated of new songs that are added. The database is updated regularly, and you will be notified to synchronize with the server to add these new songs to the database.
I’m a big Metallica fan, so I found their Artist Listing in Guitar Songs, and was happy to see some of my favourite songs here.
I wanted to learn how to play “I Disappear” and was happy to see it available here for free for me to play. All of the lyrics and chords were here for me to take a look at.
Some of these chords I might not be familiar with, which is why it;s nice to see that Guitar Songs will gladly outline these chords for you.
What’s nice about Guitar Songs, is that users can add their own songs, or mapped out versions of popular songs, to the database for free. All you need to do is head to the Guitar Songs website and sign in with a Google account to add a song, then it will be made available for everyone.
On the face of it, Guitar Songs is a fairly simple app that doesn’t serve much of a purpose beyond throwing out chords and lyrics. However, that is the games major appeal. Imagine being able to take all of these songs with you on your smartphone? With no need to connect to the Internet or anything like that? What Gutar Songs is is a massive library of songs at your disposal for absolutely nothing; it’s all free. I would have wished for a tab option as well, but more classical players will be familiar with this arrangement of chords and lyrics. Besides, I’m not sure that Guitar Songs is an app to teach people songs from scratch, but to help them jog their memories when they’re at a party or looking to perform with a group of friends. For that purpose, Guitar Songs is an excellent little app.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Guitar Songs runs nice and quickly, and finding artists and their songs is nice and simple, too.
- Features (4/5) – It’s a simple premise, and one that delivers exactly what it promises, and is therefore well worth taking a look at.
- Theme (4/5) – A Material Design option would be nice, but as there are some themes available for free, there’s not much to complain about here. Chords and lyrics are laid out in a way musicians would be familiar with.
- Overall (4/5) – It’s a small app that might not be for everyone, but Guitar Songs is a great database at your fingertips and perfect for jogging your memory when out with friends and you’re missing a few pieces of the puzzle to complete a song.
Pros
- Has thousands of songs available to play for completely free.
- Offers up not just chords but also the lyrics of songs as well.
- Theme options as well as option to import and add your own songs is nice.
- Offline capable, with no need to be connected to the Internet to make use of the app.
Cons
- Tablature option would be nice to have on offer for strictly guitar players.
- Some of my favourite artists didn’t have any songs listed, sadly.
Guitar Songs is a simple, and easy to use free app that guitarists everywhere will find handy. It’s easy to use and it doesn’t take much to remember how to play one of your all time favourite songs. Great for parties or jam sessions when you’ve forgotten some lyrics or the principal chords of a song. It works well, and has a lot on offer, especially for an app that’s absolutely free.