Comparison

GuitarNotes vs Guitar 3D

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

Head to head
About

GuitarNotes

Learn and master guitar fretboard notes with interactive practice modes. Identify notes by fret location or find fret positions for specific notes. Customize your learning experience with adjustable settings and realistic sounds.

Highlights
  • Guess the note by fret
  • Locate the note by position
  • Supports left and right-handed players
  • Customizable quizzes
  • Realistic guitar sounds
  • Adjustable practice session duration
Features
Read full description

Know every note on the fretboard, instantly. Quick daily quizzes train your memory until chords, scales, solos make sense anywhere on the neck. 4.7 stars, 200+ ratings. Since 2012. One-time purchase, no subscriptions. TWO WAYS TO TRAIN Guess the Note: See a fret and name its note. Instant recognition is the secret to reading the neck while you play. Locate the Note: Given a note, find every position it lives in across the fretboard. Chords and scales start to make sense. YOUR PRACTICE, YOUR RULES - Pick exactly which notes, strings, and fret range to focus on. Master the first five frets before moving up the neck. - Right-handed or left-handed? Every exercise mirrors your actual guitar. - Set a practice duration and build a daily habit in just a few minutes. - Realistic guitar sounds link every position to what your ear should hear. HOW IT WORKS 1. Choose your focus: notes, strings, and frets 2. Answer quick quizzes in Guess or Locate mode 3. Watch the whole neck unlock, one short session at a time TRAIN AT YOUR OWN PACE - Set your strings and note names based on your own learning progress. - Start with just one string and a few notes, then gradually build up to all six strings and every note name. - Practice anytime, anywhere — even in small pockets of free time. Once you know the fretboard inside and out, you'll have a solid foundation for becoming a skilled guitarist. You'll be able to: 1) Quickly identify root keys, chords, and scales 2) Develop your improvisation skills WHAT PLAYERS SAY "A must if you plan to solo." - 5-star review "I downloaded every fretboard app I could find and this is by far the best." - 5-star review "My fretboard mastery has skyrocketed." - 5-star review "This app will help you drill knowledge deep down into your brain." - 5-star review, from a teacher and player of 30 years Memorize the fretboard for less than a pack of strings. GuitarNotes is a one-time purchase: no subscriptions, no ads, no data collection. Download GuitarNotes today. TERMS & PRIVACY: - Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ - Privacy Policy: https://soulreload.com/app/guitarnotes/privacy-policy/

About

Guitar 3D

Learn guitar chords, strumming, and fingerpicking with interactive 3D visualizations. Compose your own music using a simple editor and hear real guitar sounds. Ideal for visual learners wanting to play basic guitar quickly.

Highlights
  • 3D right and left hand viewer
  • Chord chain editor
  • Auto play & loop
  • Speed control
  • Chord training game
  • Left-handed guitarist support
  • Chord library
Features
Read full description

No Ads! Learn how to play basic guitar chords, strumming and fingerpicking simply with this 3D ultimate guitar learning app just in minutes. Specially Designed for visual learners! Fun and easy way to learn guitar chords or compose songs. Just select the chords you want to learn and add them to the timeline. The virtual guitarist in the application plays the chord sequences you have composed, with strumming or fingerpicking techniques. You can see the correct finger movements from all sides in vivid detail. With the simple and easy-to-use music editor, you can compose your own music just in minutes. Sounds are recorded from real guitars. All animations were made with worlds best academic musicians and education experts. Features of Guitar 3D - Basic Chords App: ▸ Very easy to use ▸ No Ads ▸ 3D right and left hand viewer ▸ Chord chain editor ▸ Auto play & loop ▸ Speed ​​control ▸ Save your songs ▸ First - person and split cam options ▸ Different strumming and fingerpicking techniques ▸ Chord training game with 25 levels ▸ Support for left-handed guitarists ▸ Chord library(2D diagram) including all chords If you want to follow us: https://www.instagram.com/guitar3d https://www.facebook.com/Guitar3D https://www.facebook.com/Polygonium https://www.polygonium.com/music

Screenshots

GuitarNotes4 screens
Guitar 3D4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Guitar 3D at Free against GuitarNotes's $2.99. Guitar 3D also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months) and review sentiment (99% vs 83%). GuitarNotes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7). On rating 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

