If you dig through Apple’s App Store for a while, you’ll soon find there’s much more that’s now possible than just better versions of solitaire games. Savvy app designers are building programs that not only make life easier, but bring incredible new learning opportunities to the table. With a bit of creativity, Apple has made it possible to stretch the iPhone and iPad well beyond all of our expectations. And one app designer is taking it to a whole new level. Ge Wang, a Stanford University assistant professor and developer of music apps, has found a way to transform these portable devices into actual musical instruments.

“Technology is a way to get more people to make music,” Wang declared, and through his app company Smule, he’s making that promise of technology into a reality. Smule has been developing social music-making apps for Apple devices for quite a while now. His latest offerings, sporting names like Magic Piano and Magic Guitar, actually turn a user’s iPhone into a working musical instrument. And it’s internet connected, so budding musicians across the world can link up through the app to actually play duets together.

Wang’s goal is to reinvent people’s idea of what makes a musical instrument. Most people don’t normally think of the iPad that way. We’ve grown more than accustomed to using it as a pocket-sized jukebox, carrying entire music collections wherever we go. But creating new music? To Professor Wang, anyone who carries an Apple product is a potential musician, just waiting to tap into that talent.

He suggests that once people understand they already have that instrument in hand, they’re more likely to give it a try. He wants his apps to feel natural, “as easy as picking up the phone,” and making the app user-friendly and accessible is a fantastic first step.

Wang demonstrated his new app in a video available on MSNBC.com. In the video, he uses his Magic Guitar app to play a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” that would have made Jimi Hendrix proud. But he’s not sporting a telecaster. He does the whole thing on an iPhone plugged into an amplifier. The iPhone replaces the neck of the guitar, and sliding balls of light show you where to place your fingers. There’s built in songs so you can get the hang of it before trying your own, with a collection classic tunes from The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Sublime, Santana, and many more.

You can find out more information about his whole line of apps on the company website. The site currently offers apps that transform your iPhone or iPad into a guitar, fiddle, piano, trombone or ocarine, and it’s clear that more apps are on the way. And for those of you who aren’t sure but want to give it a try, rest assured you won’t be wasting your money. The apps are free.

It’s pretty clear that Wang didn’t get to this point by studying online executive MBA programs. He’s a musician, and the apps work intuitively, to get you thinking like a musician as well.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this quest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.