Comparison

Fretuoso vs Interval Ear Trainer

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

Head to head
About

Fretuoso

Learn note positions on stringed instruments through an engaging game. Supports multiple instruments and offers staff training to improve sheet music reading. Practice specific fret ranges and tunings with adaptive learning.

Highlights
  • Learn note locations on fretboard
  • Supports 11 string instruments
  • Staff training for sheet music
  • Customizable practice modes
  • Flexible tuning options
  • Progress tracking and statistics
  • Adaptive learning engine
Features
Read full description

Master the Fretboard with Fretuoso Fretuoso is an engaging educational game designed to help you learn the location of notes on the fretboard of the guitar and other stringed instruments. With support for eleven instruments—including 4, 5, and 6-string basses, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo—you can expand your musical knowledge no matter your instrument of choice. How It Works Presented with random notes on the fretboard, you choose the correct answer from multiple options. Simply tap the right button to score points and improve your skills! The new Staff Training Mode helps you learn the positions of notes on the musical staff relative to your instrument’s fretboard, making reading sheet music a breeze. Features • Train Your Ear and Mind: Enhance your auditory skills while deepening your understanding of your instrument. • Learn Sheet Music: Master the positions of notes on the musical staff; say goodbye to tabs! • Eleven Realistic Instruments: Choose from 4 guitars, 3 basses, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo—all with beautiful, lifelike graphics. • Customized Training: Focus on specific fret ranges or string subsets to target your practice. • Flexible Tunings: Use built-in common tunings or create your own custom tunings. • Progress Visualization: Track your improvement with detailed statistics for every fret. • Smart Learning Engine: The app adapts to focus on areas where you need more practice. • Competitive Play: Enjoy Game Mode with levels of increasing difficulty, compete with friends, and share your achievements via Game Center. • Left-Handed Mode: Fully compatible with left-handed players. What Artists Are Saying “Learning the notes on the fretboard is key to any guitarist’s development, and Fretuoso is a neat way to get that info burned into your brain without having to carry a guitar everywhere you go. Pretty cool!” — Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats, Steve Vai, Mike Keneally) “This is one of the best apps I’ve seen in a while. It’s simple, fun, and educational. Very useful for guitar players, as many tend to play by ear and not focus on knowing the fretboard.” — Rick Musallam (Mike Keneally, Gryphon Labs) Unlock Full Access This version offers free access to only part of each available instrument. Unlock the full potential of Fretuoso with a Premium subscription, including every instrument, level, and feature, ad-free! Terms Of Service (EULA): https://fretuoso.app/terms/

About

Interval Ear Trainer

Improve your musical ear by learning to identify the distance between two notes. Practice both harmonic (played together) and melodic (played sequentially) intervals. Gradually progress through difficulty levels with piano or guitar input options.

Highlights
  • Melodic interval training
  • Harmonic interval training
  • Gradual difficulty progression
  • Piano or guitar input
  • Select specific intervals to practice
Features
Read full description

Every musician should work on Ear Training (or Aural Training) and Interval Ear Training is a very important element of ear training. To put it very simply, you will learn to recognise the relationship between two notes (by distance), when they are played together or apart! There are two types of interval listening, harmonic and melodic. In harmonic intervals the notes are played at the same time and in melodic the notes are played one after the other. Easy to remember: Melodic Intervals make melody, Harmonic Intervals make harmony! Many of you will probably want to understand how the names are found and how to work out the interval note names in every key. For this info you probably want to check out my ebook Practical Music Theory (available from justinguitar.com) which will explain all the theory related to this. This app deals specifically with Interval Ear Training, both melodic and harmonic. It will start very easy and gradually get harder as you get more correct and can pass each stage. You can choose from Piano or Guitar Input for your answers, and you can chose to hear the notes and guitar or piano. Personally, I'd recommend getting used to both. In "Training Mode" you can select specific intervals to work on if you are struggling with just specific intervals or types of interval. I'm sure you'll find this app very helpful, all you need to add is practice time! Best wishes, Justin

