Rock Dojo is proud to be a Music Education Partner with Anytune. You can download the songs and any of these Anytune markers files for Guitar for Kids: Rock Dojo The Complete Belt System
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Anytune Full Review:
Anytune makes practicing, performing, and teaching the guitar dead easy. 
As the founder of the Rock Dojo in Portland, OR, I specialize in teaching kids between the ages of 6 and 12 years-old how to play, perform, and compose rock guitar music. In fact, I’ve taught thousands of group guitar classes, workshops, and private lessons over the last five years. Over the course of that time, I learned a successful teaching experience requires three key elements: a well-functioning guitar, a well-thought-out lesson plan, and Anytune for iOS devices.
So what makes Anytune so great? Well, here are 5 reasons why Anytune is an absolute must have for serious guitarists and guitar instructors.
1. Slow-It-Down:
Most of my students are enamored by speed. It’s only natural. They see videos of Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, or Stevie Ray Vaughan shredding the fretboard, and they connect speed with mastery. I understand. I was the same way when I started learning the guitar, but those players spent thousands of hours mastering the basics—like rhythm, pitch, expression, and a musical vocabulary—before they learned to shred. On the other hand, few things sound worse than a half-learned riff played slipshod at breakneck speeds.
Enter Anytune. Its ‘slow it down’ feature is pure perfection. I simply tap the plus or minus button, and I can slow down or speed up my tracks. Simple. Elegant. Sensible.
2. Step-It-Up:
I like to think of this feature as a musical workout because the concept is similar to resistance training. When I’m teaching my students a tricky new riff, ‘step-it-up’ trainer allows me to gradually increase the tempo over time similar to the way a weightlifter increases resistance as his strength increases.
‘Step-it-up’ trainer is the perfect feature for pumping up guitar chops.
3. Loop-It:
Since I work with kids, I’ve seen a lot of students make the same fundamental practice errors over the years. One of those mistakes looks a lot like this: A student is excited to learn a new piece of music. Overcome with enthusiasm, he inevitably plays the first measure or two perfectly, fumbles the third bar, then falls to pieces in a heap of self-agony.
Classic rookie error.
Since I want my students to build on small successes gaining confidence and skill over time, I learned to utilize Anytune’s looping feature before impatience has the opportunity of undoing my student’s confidence. Today, I have my students listen to a new piece of music one time through without a guitar in their hands. On the second pass through, I use Anytune’s looping feature. From there, Anytune allows me to teach the song one-bite sized chunk at a time.
Teaching this way saves time in the long run and my students build confidence with small wins. Another win for Anytune and self-dignity.
4. Playlist:
I teach about 10-group classes and 20-private lessons a week, each with varying levels of skill, ability, and interests. Which means, I have a lot of teaching material like songs, riffs, and licks to keep organizing. Fortunately, Anytune makes it simple with customizable playlists. I simply create a playlist for each of my group classes and private lessons organized by the number of weeks (for example week 1, week 2, week 3, and so on), and my lessons are mapped out for the entire quarter.
Without a doubt, most guitar instructors spend the bulk of their time lesson planning while neglecting business building aspects of their teaching studio like marketing, planning, and being innovative. Luckily, Anytune allows me to organize my lessons months in advance freeing up time to grow and expand the Rock Dojo because my playlists are repeatable. If a series of lessons (or playlists) works wonders for one group of beginners, the process is easily repeatable for another group of beginners.
5. ReFrame:
ReFrame is the newest Anytune feature, and it’s a game changer for guitar instructors. In the past, I created all of my own backing tracks, which is a painstaking and time-consuming process. With ReFrame, the process is a cinch. When a student wants to learn a new song, rather than creating a sound-a-like backing track, I just fire the song up in Anytune, click a few buttons, and wham! I have a backing track minus lead guitar, vocals, or any other instrument I want to be removed from the mix.
Could life get an easier for guitar teachers? Anytune, you’re spoiling me!
Final Thoughts:
Cue up the drumroll because here comes the best news of all: Anytune Basic is free for iOS devices. That’s right! The basic program is free for iOS devices (which includes looping, ‘slow-it-down’, ‘speed-it-up,’ and playlist support) but you can upgrade to Anytune Pro+ for $14.99 and enjoy tons of additional features including ‘Step-It-Up’ Trainer, ReFrame, HQ Quality, and more.
Anytune is a must have for any serious guitar instructor.
In fact, teaching a lesson with Anytune these days is downright unthinkable. That’s why I make sure my guitar is tuned, my lesson material is on hand, and Anytune is loaded on my iPad and ready to go before I walk into any classroom.
Brian Parham is the author of Guitar for Kids: Rock Dojo The Complete Belt System
