# Bass Sight Reading Trainer — user reviews > 28 indexed App Store user reviews of Bass Sight Reading Trainer by Rolfs Apps, rated 4.50/5 from 8 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bass-sight-reading-trainer/id450861224/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bass-sight-reading-trainer/id450861224.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 7 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (13 of 28) ### 5/5 — Best iPhone trainer out there *2014-07-01* This app is great for advanced or beginners. It's the perfect app to fill 30sec while waiting because it makes you a better player. I first used it because I was primarily a 4 string bass player and wanted to learn the 5 string. It allowed me to learn the fifth string incredibly fast and the knowledge surprisingly transferred to an actual 5 string bass very easily. For those more advanced I advise putting the timing to fastest speed and using the app. It's great for learning areas of the bass that you are weak at, even if you don't touch the exact note every time it still trains your brain where all the different note options are which is the whole point anyway. ### 5/5 — Awesome job guys!!! This app is a must have!!! *2013-07-09* Awesome job guys!!! This app is a must have!!! No matter where you are you can keep your sight reading in check... HEAPS of great features... For the price it's amazing!!! ### 5/5 — Great App! *2012-10-15* This is EXACTLY what I was looking for!! I have had an iPhone since 2008, and this is the first review I've ever written; I like this App that much... I am very interested in learning to play Bass, and I'm confident this software will help me learn! The different learning modes are very useful. I'm in the process of learning the staff notes, and then I'll switch the mode and learn where those notes actually are! I highly recommend this App. ### 5/5 — Great app *2012-09-27* This is perfect for learning or simply brushing-up on improving reading and note/sound correlation capabilities. One feature to add is to sound the note after it is correctly chosen (in test mode). (implement as a user option) This would assist in reinforcing the letter/position/ear training lesson. Also, slightly decrease the side of the test letter and box – slightly distracting. It would be cool for the string to slightly vibrate after tapping a note. (user option) ### 5/5 — Very useful for beginners. *2012-08-20* The app is simple enough to use, if you have just picked up the bass and a great way to learn your scales. A great addition that would be awesome to see, if I could plug in my bass, using an iRig or whatever other way, and answer the test, by playing the note, I understand that would require writing in a tuner, and would require a set up process, as not all basses have perfect pitch once you start moving up the fret board, but then i could also practice my finger work as well as theory. thank you guys for making this. ### 5/5 — Great *2012-07-01* Very nice. Defiantly what I was looking for. ### 5/5 — It does so much ! *2012-06-04* Love this App! Interesting previous comments . It does seem that the app can already do the things that are posted - it just takes time to get to know the app ! You can test yourself in any key and specifically chose the key Ab for example between the frets 2 -6 or every other combination you might desire brilliant if you want to learn a jazz run or a specific key.You can enter expert mode and record your high score on a series of tests that will take hours if not days to complete. This is a great learning tool. One small request for us double bassists would be to add an optional double bass background image at around fret 8 which is where the body of most double basses joins the fingerboard. Good if you can slide the fretboard around to the exact position of the junction. We use this junction as a key nav point as we don't have frets and mentally organise notes before the body join and after. Just a request though to enhance a great app! All in all, Well done - good job, well thought out , fun to use well worth the money. All I would say is take the time to people downloading this app is to read the notes to see just how versatile this app really is enforce commenting! .... for example you can select to test yourself and play the notes on any combination of strings , you can test specific notes of a variety of specific modal scales in any key between any frets. You can test the names of notes and the musical intonation. Does what it is intended to do and makes learning the notes on your instrument a fun challenge - its actually a game where you can't help but learn your craft on the bass and works for all bass players. ### 5/5 — Great *2012-03-30* As another reviewer, I'd love hear the sound when I play the test note too, but I think this is a brilliant app. Any chance of putting in the option of some standard licks and patterns? Or of restricting test notes to a single key? It slightly does my head in following sharps with flats in such random configurations, as this would never actually happen in printed music. Most good sight readers get themselves into a sharps or flats groove, or better yet into the pattern of the key, and read from there. But this is just a request: as it stands, massive thanks and great value for money! ### 5/5 — Excellent reading tool *2012-02-28* I had been playing bass for years having poor notation reading skills and slowly counting frets. This app trains you on bass clef notation, learning the notes on the fingerboard (up to the 12th fret), and drilling you in different training modes to identify, locate and match up notes and frets quickly. It tracks your progress in different fret groups. Recommended. ### 5/5 — Amazing *2012-02-18* Really good little app... Crack it out in your spare time and learn away! Would have happily payed twice as much for it ### 5/5 — Best sight reading trainer I *2011-12-23* This app is awesome! I'm learning the translation between my eye/brain/hand from sheet music to pressing the right fret. As soon as you press a fret, you see the note on the bass clef, which really helps the eye/hand coordination training. When you get really good at playing