ScaleHelper vs Chords Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ScaleHelper
Improve your musical instrument playing with real-time feedback on your performance. Practice scales, arpeggios, and other exercises with scoring and audio playback. Prepare for exams with customizable challenges and support for multiple instruments and users.
- Real-time performance scoring
- Audio playback of notes and performance
- Practice any scale or choose specific exercises
- Exam preparation with challenge modes
- Support for multiple instruments and users
- Customizable syllabus creation
- Save and share recordings
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Choose an exercise: see the notes and hear them played Play the exercise: get a score, see the notes you played and listen to your performance ScaleHelper is the fast way to improve your playing. With actual feedback based on what you played, ScaleHelper enables you to concentrate on the aspects of your playing that will help the most. ScaleHelper has 3 modes: 1. Play any scale: ScaleHelper determines the exercise you have played and scores your performance. Ideal for impromptu practise sessions. 2. Choose a scale: Choose the exercise you want to play and ScaleHelper listens and gives you a score. Ideal to improve a specific musical exercise. 3. Challenge me: ScaleHelper will ask you to play exercises from your challenge list that is based on your chosen syllabus. ScaleHelper will identify what you need to practise and make sure you get exam ready while having fun on the way. Ideal for practising a range of exercises. ScaleHelper contains everything you need for most of the instruments covered by the ABRSM, Trinity Guildhall, and MTB examining boards all the way from Grade 1 to Grade 8. ScaleHelper will be there for you every step of the way as you grow as a musician. ScaleHelper allows you to create your own syllabus from the exercises it supports: major scales; major arpeggios; harmonic minor scales; melodic minor scales; natural minor scales; minor arpeggios; chromatic scales; dominant sevenths; diminished sevenths; augmented arpeggios; scales in thirds; whole-tone scales; and pentatonic major scales. All exercises are available starting from every tonic over 1 octave, 1 twelfth, 2 octaves, 2.5 octaves and 3 octaves. There is a range of exercise lists for popular music exams available for download. Instruments supported include Violin, Viola, Cello, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Clarinet, Flute, Oboe, Saxophone, Bassoon, Recorder, Trumpet, Cornet, Trombone and Horn. A full list is available at www.ScaleHelper.com along with details of the rich feature set ScaleHelper has to offer. At less than the price of a single music lesson the guidance that ScaleHelper provides between your lessons builds on that teaching. You can dispense with the need to review scales by playing them in your lessons and instead reuse the time you gain to learn technique and perfect your pieces. ScaleHelper supports multiple users, keeping each user's history for each of their instruments. You can save recordings to study later or to show and play to your teacher and friends. You can also email recordings to share them with others. Have fun competing with your friends to see who can get the highest score or who can maintain the highest average.
Chords Trainer
Learn to recognize and play musical chords quickly. This app offers a comprehensive chord dictionary and practice modes, including games, to enhance your music learning journey. Improve your understanding of chords represented by symbols, notes, or keyboard layouts.
- Comprehensive chord library
- Customizable learning options
- Practice, watch, and game modes
- Intelligent question generation
- Real sample sound
- Chord lookup dictionary
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This app is to help us get familiar with all kinds of chords so that we are able to recognize or play them as quick as possible, no matter they are represented by chord symbols, music notes in the stave, or keyboard keys. Improving this ability will definitely benefit all aspects of our music learning. Also, the app can be used as a dictionary to look up chords. Main Features: • Cover almost all chords we can encounter • Allow to customize the learning by chords' roots, forms, quality, inversion, and voicing (open or closed position, doubling) • Practice mode to learn at our own pace • Watch mode to learn by watching the "chords movie" • Game mode to challenge ourselves and have fun by winning high score, trophies, and medals • Search mode to loop up chords • Questions generated intelligently based on your performance • Intuitive interface • Studio quality real sample sound
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chords Trainer at none against ScaleHelper's 11. Chords Trainer also leads on price ($2.99 vs $5.99) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.0). ScaleHelper's advantage is review sentiment (80% vs 50%). On update cadence, ads, monetization model 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
ScaleHelper costs $5.99 and Chords Trainer $2.99 up front. ScaleHelper sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Chords Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.
ScaleHelper ships an update monthly, Chords Trainer every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ScaleHelper | Chords Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | — | 4.7 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Richard Williams | Plearn LLC |
Customer experience
ScaleHelper
Chords Trainer
In-app purchases
ScaleHelper
- Violin ABRSM G8$0.99
- Cello TRINITY G1 to G3$0.99
- Flute TRINITY G1 to G3$0.99
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- Viola ABRSM G6$0.99
- Viola ABRSM G7$0.99
- Viola ABRSM G8$0.99
- Violin ABRSM G1 to G3$0.99
- Clarinet ABRSM G1 to G8$2.99
- Violin ABRSM G1 to G8$2.99
- Flute ABRSM G1 to G8$2.99
- Cello ABRSM G1 to G8$2.99
Chords Trainer
No in-app purchases