Guitar 3D is free to download; GuitarNotes costs $2.99 up front. Guitar 3D sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. GuitarNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for GuitarNotes against 4.8 for Guitar 3D. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 221 and 736 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of GuitarNotes's written reviews are positive against 99% of Guitar 3D's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GuitarNotes ships an update every 7 months, Guitar 3D every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
GuitarNotes versus Guitar 3D: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGuitarNotesGuitar 3D
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (221 ratings)4.8 (736 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews98.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings221736 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB145 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer小舟 苏Polygonium

Customer experience

GuitarNotes

All ratings221 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral1.4%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews54 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral1.9%
Negative14.8%

Guitar 3D

All ratings736 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral1.8%
Negative0.4%
Written reviews379 reviews
Positive98.9%
Neutral0.5%
Negative0.5%

User reviews

GuitarNotes

From 221 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Highly customizable practice
  • 💰 Affordable price point
  • 🧠 Effective for memorization
  • ✅ Intuitive and easy to use
  • 💡 Well-programmed and brilliant

Room to improve

  • 🐌 App is unbearably slow (post-update)
  • ⚫ Boring black and white interface
  • 📉 Downgraded after redesign
  • 🐛 Notes are incorrect on some strings
  • 🚫 No sound

Guitar 3D

From 736 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Excellent visuals
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Helpful for learning chords
  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 👍 Intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
  • 🐛 Difficulty seeing strings being picked
  • 🐛 Slow or disjointed performance
  • 🐛 No sound in some cases

Bugs and requests

GuitarNotes

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App is unbearably slow after update v3
  • Notes are incorrect on some strings (iPhone 6s)
  • No sound
  • App doesn't work properly on iPhone 6s
  • Numbers splash up on screen and can't be removed
Show 5 more
  • Tuning is off
  • Cannot count frets without losing track or getting eye strain
  • No way to make fret numbers display
  • Download issues initially
  • Reinstalling after factory reset requires payment again

Requested features

23 requests
  • Visualize notes by mistakes
  • Sort by most mistaken notes
  • Completely turn off timer
  • Freeplay mode
  • Alternate tunings (drop D, DADGAD)
Show 18 more
  • Support for 24 frets
  • Chord function
  • Scales and triads
  • Chords
  • Automatic playback of continuous notes
  • App recognizes notes via sound
  • Change tuning (half step down)
  • Turn off voice speaking letters
  • Support for iOS 11
  • Limit number of frets
  • Alternate orientation for one-handed use
  • Option to prevent accidental hits on turned-off notes
  • Visual options for the neck
  • Tones to accompany notes
  • Fret spacing more consistent with actual guitar
  • Fret numbers display
  • Graphic changes for eye strain
  • Ability to limit fretboard breadth displayed

Guitar 3D

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

7 requests
  • Include more advanced chords and chord progressions
  • Add interval display
  • Incorporate barred chords
  • Integrate with a DAW or guitar pro software
  • Provide a song library with popular songs
Show 2 more
  • Add Bluetooth connectivity
  • Improve song creation and saving functionality

In-app purchases

None

GuitarNotes

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

Guitar 3D

One-time7
  • Classical Guitar$1.99
  • Acoustic Guitar$1.99
  • Classical Guitar$2.99
Show 4 more
  • Acoustic Guitar$2.99
  • Electro-Classical Guitar$2.99
  • Guitar Bundle$4.99
  • Guitar Bundle$7.99

Questions

Is GuitarNotes free?
GuitarNotes costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Guitar 3D free?
Guitar 3D is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, GuitarNotes or Guitar 3D?
Guitar 3D is rated higher. GuitarNotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 221 ratings, while Guitar 3D averages 4.8 from 736 ratings.
Do GuitarNotes or Guitar 3D have ads?
Neither GuitarNotes nor Guitar 3D shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GuitarNotes or Guitar 3D?
GuitarNotes ships an update every 7 months, and Guitar 3D every 2 months. Most recently, GuitarNotes was updated on September 21, 2026 and Guitar 3D on September 11, 2026.

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