a musical instrument, you don't think A-D-G-D whatever, you see a note in a certain place and you put your hand on a fret (or a key). It's a reflex and an emotion rather than a mechanical thought process. At least for me, anyway. Thoughts for improvement: When I tap a note on the bass clef, it would be nice to see the fret(s) that correspond to that note. This is the reverse of what it is now (press a fret and see the note on the bass clef). Here's a cool idea… probably a totally separate app, but read in a power tab and show which frets are being played. Anyway, I've got about 3 other apps that are supposed to be similar in nature. This one is "the one". ### 5/5 — Great App!! *2011-12-01* Hi, I just wanted to say that I've been very impressed by this App so far. I feel I'm learning quite a lot from it already. It's very well laid out and has many features. I think the fact the note is actually played during the test will also be a great help to improve my ears musically. It's become quite addictive already. The only thing I wish it had was a high score display. I've currently got it set to recount from 0 everytime I hit a wrong note. I think a highscore display as I'm being tested will be great to show how I'm progressing. Is that something that could be added in a future update? ### 5/5 — Nice!!! *2011-11-29* I've been wanting to learn how to read bass clef for a long time. This app was the perfect thing. Shows the staff as I play notes and has a test mode which is really nice. The test mode is "like" guitar hero and it makes the learning / practicing really fun and exciting. Buy it! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Don’t buy *2021-07-25* Touch function works intermittently . Not a useful tool **Developer response:** Probably the app behaviour you experience is caused by unintentional dragging of the fretboard. The most recent version of the app has a small lock icon on the main screen to disable fretboard scrolling. This way no taps can be missed, no matter how the tap is executed. I hope this will help. ### 2/5 — Not worth the money *2015-07-21* The functionality on this app is extremely limited. Should be .99 max. Definitely not worth the current price. There are free apps that do what this app does plus much more. Avoid. ### 3/5 — Very good - what about Key signatures? *2015-12-30* Great app for practical practice, especially on the train. Makes sight reading practice everyday very achievable Seems like an oversight that key signatures are not included: what is the point of only being able to read in the key of C maj/A min? There is detailed scale and fretboard functions, but as far as I can see no key signatures **Developer response:** The most recent version of the app now supports key signatures. Thank you for the suggestion. ### 3/5 — Good *2012-08-24* Super basic but does what it says. Designed to only teach you one note at a time rather than chord tones/scales and musical sequences, maybe this can be added. Useful to the absolute beginner, for anyone else Music Theory Pro is more useful and less expensive. Would be 5 stars if it cost less. ### 4/5 — Tone name with octave number *2024-07-23* I would like to see octave numbers added to the alphabet. Example, A1 A2 A3 ### 5/5 — Outstanding tool *2024-05-06* I’ve played guitar and bass for years, I’m currently dedicated to bass and trying to fill in the blanks in my knowledge. This is worth every penny, one off payment for practice anywhere. Thank you so much for building this amazing tool! ### 5/5 — Underrated gem of an app *2024-03-09* I’m surprised this app doesn’t have more reviews and ratings. For £1.99 (no subscription), I have just learned to read the bass clef in C major without making any mistakes, in less than an hour. That alone is worth the money for something I have always been struggling to learn. I’m looking forward to continuing to learn with other app features and settings. The app may look basic, but it gets the job done! ### 5/5 — Great Sight Reading Trainer *2023-10-05* I truly enjoy this tool. As someone who’s coming to bass from keyboards and drums this tool has been exceptionally helpful in drilling sight reading for the bass fretboard. ### 5/5 — Great app! *2020-02-16* Helps me a lot. ### 5/5 — Great bass learning tool *2020-02-03* This seems to be a very well crafted bass training tool. Brilliantly created with loads of options. Initially I played it on silent just to identify the note names while watching tv It kept getting wrong answers. I eventually realised that although I identified the right note it was the wrong octave so I got it wrong. Won’t play with sound off in future. ## Most praised reviews (5 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Nice practice tool *2020-02-03* Really useful for casual practice while commuting. ### 5/5 — Perfect *2019-02-04* This is unique and deep. Want to improve your ability to read ahead in the bass clef? This app has it covered. And that’s just one aspect of this really useful app. And great dev support by the way. Highly recommended. (and none of that subscription nonsense either...great value, no adverts, buy it) ### 5/5 — I actually use the app regularly *2017-12-12* I’m using this app now to learn the first 5 frets one string at a time. Illuminates small sections of the bass clef. ### 5/5 — Got me going *2015-07-16* This is a great App for beginners who need to come up to speed in order to start playing in a band. I learnt the bottom part of the fret board first and this allowed me to play root notes until I developed walking bass lines on my own. Thank you to the creators. The best nonsense BASS fret board learning app out there. A suggestion might be to add training for walking bass lines. ### 5/5 — Super useful and enjoyable! *2014-11-11* This app works great even for my unusual six-string bass with odd tuning. Well thought out so it is extremely handy to use. I've used it for months now, whenever I get a few minutes. The more I use it, the faster I improve. I really enjoy using this app. Very conscientious developer re improvements. Very highly recommended for both learning the fingerboard and sight reading practice. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*