Top 10 best music learning apps for iOS and Android - 2022

Learning music is a lifelong challenge. The best musicians continue to learn new things even at an advanced age. Therefore, there is no quick and easy solution to learning music. It takes constant practice and patience. Your cell phone can help you with that. There are several consistent tools that you can use to improve your music education. Here are some of the best Android and iOS apps for learning music.

Amazon Kindle

The Amazon Kindle and other e-reader services are a great way to start learning music. There are endless books, manuals and lessons in book format. The books you buy can be downloaded directly to your smartphone, where you can read and refer to them. There are some types of music books that are physical only, such as guitar sheet music books, but we think that's better anyway.

Google Play Books and Barnes & Noble Nook are viable options if you don't want to stick with Amazon. These three platforms have about the same general selection, so it depends on which one you prefer to use.

Coursera

Coursera is an educational app that offers paid online courses. People often recommend this for job skills, Photoshop training, etc., or other more specialized activities. However, it has courses that teach music theory, beginner's guides on how to play various instruments, and more music-related courses. They vary in size, complexity and price, but it's a good way to get a more traditional education on the subject.

There are several competitors in this space; Udemy's, Skillshare, edX, Allison and even LinkedIn Learning offer music courses. Much of the content is similar, so as with the eBook section above, the choice will depend on preference.

Complete Music Reading Trainer

Complete Music Reading Trainer helps you learn to read traditional music notation. Learning to read music notation can be difficult, but it can help you enjoy music. The app uses a game-like approach similar to other learning apps like Duolingo. Short exercises are repeated over and over until the information is retained.

Fender Play

Fender Play is a music learning application. It features acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ukulele and bass guitar lessons. It is a simple experience. The app contains many lessons that will help you start from a completely new place and become a proficient musician. You will be able to learn finger picking, chords, scales and much more. It also incorporates learning popular music, so it's not just about practicing scales all day; maybe that's why Fender Play is so expensive, but we like that.

There are other options in this space. One popular option is Simply Guitar. Those looking for a more free-form approach can also try GuitarTuna, which has a basic, if monotone, chord trainer.

Google Maps

The reason it's here is obvious, find material stores in your area, as well as schools and teachers who will teach you music directly. It's not a bad idea to have a direct teacher for more complex instruments. You can also use it to contact an establishment and book a gig at some point if you ever find yourself in a band or willing to perform. Again, it may seem silly, but knowing where to go locally if you need something is a legitimately good idea.

MuseScore

MuseScore is a sheet music application. It is similar to tablature for guitarists, but uses traditional sheet music instead. All kinds of music can be found there. It also includes help for learning to read standard sheet music. There is sheet music for a variety of popular instruments. What makes it special is that the music is uploaded by MuseScore users.

There are really few applications in this field, and MuseScore has an easier and richer selection than other applications. It can also help you learn sheet music, but the real fun comes when you finally learn how to do it and can start sight-reading the music.

Perfect Ear

Perfect Ear is a music training app that helps you learn a lot about music. The app focuses on ear training, allowing you to listen to sounds and learn what notes are being played. There is also rhythm training, music theory articles, sight-singing training and a scale dictionary. The system is similar to Complete Ear Trainer, and is not classroom oriented like other apps.

The developer also has Clefs, a music reading trainer, which ensures that standard music notation is learned when using apps such as MuseScore. Some parts of the app are free, but eventually you'll have to start paying to unlock modules within the app.

Simply Piano

Simply Piano is a good app for learning to play the piano. You can learn the basics, such as which key is which note, and learn to read music, chords and scales. In the style of the games found in many learning apps, you can learn in easy to digest lessons, which you can then practice and master. It also includes some pop song to learn to break the monotony of practicing scales all day. A bit pricey, but good music learning apps seem to be.

Other good apps in this area are Flowkey and Piano Academy. They all do their job, so the choice depends on how you want to be taught.

Yousician

Yousician is a music learning app for various instruments, such as guitar, piano, ukulele and bass guitar. It is also one of the few apps that can help you learn to sing well. The lessons are short, easily digestible and repeatable. This way, you can master each concept before moving on to the next lesson. There are also free lessons, but you will eventually have to pay. It's a bit more expensive, but cheaper than a teacher, even if you consider a face-to-face teacher to be better overall.

Yousician doesn't have much competition in this space if you want to learn to play an instrument and sing. There are competitors for individual instruments, so if you want to give them a try, choose one of the above.

YouTube

YouTube is an excellent source of free music lessons. You can find all kinds of things there, such as lessons, music theory, music history, tips and tricks, and so on. Many musicians also upload covers of songs along with sheet music if you know where to look, YouTube has been a great source of sheet music. YouTube has annoying ads, but it's a good starting point for beginning musicians on a budget and it's completely free. Watch videos on how to play scales and practice scales until you get good at them.

The difficulty is that YouTube has all kinds of videos and not much quality filtering. So it can take a few minutes to find a creator with a good lesson. Otherwise, it is certainly a good tool.