Comparison

Hooktheory II vs Charango

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Hooktheory II

This app helps you understand and create sophisticated music by teaching advanced chord progressions and melody techniques. Learn from interactive exercises and audiovisual examples inspired by popular artists. It's designed for musicians looking to enhance their songwriting skills.

Highlights
  • Learn seventh chords, embellishments, and secondary chords
  • Master minor harmony, modes, and modal mixture
  • Discover songwriting tactics from famous artists
  • Interactive exercises and audiovisual examples
  • Compose chords and melody in various scales
  • Utilize chord inversions and complex chord types
Features
Read full description

Continue on your musical journey! Build on the foundation you learned in Hooktheory I, and discover an intuitive and deep understanding of richer, more sophisticated music. Unlock the songwriting tactics used by The Beatles, Bowie, Queen, Michael Jackson, and more. Learn about seventh chords, embellishments, secondary chords, minor harmony, modes, and modal mixture. Validated by over 30,000 hobby and pro musicians like you, the Hooktheory Book Series is the best-selling how-to series for musicians for a reason. Hooktheory II isn’t like other music theory books. Hooktheory teaches with an easy-to-understand music format that emphasizes chord and melody function. Rich audiovisual animations play along as you learn. We dissect popular songs and show you how the pros do it. Immediately practice concepts and tactics with our companion musical sketchpad, Hookpad. There is nothing else like it! Fun to read. Easy to understand. Full of practical knowledge. Learn from 84 interactive exercises and 228 audiovisual examples from artists like The Beatles, Elton John, Queen, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, Coldplay, Van Morrison, Adele, Ariana Grande, John Mayer, and many more! In Hooktheory II, you’ll learn the following skills: • Composing chords and melody in minor (and other scales). • Using chord inversions (reordering chord tones) to create effective bass lines. • Using complex chord types (e.g. 7th chords, extended chords, suspended chords, and “add” chords) to enrich your chord progressions. • Using secondary chords (chords based on a different key) to create tension. • Combining melody and chords from multiple scales (modal mixture). • Utilizing songwriting techniques like energy control, deception, and harmonic scope to control listeners' expectations. Benefits: • Simple piano roll notation (sheet music knowledge not required). • Every concept + technique demonstrated through an actual song. • 228 audiovisual examples from artists like The Beatles, Elton John, and Queen. • Reinforce learning at every step with 83 exercises. • Designed to be used with Hookpad Music Making Software. Hookpad lets you immediately practice every concept and tactic you learn in the books. To sum it up: Hooktheory II will teach you all of the essential techniques for crafting effective and compelling chord progressions and melodies. Reading Hooktheory II doesn’t require the ability to read sheet music or any music knowledge outside what was covered in Hooktheory I. On average, it takes about twelve hours to read (but more to fully absorb) so it isn't a huge time commitment. Dedicate only a few days to absorbing this book and gain a lifetime of skills that will give your music that professional edge.

About

Charango

Read full description

Tune the charango, play it and learn it, all in one app. The tuner shows you the headstock and marks the peg to turn, four courses take you from holding it to real huayno and cueca, ten practice drills train your ear, hands and timing, 168 chords show you how each one sits on the charango's five courses, and a songbook of 37 songs puts them to work. Then it hands you the instrument. In Simulation the charango is on your screen: strum across the strings, or touch one to pluck it. • Tuner: the headstock on screen with the peg to turn marked, a live needle that never flashes "in tune" early, and nine tunings: temple natural, temple diablo, the transposed temples, and the ronroco and walaycho sizes • Songbook: 37 songs, huaynos, carnavalitos, pasillos, zambas and more, with the chords for every bar and a play-along • Learn: four charango courses (46 lessons), from your first strum to repertoire-level idiom • Practice: ten drills: ear training, melodic dictation, fretboard, intervals, chord changes, timing, rhythm, scales, sight reading and a strum trainer with Andean rhythms (huayno, saya, cachimbo, rin chilote, the repique and the chasquido) • Chords: 168 chords (12 roots, 14 types), up to three fingerings each, and Fingering: every grip finger by finger, with a drill to form the shapes • Simulation: a charango you can play, pluck a string, strum all ten or palm-mute the chasquido • Tools: metronome, drone, scales, chord and scale, circle of fifths, capo and transpose, practice recorder, overtones and String Health • 12 colour palettes, light and dark themes, left-handed mode Everything is included: no subscription, no account and nothing to buy inside the app. It all works offline, and Charango collects no data: see the App Privacy section on this page.

Screenshots

Hooktheory II4 screens
Charango4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Charango at $7.99 against Hooktheory II's $19.99. Charango also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Hooktheory II's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Hooktheory II costs $19.99 and Charango $7.99 up front. Hooktheory II sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Charango asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hooktheory II ships an update monthly, Charango every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Hooktheory II versus Charango: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHooktheory IICharango
Price$19.99$7.99 — better
Rating4.8 (28 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews92.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings28 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size123 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHooktheory LLCByteHaven Studios

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Hooktheory II

One-time1
  • Full Version$19.99
None

Charango

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hooktheory II free?
Hooktheory II costs $19.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Charango free?
Charango costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hooktheory II or Charango have ads?
Neither Hooktheory II nor Charango shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hooktheory II or Charango?
Hooktheory II ships an update monthly, and Charango every 2 weeks. Most recently, Hooktheory II was updated on October 26, 2026 and Charango on October 26, 2026.

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