Solo vs Sonofield Ear Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Fretboard visualization
- Note name trainer
- Interval shape memorization
- Chord change outlining
- Scale practice
- Interactive fretboards
- Customizable workouts
Read full descriptionHide 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.
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.
- Feeling-based note recognition
- Scale degree identification
- Melody recognition training
- Singing exercises
- Hands-free training mode
- Interactive exploration instrument
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
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). Solo's advantage is chart position (#189 vs unranked). 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
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.
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.
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.
| Parameter | Solo | Sonofield Ear Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $17.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (657 ratings) | 4.9 (389 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 88.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 657 — better | 389 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #189 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 231 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Trio Software Ltd | Sonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd. |
Customer experience
Solo
Sonofield Ear Trainer
User reviews
Solo
From 657 App Store ratingsWhat 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 ratingsWhat 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
Solo
- Custom Tunings$1.99
- Custom Chord Progressions$5.99
Sonofield Ear Trainer
- Lifetime Pro$14.99
- Lifetime Pro$17.99
- Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Lifetime Pro$24.99
Questions
Is Solo free?
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Do Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Solo or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Other comparisons















