Comparison

Solo vs Sonofield Ear Trainer

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

Head to head
About

Solo

Master your guitar fretboard with this interactive trainer. Learn note names, intervals, chord changes, and scales through guided exercises. Designed by professional guitarists, it offers customizable workouts for all skill levels.

Highlights
  • Fretboard visualization
  • Note name trainer
  • Interval shape memorization
  • Chord change outlining
  • Scale practice
  • Interactive fretboards
  • Customizable workouts
Features
Read full description

Solo is the ultimate practice App for mastering fretboard visualization, designed by world renowned guitarists Tom Quayle and David Beebee. Four powerful fretboard trainers allow you to work intuitively on each aspect of the visualization process; learning note names, memorising interval shapes, outlining chord changes, and practicing scales. Solo asks you to find intervallic functions against one root note, chord symbol or scale at a time, listens to the notes you play, and doesn’t move on until you’ve correctly found each note by its intervallic function in the specified order. Practice with Solo and finally learn your note names, master interval shapes, confidently play through chord changes and break out of scale boxes with intervallic functions. Start transforming your playing and confidence on the fretboard today! NOTE TRAINER The Note Trainer is perfect for beginner and intermediate players getting to grips with note names on the neck - the foundation of solid fretboard knowledge. ‣ Solo shows you random root notes to find and listens, waiting for you to get it correct. ‣ Slide on the interactive fretboards for helpful diagrams and to study alternative options. Choose from 6 string guitar (standard and 4ths tuning), 7 string guitar, 4 string bass & 5 string bass. ‣ Optional practice suggestions offer challenging ways to limit and test yourself. ‣ Duration based workouts allow you to craft the perfect practice session. INTERVAL TRAINER The Interval Trainer will help players at all levels work on interval shapes with intervallic functions - the key to unlocking true freedom on the fretboard. ‣ Choose any combination of intervallic functions to practice. ‣ Create custom interval groups or choose the intervals for ANY chord type or scale. ‣ The Interval Trainer will randomise your chosen intervals and ask you to find them against either a fixed or random root note. ‣ Slide on the interactive fretboards for helpful diagrams, showing you where all of the interval shapes are across the neck, and to study alternative options. Choose from 6 string guitar (standard and 4ths tuning), 7 string guitar, 4 string bass & 5 string bass. ‣ Duration based workouts allow you to craft the perfect practice session. CHANGES TRAINER In the Changes Trainer you find intervallic functions, using single notes to outline different chord types or sets of chord changes, a key skill for learning to improvise through chord changes. ‣ Practice outlining intervallic functions through over 100 common chord progressions and single chord exercises. ‣ 50 intervallic function levels. Go from simple chord tones to complex melodic structures and scales. ‣ Solo intelligently maps out the correct intervals over each chord and listens for you to play each intervallic function in the specified order. ‣ Powerful workout options provide almost limitless ways to challenge yourself. ‣ Transpose the key of any progression or exercise. ‣ Choose to randomly transpose the progression (or single chord exercise) each time it repeats. ‣ Work on voice leading chord tones through single note lines. SCALE TRAINER The Scale Trainer contains a vast array of scales and powerful workout options, allowing you to finally break out of the box and develop a much deeper understanding of how scales are constructed on the fretboard. ‣ Practice finding scales on the fretboard using intervallic functions. ‣ Over 50+ Scales and modes. ‣ Powerful workout options provide almost limitless ways to challenge yourself. ‣ Melodic sequence options let you focus on starting from any chord tone within the scale. ‣ Duration based workouts allow you to craft the perfect practice session.

About

Sonofield Ear Trainer

This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.

Highlights
  • Feeling-based note recognition
  • Scale degree identification
  • Melody recognition training
  • Singing exercises
  • Hands-free training mode
  • Interactive exploration instrument
Features
Read full description

Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!

Screenshots

Solo4 screens
Sonofield Ear Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sonofield Ear Trainer at Free against Solo's $17.99. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

Sonofield Ear Trainer is free to download; Solo costs $17.99 up front. Solo sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sonofield Ear Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 657 and 389 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Solo's written reviews are positive against 89% of Sonofield Ear Trainer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Solo ships an update monthly, Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Solo versus Sonofield Ear Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoloSonofield Ear Trainer
Price$17.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (657 ratings)4.9 (389 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews88.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings657 — better389
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size231 MB105 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTrio Software LtdSonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd.

Customer experience

Solo

All ratings644 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral1.1%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews233 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.2%
Negative11.6%

Sonofield Ear Trainer

All ratings387 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews152 reviews
Positive88.8%
Neutral6.6%
Negative4.6%

User reviews

Solo

From 657 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent practice tool
  • 👍 Helps improve fretboard knowledge
  • 👍 Versatile and configurable
  • 👍 Detailed video tutorials
  • 👍 Accurate note detection

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Note detection issues
  • 🐛 App crashes
  • 🐛 Lack of customization options
  • 🐛 Unintuitive for beginners
  • 🐛 Limited functionality for the price

Sonofield Ear Trainer

From 389 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent ear training tool
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly design
  • 🎶 Effective for improving relative pitch
  • 💡 Innovative use of drone and scale degrees
  • 🎯 Helpful for aural skills development

Room to improve

  • 🤔 Challenging for true beginners
  • 💭 Desire for more customization options

Bugs and requests

Solo

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when launching the app
  • Inconsistent note detection
  • Inability to save progress or settings

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add ability to create custom chord progressions
  • Integrate metronome functionality
  • Provide visual representation of intervals on staff
  • Add option to practice natural notes only
  • Implement option to hear chord tones in the background
Show 3 more
  • Allow randomization of scale order
  • Add support for non-standard tunings
  • Implement sound feedback when finding the correct note

Sonofield Ear Trainer

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • None reported

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
  • Ability to reduce octave range
  • Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
  • Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
  • Add interactive tutorial for level 1

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Solo

One-time2
  • Custom Tunings$1.99
  • Custom Chord Progressions$5.99
4 purchases

Sonofield Ear Trainer

One-time4
  • Lifetime Pro$14.99
  • Lifetime Pro$17.99
  • Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Pro$24.99

Questions

Is Solo free?
Solo costs $17.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Sonofield Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Sonofield Ear Trainer is rated higher. Solo averages 4.7 out of 5 from 657 ratings, while Sonofield Ear Trainer averages 4.9 from 389 ratings.
Do Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Neither Solo nor Sonofield Ear Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Solo ships an update monthly, and Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. Most recently, Solo was updated on October 27, 2026 and Sonofield Ear Trainer on October 28, 2026.

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