Guitar Sight Reading Trainer vs Guitar Scales
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Guitar Sight Reading Trainer
Enhance your music reading skills with this app, focusing on fretboard note identification and positional playing. It offers various practice modes, supports numerous scales and tunings, and tracks your progress. Ideal for guitarists looking to improve their ability to read sheet music.
- Note identification on fretboard
- Positional playing focus
- Practice and test modes
- Key signature and scale support
- Customizable fret groups
- Alternate tuning support
- Left-handed guitar support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Sight-reading skills open the door to reading written music and familiarizing yourself with various music styles. Sight-reading is not a daunting task, and with sufficient practice, anyone can develop this valuable skill. Our app is designed to help you quickly identify notes across every part of the fretboard, with a special focus on positional playing. By enhancing your sight-reading abilities, you'll find it easier to focus on other musical aspects like harmony and rhythm. Features: PRACTICE & TEST MODE - Four different modes of use: 1. Locate notes on the fretboard based on the notes in staff. 2. Locate notes on the fretboard based on note name and pitch. 3. Find the names of notes on the staff (without the fretboard) 4. Identify the names of notes presented on the fretboard. - Automatic detection of problematic notes. KEY SIGNATURES & SCALES - Key signature support, from 1 to 6 sharps or 1 to 6 flats. - Automatic selection of the enharmonic notes for each scale to prevent double sharps or double flats in the key signature. - Scales include major, minor, melodic minor, harmonic minor, blues, pentatonic, and all modal scales. FRETS, STRINGS & NOTE SELECTION - Frets are grouped to limit the number of notes to practice and test. - Predefined fret groups, e.g., 0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 0-12, 13-17, etc. - You can define custom fret groups. - The highlighted fret group is displayed on the fretboard. - Your sight-reading progress is tracked per fret group. - The longest streak record per fret group measures your sight-reading accuracy. - You can select specific strings for the highlighted area. - Test notes can be limited to naturals or notes from a selected scale. READ AHEAD - Reading ahead is a crucial skill for effective sight-reading. - You can adjust the number of notes to read ahead. OTHER - More than 15 alternate guitar tunings e.g., drop D, NST (new standard tuning) and all fourths tuning. - Support for left-handed guitars. - Option to display the fretboard in perspective (in landscape mode). - A universal app compatible with iPhone, iPhone Duo, iPad. - Supports all screen sizes. - No ads or in-app purchases. - Dark mode support (iOS 13+). - Tested on iOS and iPadOS 27
Guitar Scales
Visualize musical scales on your instrument's fretboard. Explore over 48 built-in scales, create your own, and customize tunings. Ideal for beginners and experienced musicians to learn theory and practice solos.
- Fretboard scale visualization
- Over 48 built-in scales
- Custom scale creation
- Instrument tuning customization
- Left-handed mode
- Note playback and sound options
Read full descriptionHide full description
Guitar Scales + is the easiest way to see scales on the fretboard while playing guitar, bass and ukulele. You can choose from over 48 build in scales, create your own and customize the tuning of your instrument. With excelent playback support, you can work out solos, or just play around on the fretboard. Whether you are are a beginner, want to learn music theory, or are a veteran player, Guitar Scales +is the perfect app for you. FEATURES - Show any scale in any key on the fretboard - Supports guitar, bass and ukulele - See over 48 build in scales - Create your own scales - Choose different tunings or create your own - Support for tunings with more strings - Change to left handed fretboard - Dynamic number of frets - Show intervals and octaves for every note - Choose which accidentals should be shown - Play any scale by tapping the notes - Supports multiple guitar sounds (nylon, steel, clean, jazz, overdrive, distortion) - Supports multiple bass sounds (finger, pick, acoustic) - Support for dark and light mode SUPPORT Please feel free to contact me any time if you have questions or suggestions. Alos, leave a rating if you like the app, it means a lot to me! support@getstringtheory.com TERMS & PRIVACY https://www.getstringtheory.app/terms.html https://www.getstringtheory.app/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Guitar Scales at Free against Guitar Sight Reading Trainer's $1.99. Guitar Scales also leads on iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.6). Guitar Sight Reading Trainer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (91% vs 75%). On rating, ratings volume, 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
Guitar Scales is free to download; Guitar Sight Reading Trainer costs $1.99 up front. Guitar Scales sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Guitar Sight Reading Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Guitar Sight Reading Trainer against 4.9 for Guitar Scales. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 16 and 33 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of Guitar Sight Reading Trainer's written reviews are positive against 75% of Guitar Scales's.
Guitar Sight Reading Trainer ships an update every 2 months, Guitar Scales every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Guitar Sight Reading Trainer | Guitar Scales |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.9 (16 ratings) — better | 4.9 (33 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 90.6% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 33 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.6 | 17.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rolfs Apps | Denis Andrasec |
Customer experience
Guitar Sight Reading Trainer
Guitar Scales
Bugs and requests
Guitar Sight Reading Trainer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sound does not work (resolved by turning off mute)
- Bug for lefties: string isolation incorrect
- App does not launch on iPhone 3g
Requested features
34 requests- Ukulele version
- See whole fretboard at once in landscape
- Disable timer altogether
- Choose any range of fretboard for testing
- Use sheet music for actual sight reading
Show 29 moreShow fewer
- Standalone chord trainer
- Real guitar interface to play notes
- Option to see whole fretboard at once
- Pause button
- Smarter re-testing of weak points
- Play answers back on a real guitar without touching screen
- Generate short musical phrases for sight reading
- Add intervals mode
- Chords or double stops
- Scales mode
- Save and restore settings
- Better visualization of stats
- Tweak random generator to avoid repeated notes
- Concentrate on problem notes
- Moveable SOL-FA
- Option to only display note on selected string
- Melody trainer
- Easier to touch open string options
- Bass guitar version
- Fretless bass version
- Option to leave sharps and flats off
- Review lesson showing notes on certain strings
- Test on more than one note at a time
- Pick a key or scale to be tested in
- Dark mode
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Option to change fretboard presentation
- Bass guitar support (5 string)
- Switch to bass clef
Guitar Scales
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Guitar Sight Reading Trainer
No in-app purchases
Guitar Scales
- Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription$17.991 Year
Questions
Is Guitar Sight Reading Trainer free?
Is Guitar Scales free?
Which has better reviews, Guitar Sight Reading Trainer or Guitar Scales?
Do Guitar Sight Reading Trainer or Guitar Scales have ads?
Which is updated more often, Guitar Sight Reading Trainer or Guitar Scales?
Other comparisons















