The Best Sheet Music, Notation, and Tab Readers for the iPad

forScore

If you are primarily interested in displaying your music on your iPad and keeping it organized, forScore is the perfect solution. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as some of the other apps, but it has enough functionality to take over as your music library. Because it doesn't have all of those bells and whistles, it can be easier to learn.

You can use forScore to display all types of written music, from traditional piano or c-instrument sheet music to chords and lyrics. The app comes with a fair bit of classical music, and you can buy additional music packs.

The true power is in importing music into forScore, which means you can scan your sheet music collection and display it on the iPad screen in an organized fashion.

Because the forScore app has a metronome that can scroll your music automatically, the app can make it even easier to play. This makes it one of the best apps in the App Store for musicians, whether performing or simply aspiring to perform.

OnSong Pro

While OnSong Pro is one of the more expensive music readers on the iPad, it can be worth every penny if you value simplified music notation with only lyrics and chords, especially if you're looking to create your sheet music library from scratch.

The biggest strength of OnSong Pro is the editor and markup language that can make writing a song fairly easy. Each song starts out with some metadata, which are lines of text that contain the song's title and information about the song. The bulk of the text is dedicated to the music, which is laid out in the standard intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus format.

One cool aspect of the OnSong Pro editor is doing away with the need to repeat anything. OnSong Pro includes a Flow feature that allows you to arrange sections in order without repeating the text.

Another cool feature of the markup language is how it deals with chords. Instead of marking the chord above the lyric, you notate it within the lyrics. You can then choose how you want the chords displayed. OnSong Pro even displays editable chord charts to help you out when playing the song.

OnSong Pro also includes performance tools such as a metronome, support for playing backing tracks, the ability to use a foot pedal to scroll through the music, among other nice additions.

Notion

Notion falls into the category of music composition more than simply being a library for your music. This powerful music notation software allows you to compose on your iPad, including a sample library that covers a range of instruments and the ability to mark up articulations for various instruments, such as notating a bend or a slide on the guitar.

While not as stage-friendly as forScore or OnSong, it is a perfect fit for those who want to get serious about writing music. Notion can handle tasks like transposing into a different key, importing MIDI files, handwriting recognition for composing with a stylus, and support for chord, tab, and full music notation.

Songsterr

Songsterr takes tablature to the next level, rising above websites like Ultimate Guitar by breaking down every instrument in a song into its own tab. It also includes a playback feature that makes it easier to learn the part by playing it in time. This will keep you from jumping back and forth between the tab and listening to the music to get the feel just right.

The breakdown of the song into parts can sometimes make the musician's job a little tougher. Often, tablature combines some of what the rhythm guitar with the signature lead licks to give you a single instrument interpretation of the song. But with the individual tracks isolated into their own tab, you can break down the song and decide how to put it together.

Although Songsterr is available as an app, the Songster website provides a better value for those who aren't interested in paying a monthly subscription fee. You are able to view the tablature and hear the playback without a subscription on the website.

If you want to use Songsterr to learn songs, you may want to switch to the app and pay the monthly fee for extra features like half-speed mode, loop mode, offline mode, and the ability to use apps like AmpliTube for a mobile practice studio while you learn the song.

GuitarTab

The user interface for GuitarTab may be lacking, but it easily makes this list for two solid reasons: it's free, and it has a ton of content in its free section.

The library isn't quite as extensive as the one found in Songster, and you won't get all the bells and whistles. Still, if you want a way to kickstart learning that song, GuitarTab on the iPad is a great alternative to apps like Tabs and Chords or Tab Pro that force you into an expensive subscription service.

GuitarTab also offers in-app extensions that allow you to remove the ads, print the music, transpose to a different key, among other neat features, but the ads aren't as intrusive as most guitar-oriented websites, and the basics of looking up and playing tab won't cost you a dime.