Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro looks to end this problem by providing a visual and interactive system that allows songwriters to hear, analyse and compose harmonic progressions in any key. Simply put, if you enter a chord, it'll show you what other chords you could play after it without it sounding like you're veering off into an unexpected and jarring musical wilderness.
This should help you learn which chords relate to others, and, more importantly, which ones sound good when played together. Unless you're planning on playing just three chords for the rest of your life, this is no bad thing at all.
Another neat feature is the app's ability to instantly transpose your chord progression to another key by tapping on the on-screen keyboard. This is where whipping out the GALAXY Note 8.0's S Pen to tap around comes in handy, particularly for the budding "fuller-fingered" composers out there!
5. Adictum Drum Lessons
Free – Get it here
Rock god Dave Grohl didn't learn the drums in a day, but if he'd had a GALAXY Note 8.0 and Suonnica's Adictum Drum Lessons app, he might have got there a lot quicker.
Rather than pawing away at on-screen drums like a child with a plastic Fisher Price set, Adictum is all about playing along on a real drum set by hitting certain parts of the kit in time as notation appears on the screen. You can try your hand (or two) at songs included with the app, or you can customise the app by writing in your own drum notation to practise along to.
Alongside various rhythmic patterns of increasing difficulty, a number of exercises are also included to help you hone your drumming in certain areas. Additionally, videos accompany all of the lessons offered in the app, providing a quick reference point if you get stuck.
6. Guitar Lessons Free
Free – Get it here
Let's face it – the fretboard is a large and scary place for any beginner guitarist. Not only do you have to learn the names of 22 notes on the E string, you then have to do it all over again another five times.
Thankfully, your Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 has it covered. This free Guitar Lessons app contains 19 lessons, in addition to a guide on reading tab notation that helps you read and write guitar tabs.
It's aimed at the complete beginner, starting with basics like how to hold and tune the guitar, then running all the way up to learning chord theory and arpeggios. You'll need an internet connection to view it, which is a small ask for a level of information usually found in thick, expensive tutorial magazines.
7. Guitar Jam Tracks: Scale Buddy
£1.86 – Buy it here
The pentatonic scale has formed the most valuable set of notes in an improvising guitarist's toolset since the dawn of rock 'n' roll. It was good enough for Jimi Hendrix, and it can make you sound like a pro with a little practice too.
Scale Buddy not only displays box diagrams to help you learn minor and major pentatonic scales in every natural key, it also provides a looping backing track that you can practise over.
From various styles of blues to jazz, modern rock and reggae, the app will have guitarists reaching for their instrument for anything from a quick practice to an hour long jam session.
8. Perfect Ear
Free – Get it here (Pro version is 99p, buy it here)
Perfect Ear is an innovative app that can help any musician improve their accuracy in identifying musical sounds.
While it features interval training for guitar, piano and bass, it's particularly useful for vocalists wanting to hone their pitch accuracy, thanks to a feature that uses the GALAXY Note 8.0's built-in microphone to detect the pitch of a singer's voice.
