Comparison

Fingering Strings vs ScalePlay

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

Head to head
About

Fingering Strings

This interactive guide helps string instrument players visualize fingerings for various hand positions across different clefs. It allows users to see and hear notes, intervals, and chords, aiding in learning and practice.

Highlights
  • Multiple instrument support (Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)
  • Extensive hand position library (Simandl, Rabbath)
  • Visual "beginner tape" display
  • Multi-note display (up to 4 notes)
  • Hear notes, intervals, and chords on piano
  • Support for Treble, Alto, Tenor, Bass clefs
Read full description

The highest rated and most comprehensive fingering guide available for Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass (Simandl and Rabbath positions). See up to 4 notes at the same time. Decide which hand position would be best for the interval or passage. See and hear the written note, interval, or chord on the piano. Support for Key Signatures to more easily find a fingering in the music you're working on. • Hand Positions: 15 positions on the Violin, 15 positions on the Viola, 16 positions on the Cello, and 12 Simandl positions or 6 Rabbath positions on the Double Bass. • Display "beginner tape" on the fingerboard as well as string names and colors. • Notate one to four notes in Treble, Alto, Tenor or Bass clef. How to Use: Pick a written note (touch the staff) and have the fingering displayed and concert pitch played on the piano. Play a concert pitch on the piano, and have that pitch's fingering displayed and the transposed note written on the staff. Written and concert pitches are the same for all but the double bass, which transposes, sounding an octave below what is written. • Use the ‘Play' button(s) to repeatedly hear the note(s) being displayed. Selecting a Pitch: Using the Staff (transposed for the current instrument): Simply touch and slide up and down on the staff to select the note, slide to the right or left of the note for sharps and flats. Using the Piano (concert pitch): drag in the area below the keyboard to move the keyboard, touch to play notes, touch & slide to change the pitch. When you glissando up the keyboard, notes will be notated as a raised value (sharps), when you glissando down, notes will be notated as lowered values (flats). Use the up and down arrows to move chromatically up and down without touching the music staff or piano keyboard.

About

ScalePlay

This app generates intricate musical patterns and sequences using complex scale theory. It's a powerful tool for both music production and education, offering scale references, virtual instruments, and interactive playback features.

Highlights
  • Generates intricate ostinatos and sequences
  • Applies complex scale patterns
  • User-defined songforms and chord changes
  • Scale references for hundreds of scales
  • Nine virtual instruments and 128 sounds
  • Visualizes scale relations
  • Interactive playback with generated patterns
Features
Read full description

ScalePlay is a generative music app capable of producing the most intricate ostinatos and sequences by applying complex scale patterns over user defined songforms and chord changes. It can be used in music production and is also a fantastic tool for music education. It includes scale references for hundreds of scales, nine virtual instruments and 128 instrument sounds. Its unique set of features allows the musician to visualize scale relations and to play along with generated patterns. Modern musicians often practice playing scales according to organizing principles like thirds. What is meant by that is to play a scale tone, then its third, then the second scale tone, the third on top of that one and so forth. The exercise would result in the scale tones 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, etc. Not an easy feat at first, because before even getting started, one has to know the base scale. Playing patterns through different keys and scale types finally is a demanding task even for advanced musicians. ScalePlay constructs patterns like these and much more complicated ones by using two simple grids. Grids have been around in music apps for years, but they are based on half-tone steps and include all available notes of the spectrum. That leaves one difficulty on the table, namely that of correctly identifying the notes of a scale. These grids also don’t easily allow for patterning as in our scale in thirds. So a different solution is called for and ScalePlay provides just that and so much more. In the application songs are used as metaphor to organize different scale types into a harmonic context. They are constructed with chords which in turn determine what scale types are available at a given time. During playback the app then cycles through these virtual chords or as with TouchPlay allows to call them up at will. This architecture is very helpful for superimposing ScalePlay patterns over existing pieces and even practicing improvising over changes. For practicing ScalePlay shows a pattern's progression on the built-in instrument and also provides a music notation reference. One can slow things down to need and play along. With the pattern lock feature all patterns can be kept in the same general vicinity. So instead of raising all scale tones when a base chord moves from C to G for example, patterns stay in place. This allows guitarists to practice scale patterns over changes while remaining in the same position. ScalePlay is also a fabulous generative music app. That is because of the magic that happens when these self-repeating scale structures are put in motion. Fantastic music occurs. Since ScalePlay supports virtual MIDI and can be recorded into any iOS based DAW. It also features TouchPlay for advanced looping. With TouchPlay scale structures can be looped endlessly and out of order. The TouchPlay environment is superimposed over ScalePlay's main interface and allows live switching between different scale types with the tap of a finger in continuous or full pattern mode. Of course ScalePlay supports multi-app multitasking as well as split-view and split-screen to make this feature even more useful. Instruments • Banjo, Bass, Cello, Double Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Viola, Violin Some other Features: • 211 scale types • Virtual MIDI • Advanced looping with TouchPlay • Full general MIDI instrument library

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Fingering Strings at $3.99 against ScalePlay's $9.99. Fingering Strings also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 71%). ScalePlay's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 17 months). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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

Fingering Strings costs $3.99 and ScalePlay $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Fingering Strings against 4.9 for ScalePlay. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 10 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of Fingering Strings's written reviews are positive against 71% of ScalePlay's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fingering Strings ships an update every 17 months, ScalePlay every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on June 28, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Fingering Strings versus ScalePlay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFingering StringsScalePlay
Price$3.99 — better$9.99
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better4.9 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews91.7% of reviews — better71.4% of reviews
Number of ratings410 — better
Update frequencyEvery 17 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPatrick KellyRoGame Software

Customer experience

Fingering Strings

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%

ScalePlay

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral28.6%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Fingering Strings

No in-app purchases

None

ScalePlay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Fingering Strings free?
Fingering Strings costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ScalePlay free?
ScalePlay costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Fingering Strings or ScalePlay?
Fingering Strings is rated higher. Fingering Strings averages 5.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while ScalePlay averages 4.9 from 10 ratings.
Do Fingering Strings or ScalePlay have ads?
Neither Fingering Strings nor ScalePlay shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fingering Strings or ScalePlay?
Fingering Strings ships an update every 17 months, and ScalePlay every 3 months. Most recently, Fingering Strings was updated on June 28, 2026 and ScalePlay on September 24, 2026.

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