BlueScalesTrainer vs ChordSmith
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BlueScalesTrainer
Learn guitar scales with your own songs. Analyze music to find keys and display matching scales. Practice with visual fretboard views, adjustable speed, and effects. Supports foot pedal control and integrates with your iTunes library.
- Song key analysis
- Visual scale patterns
- Fretboard note display
- Adjustable playback speed and pitch
- Built-in audio effects
- Foot pedal control support
- Playlist management
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The BlueScalesTrainer was created by good motivation targets for 2019. Not loosing weight this year, but finally know where notes are on which fretboard position on my guitar to play solos. Like everywhere, this require a lot of practice and I started direct in the AppStore looking for suitable apps. Although there is a lot dealing with Scales, it is either too much, visually too small and often not helpful for practicing. The features I missed are now available in the BlueScalesTrainer: * The scales should be displayed while playing, so it needs a music audio player * New songs should be analyzed because I'm not able hear the key of a song * The scales should then be displayed individually in large size and as an overview, matching the selected song * Overview and single view of scale patterns should be switched by foot pedal * A fretboard view provides a complete overview and should also be able to hide notes. Thanks to my app BlueJamPlayer, I already had the basis for the audio player, song analysis and control via foot pedal. I also took over the effect section, so that you can use the 7 audio effects in the BlueScalesTrainer as well. Here are the extensive functions that I have integrated in the BlueScalesTrainer and everything without subscription, InApp Purchase or advertising: - The main Scales are included: Major, Minor, Pentatonic Major, Pentatonic Minor, Blues Major and Blues Minor - In total 360 scales for your training target to master your guitar solos - Per scale type each of the 12 keys and their 5 patterns according to the CAGED system could be selected - Scale view in 3 modes: Pattern single, Summary and Zoom view - New added large fretboard view, where either root notes, chord notes or all notes of the scale are displayed - Switchable display of the notes or note position in the scale - The player can also be controlled via Bluetooth from PagerTurner foot pedals - Alternative scale views can be switched via foot pedal - The pitch can be adjusted without changing the speed - Also the speed is adjustable without changing the pitch - Free configurable effects (reverb, delay, flanger, equalizer, filter) to improve the sound - All songs in your iTunes library can be used - Songs are analyzed for the key, so that the matching scale will be selected automatically - The BPM will also be analyzed and effects Delay/Flanger will be set to this BPM - In order to sort your session better, there is a playlist management with 16 playlists - Especially for practicing difficult passages, the A->B Play mode is optimal - For the direct start 14 loop songs of different styles already available Hope you enjoy learning Scales with BlueScalesTrainer!
ChordSmith
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ChordSmith is a chord finder, a chromatic tuner and a drum machine built for the same instrument — yours. Sixty of them, from six-string guitar and four-string bass through banjo, mandolin, ukulele, violin, cello and double bass, and on to the bouzouki, oud, guzheng, sitar, koto, nyckelharpa, balalaika, charango and kantele. CHORD FINDER Pick a chord and see how to play it on the instrument in your hands, in up to 100 voicings, ordered from the easiest shape upward. Change the tuning and the shapes change with it — every voicing is computed for the strings you actually have, not looked up in a table for standard tuning. DADGAD, drop D, open G and every other preset is one tap away. CHROMATIC TUNER Five displays to choose between: a sweep needle, a strobe for last-cent work, chromatic spokes, a continuous note strip, and one you will want to see for yourself. Every instrument carries its own tunings, drop and open included. Set your reference by ear as well as by number — play a note from a piano, a drone or another player's instrument and the app takes its pitch as the tonic, which is how you tune to an ensemble that is not at A=440. Haptic tuning lets you feel the tuning as a gentle tick: quick when you are far off, slowing as you close in, a steady pulse once you arrive. An optional soft cue marks the moment you lock on. Needle response sets how steady the reading is, from Responsive to Steady. Notes, cents and frequency read out in retro LED-style digits. METRONOME AND DRUM MACHINE Ten kits — standard, click, electric, 808, Latin, cajón, djembe, darbuka, tabla and taiko — and twenty-seven feels, from straight eighths and a swung shuffle through son and rumba clave, bossa nova, the reggae one-drop, bembé, tresillo, maqsum and malfuf. Tap tempo, a BPM counter, compound and odd meters, and an accent pattern you edit, so 7/8 sounds like the 7/8 you are counting. CHORD DETECTION Play a chord and the app names it, tracks the key as you go, and keeps a running transcript of what it heard. The spectrum analyser spans eight octaves, C0 to C8, and runs on the room rather than on a preset, so it works with no instrument selected at all. NINE TUNING SYSTEMS Equal temperament, and the ones that came before it: Werckmeister III, quarter-comma meantone, Vallotti, Young II, Kirnberger III and Pythagorean, with a temperament octave for tuning a piano, harpsichord or clavichord by ear. Quarter-tones as 24-TET for maqam, and Thai equidistant 7-TET for the krachappi, the phin and the saw. SIXTY INSTRUMENTS Guitar in six, seven and eight strings and the Russian seven; bass in four, five and six; ukulele in three sizes; mandolin, five-string and tenor banjo, violin, viola, cello, double bass and the Hardanger fiddle; cavaquinho, viola caipira, vihuela, guitarrón, bajo sexto, cuatro, charango, bandurria and laúd; Greek bouzouki in tetrachordo and trichordo, the Irish bouzouki, Turkish and Arabic oud, bağlama, gambus; erhu, pipa, guqin, guzheng, koto, gayageum, shamisen, sanshin; sitar, tanpura, veena and the Carnatic violin; balalaika, domra, dombra, morin khuur, nyckelharpa, kantele; krachappi, phin, saw duang, saw u and the đàn ghi-ta phím lõm; piano, harpsichord and clavichord. BOUGHT ONCE Fourteen days to try everything, then one purchase, yours for good. No subscription, no account, no advertising. The tuner and the detector run entirely on your device — nothing you play is recorded, uploaded, or sent anywhere. The app works with no network connection at all, which matters more in a rehearsal room than it does in a shop.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: ChordSmith at Free against BlueScalesTrainer's $2.99. ChordSmith also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). BlueScalesTrainer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). On ads and device support 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
ChordSmith is free to download; BlueScalesTrainer costs $2.99 up front. ChordSmith sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BlueScalesTrainer asks for nothing beyond the download.
BlueScalesTrainer ships an update every 5 months, ChordSmith fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BlueScalesTrainer | ChordSmith |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 49 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stefan Arnhold | Remnant Workshop, Inc. |
In-app purchases
BlueScalesTrainer
No in-app purchases
ChordSmith
- Lifetime$0.99
Questions
Is BlueScalesTrainer free?
Is ChordSmith free?
Do BlueScalesTrainer or ChordSmith have ads?
Which is updated more often, BlueScalesTrainer or ChordSmith?
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