While few people in the world are 'pitch perfect' – able to identify the pitch of a note upon hearing it – improving your sense of pitch can help you learn scales and pick more appropriate chords when penning songs (when you're not using the Mapping Tonal Harmony app, that is).
Perfect Ear aims to help you on your way by providing a scale viewer, seven exercise types and the ability to program custom exercises.
9. Ukulele Fretboard
Free – Get it here
The ukulele is an instrument more closely associated with the idyllic beaches of Hawaii rather than the rainy British Isles, meaning it usually plays second fiddle to other stringed instruments (which probably includes the fiddle, come to think of it).
Ukulele Fretboard is a simple yet effective app that shows you around the fretboard and helps you practise fingering chords variations. You can also pick out scales using a 'Scale Explorer' mode that lets you discover ascending scale patterns as they progress up the fretboard, revealed by swiping the GALAXY Note 8.0's capacitive touch screen.
It adds the ability to save customised chords by pressing the appropriate fret and string, and sequences can be saved and displayed down the left hand side of the screen to help you play through songs. Just think, you could be the next Jake Shimabukuro with a little practice.
10. SPC – Music Sketchpad 2
£4.99 – Buy it here
We're going to stay clear of 'real world' instruments for the last entry on our list, if only because an ever growing legion of superstar DJs shows that not only is electronic music hugely popular, it's also an equally valid form of composition in the modern age.
SPC's Music Sketchpad 2 app is all about triggering samples in a certain order; anything from drum hits to electronic pads and brass instruments. Fully optimised for the GALAXY Note 8.0's generous 8-inch screen, Sketchpad 2 allows you to create your own samples by playing notes on an on-screen keyboard, which can then be edited using multiple effects processors.
Recordings of performances can be exported to a PC for further editing or to be shared, and you can even lay your own voice over tracks using the device's built-in microphone.
