Music creation on the iPhone has always been a popular feature that continues to interest users of all ages. From the simple Ocarina app to the complex BeatMaker, these applications make the musically challenged feel like a pro, and give the professionals another creative outlet for their talents. ThumbJam is another one of these applications that’s simple enough for the casual user, yet powerful enough for the seasoned musician.

ThumbJam is primarily a performance application, allowing the user to pick an instrument and simply use their thumb to slide up and down the screen, creating music. The thing that makes ThumbJam unique is that you can set up your instrument to utilize a specific musical scale and key. So, every note you play will sound good with whatever accompaniment you have going on. For example, you can choose a minor blues scale in the key of D. Then, you can choose the electric guitar, add a background loop in that same key, and whatever note you touch will sound great. At the simplest level all you have to do is slide your thumb up and down the screen. Even a child can do this and have a ton of fun with it.

The intermediate to professional musician will want much more in terms of features and functionality. ThumbJam offers a ton of tweaks and customizations to make the music sound just the way you want it to. While playing notes, you can shake your device for vibrato or tremolo. You can tilt it forward or back to bend the pitch. On some instruments you can also slide your finger to the left and right to change the volume, allowing for instances of crescendo/decrescendo. All of these features allow for a ton of expressive options while performing. There are also options to increase the amount of notes shown on the screen and change the octave range. In addition to these “on the fly” controls, there are several other settings that can be made in the options menu. Every little aspect of a musical instrument can be tweaked to your liking. The app also allows up to five simultaneous touches, so you can play harmony and chords as well.

The other main feature of this app is the ability to record your own loops with multiple tracks. All you have to do is hit the record button and as soon as you play a note, the loop starts recording. You can record multiple tracks, save your loops and even transfer them to other application or your computer via wifi. Even though the looping process is a smooth one, it’s not perfect. My only real complaint with this app is the lack of a metronome to help line up each track.

I think the developer is aware that ThumbJam is not the ultimate loop generator, and I don’t think it needs to be. It also includes a copy/paste feature to move loops to and from the app. So, you can create a loop with another application, such as BeatMaker, and then easily transfer it to ThumbJam. This application’s biggest strength is in its ability to allow the user to easily solo on any instrument they want, with a ton of customizable options that help make the performance as real sounding as possible. Being a music teacher, I know what instruments are supposed to sound like, and the samples in this app are near perfection. Everything just sounds great. As a musician, I appreciate having the ability to be expressive as well, adding gentle vibrato and crescendos or decrescendos to my solo. You can even create your own instruments. It’s just jam-packed with so many features that make it such a useful tool for musicians of any skill level. If you are a beginning musician or a professional artist, you need to pick up this application. You won’t regret the purchase.

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