I am proud to announce the final release of my Java application for cell phones, Guitar Trainer !

It took me quite some time to complete the mobiletutor.org Web site on which it is hosted, but everything is now online and open for business.

Feel free to try out the free demo (that includes unlimited usage of the built-in instrument tuner!), or even purchase the full version.

This small application for mobile devices is an educational tool for musicians to help deepen their knowledge of the fretboard of their instrument. Here's a quick recap of the features :

• Learn the location of notes on the fretboard of a guitar or other stringed instrument.
• Supports a variety of standard and alternate string tunings: guitar, bass, banjo, ukulele, mandolin.
• Training mode allows to focus learning on particular parts of the fretboard.
• Game mode provides a fun way to make progress. Work your way through levels of increasing difficulty!
• Train your ear at the same time as you improve your working knowledge of the instrument.
• Left-handed and right-handed neck types.
• Tune your instrument with your cell phone. Open string tones can be produced for any of the supported tunings!
• Dynamic user interface that works on a wide variety of mobile devices.
• Support for pointer input (stylus, touch screen, etc).
• Available in English, French and German languages.

So if you know anybody interested by this kind of application, please spread the word! This can be an interesting tool for music teachers as well as apprentices, and musicians of all levels. I know I certainly wanted something like this as a guitarist, hence why I ended up writing it myself. :)

www.mobiletutor.org

For the past few weeks, I have been working on a pet project of mine in my spare time: an educational music game for cell phones.

It is now ready for wider testing and I need people with a variety of mobile devices to help me make sure it works well. If your phone is capable of playing games, you should be able to test this.

The game is called Guitar Trainer, and it is basically a fun way to learn your way around the fretboard of any stringed instrument (guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, ukulele so far).

Here is a quick screen shot of the thing in action!


So please head on to guitar.mobiletutor.org for more information (I own this new domain) and sign up for the beta! You just need to fill in a short form and installing it is easy. At worst, there's also a Web demo you can try straight from your browser.

Please let me know of any feedback/suggestions/ideas/compliments, your help is very much appreciated!