Screenshots

Fretuoso4 screens
Interval Ear Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Fretuoso at Free against Interval Ear Trainer's $1.99. Fretuoso also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.9) and update cadence (every 11 days vs every 13 months). Interval Ear Trainer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 12) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Fretuoso is free to download; Interval Ear Trainer costs $1.99 up front. Fretuoso sells 12 one-off in-app purchases. Interval Ear Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fretuoso holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Fretuoso has 954 ratings behind it against 44, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Fretuoso's written reviews are positive against 67% of Interval Ear Trainer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fretuoso ships an update every 11 days, Interval Ear Trainer every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Fretuoso versus Interval Ear Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFretuosoInterval Ear Trainer
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.6 (954 ratings) — better3.9 (44 ratings)
Positive reviews60.7% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings954 — better44
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterEvery 13 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.010.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCatloaf Software LLCJustin Guitar

Customer experience

Fretuoso

All ratings953 ratings
Positive91.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.4%
Written reviews168 reviews
Positive60.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative31.0%

Interval Ear Trainer

All ratings44 ratings
Positive70.5%
Neutral11.4%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral8.8%
Negative24.6%

User reviews

Fretuoso

From 954 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Good way to learn the fretboard
  • 👍 Great app
  • 👍 Helpful learning tool
  • 👍 Fun and engaging way to learn
  • 👍 Effective for learning notes on the fretboard

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Random note generator gets stuck
  • 🔍 Unclear instructions
  • 💰 Paywall for full access
  • 📢 Intrusive ads
  • 🤔 Fretboard orientation issues

Interval Ear Trainer

From 44 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for ear training
  • 🚀 Effective skill improvement
  • 💡 Convenient practice
  • 💰 Good value for money
  • 👍 Supports Justin's work

Room to improve

  • 😞 Unintuitive interface
  • 😞 Bad text and video information
  • 😞 Terrible instructions
  • 😞 Useless instructions
  • 😞 Confusing for novices

Bugs and requests

Fretuoso

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Restore purchases not working
  • Sound not working
  • Crashes and freezes
  • Incorrect note display
  • Syncing issues

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow adjusting fret marker positions
  • Add 'play the fret' mode
  • Improve randomness of note selection
  • Provide more tuning and instrument options
  • Add landscape mode support

Interval Ear Trainer

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Does not respond to touch input
  • Not working on iOS 11
  • Cannot ster back after mistake
  • Piano input is wrong
  • Melodic interval comes out mistimed
Show 1 more
  • App crashes or freezes (implied by 'not working')

Requested features

14 requests
  • Option to replay missed intervals
  • Option to keep root note the same
  • Automatic mode for interval playback
  • Adjustable delay for answer reveal
  • Configurable time between interval plays
Show 9 more
  • Add solmization syllables (Do Re Mi)
  • Allow turning off game interface
  • Specify pitch range in training mode
  • Specify a single root note
  • Add landscape rotation
  • Allow going back to adjust level
  • Improve harmonic interval sound quality
  • Add tempo change for melodic intervals
  • Update for iOS 11

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Fretuoso

One-time12
  • 8-String Guitar$3.99
  • 12-String Guitar$3.99
  • Guitar$39.90
Show 9 more
  • Bass Guitar$39.90
  • Banjo$39.90
  • Mandolin$39.90
  • Ukulele$39.90
  • 7-String Guitar$39.90
  • 5-String Bass Guitar$39.90
  • 6-String Bass Guitar$39.90
  • Acoustic Guitar$39.90
  • All Instruments$89.90
None

Interval Ear Trainer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Fretuoso free?
Fretuoso is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Interval Ear Trainer free?
Interval Ear Trainer costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Fretuoso or Interval Ear Trainer?
Fretuoso is rated higher. Fretuoso averages 4.6 out of 5 from 954 ratings, while Interval Ear Trainer averages 3.9 from 44 ratings.
Do Fretuoso or Interval Ear Trainer have ads?
Fretuoso shows ads; Interval Ear Trainer does not.
Which is updated more often, Fretuoso or Interval Ear Trainer?
Fretuoso ships an update every 11 days, and Interval Ear Trainer every 13 months. Most recently, Fretuoso was updated on October 20, 2026 and Interval Ear Trainer on October 21, 2026.

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