GuitarNotes vs Oolimo Guitar Chords
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
Oolimo Guitar Chords
This app provides an interactive way to learn, understand, and master guitar chords. It offers a structured approach to chord theory, helping users visualize and hear harmonic relationships. Features include a chord finder, analyzer, progression explorer, interactive lessons, and quizzes.
- Interactive chord finder and analyzer
- Chord progression visualization
- 22 interactive theory lessons
- Chord construction and ear training quizzes
- Interactive fretboard and diagrams
- Chord playback and note display
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Oolimo is the interactive foundational reference for guitar chords – a learning and lookup app that explains chords clearly, supports songwriting, and inspires fresh sounds on the guitar. – No subscription! Pay once – use it forever and receive updates. – Current languages (included in every app): English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Chinese (Simplified), Indonesian, Japanese. Learn guitar chords and chord symbols as used by professional guitarists in modern pop, rock and jazz – including complex jazz chords. Let the Chord Analyzer name chords you've discovered on the guitar and show you how they are built. – Chord Finder, Chord Analyzer and music theory in one app. – Learn and understand chords – Read chord symbols confidently (including complex jazz chords) – Analyze chords instead of guessing – Apply music theory directly on the fretboard Oolimo clears up nonsense chords and incorrectly or confusingly written chord symbols, and explains with clear logic how chord symbols (chord names) are written unambiguously and how to correctly interpret different notations. When musicians from all over the world play together, it's important that everyone speaks and understands the same language – and that the language is easy and clearly understandable. — The Modules — Chord Finder Find musically meaningful chords instead of random guitar shapes. All fingerings come from a hand-curated database of playable voicings and are intelligently transposed by an algorithm. Every chord adapts automatically to the selected key. With a single tap you can send shapes directly to the Analyzer and explore inversions and different interpretations of the chord. Chord Analyzer Enter any guitar chord into the virtual fretboard and instantly get the correct chord name, including inversions. No "unknown chord" messages thanks to the intelligent recognition algorithm – even for complex chords, slash chords and inversions. The Chord Analyzer also supports alternative tunings (open tunings). Chord Progressions Explore and compare the most important chord progressions with an innovative matrix that visualizes harmonic functions and relationships. Practice the most important progressions systematically in different keys and variations – and master them so well that you can rattle them off in rehearsal to the amazement of your bandmates. Theory Lessons 22 interactive lessons with smart visualizations explain intervals, chord construction, voicings, slash chords, diatonic harmony and all major chord types – from first explorations on the fretboard, through major, minor and dominant 7th to altered, sus, add, 6th and diminished chords. Quizzes Use the quizzes to test and internalize your knowledge through play. The quiz tasks cover many topics: chord construction, intervals, harmonic context, chord types, voicings, tensions and much more.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Oolimo Guitar Chords at every 6 weeks against GuitarNotes's every 7 months. Oolimo Guitar Chords also leads on chart position (#45 vs unranked) and review sentiment (92% vs 83%). GuitarNotes's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $5.99). 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
GuitarNotes costs $2.99 and Oolimo Guitar Chords $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for GuitarNotes against 4.8 for Oolimo Guitar Chords. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 221 and 102 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of GuitarNotes's written reviews are positive against 92% of Oolimo Guitar Chords's.
GuitarNotes ships an update every 7 months, Oolimo Guitar Chords every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GuitarNotes | Oolimo Guitar Chords |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (221 ratings) | 4.8 (102 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 91.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 221 — better | 102 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #45 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | 小舟 苏 | Oliver Mochmann |
Customer experience
GuitarNotes
Oolimo Guitar Chords
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
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- 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)
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- 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
Oolimo Guitar Chords
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
GuitarNotes
No in-app purchases
Oolimo Guitar Chords
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is GuitarNotes free?
Is Oolimo Guitar Chords free?
Which has better reviews, GuitarNotes or Oolimo Guitar Chords?
Do GuitarNotes or Oolimo Guitar Chords have ads?
Which is updated more often, GuitarNotes or Oolimo Guitar Chords?
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