If you’ve been watching television of late you can probably testify to the abundance of Christmas ads. And if you’re someone who takes pride in being up-to-date on the latest electronic products you can also probably testify to easily one of the hottest gifts of Christmas 2010 — the Apple iPad.

I know my favorite iPad commercial is the one in which Apple quickly highlights many of the iPad’s incredible features including (drum roll please) the ability to hook up your electric guitar and use the small device as an amp!

Pretty cool, right?

What’s also great about any Apple product is the ability to download apps, many of which are free. So in celebration of the new iPad and that guitar amp feature, we thought ’tis the season to highlight some of the best guitar apps on the market.

Check it out…

ChordBank for Guitar

Everyone likes stuff that’s free. Consequently, ChordBank is awesome because you get access to over 1,300 guitar chords for the price of nothing. That’s zilch, zip, nada. Strum to hear any chord played out loud or pluck individual strings to pick out individual notes. It’s all there with 22 complete fingerings.

Free!

Gibson Learn & Master Guitar

You may recognize Learn & Master Guitar, one of GLC’s top five rated guitar courses available. You may also recognize Gibson guitars, arguably the most famous guitar manufacture in the world. Together? They form quite a potent combination — the Gibson Learn & Master Guitar.

This application provides you with essential tools to help you become a better guitar player as well as free full length lessons from the award winning Learn & Master Guitar.

Free!

PocketGuitar

Don’t own a guitar?

PocketGuitar is a good place to start. It will transform your iPhone or iPod touch into a virtual guitar. Users can press and strum strings and when they get tired of being the next Slash, of course you can always jam out with the electric bass or ukulele. PocketGuitar also has some really sweet distortion effects as well.

$0.99

Fret Surfer Guitar Trainer

The Fret Surfer Guitar Trainer is seriously worth noting (no pun intended). For the price of $3 (less than a bottle of water these days), owners can learn every…single…note on the guitar. It’s a great resource with tons of customizable features.

$2.99

GuitarToolKit

GuitarToolKit features both a stellar reputation (very highly rated on iTunes) and loads of killer guitar utilities. The tuner is amazingly accurate and you also get a library of over 500,000 chords.

$9.99

Do you agree with our list? If not, what fantastic apps can you add?