Thelonious vs FretWizard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Thelonious
This app simplifies music theory with visual aids for keys, chords, and scales. It helps users understand harmony and apply concepts to real playing, including guitar-specific features.
- Visual layouts for keys, chords, and scales
- Diatonic chord and key relationship study
- Chord progressions and harmonic movement
- Guitar mode charts
- CAGED system material
- Relative minor and dominant chord learning
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Thelonious is a music theory app designed to help you understand keys, chords, scales, and harmony through clear, visual layouts. Explore major keys, review scale notes, and study diatonic chords in a format built for both learning and quick reference. Thelonious connects theory to real playing with chord progressions, guitar mode charts, and CAGED system material. Use Thelonious to: • Explore major keys and their scale notes • Understand diatonic chords and key relationships • Learn relative minor and dominant chords • Study chord progressions and harmonic movement • View guitar modes and CAGED chord charts Whether you’re learning the fundamentals or deepening your understanding of harmony, Thelonious makes music theory easier to read, understand, and apply.
FretWizard
Visualize scales and chords on a fretboard for any stringed instrument. Explore music theory with multiple view modes and flexible note labeling options. Supports custom instruments and tunings.
- Fretboard visualization for stringed instruments
- Supports custom instruments and tunings
- Extensive scale and chord library
- Multiple view modes (Chromatic, Scale, Chord)
- Flexible note labeling options
- Sharp/flat toggle and pinch-to-zoom
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FretWizard is the ultimate fretboard visualization tool for guitarists, bassists, and players of all stringed instruments. Whether you're a beginner learning your first scales or an experienced player deepening your music theory knowledge, FretWizard makes it easy to see exactly where every note lives on the neck. INSTRUMENTS Visualize scales and chords across 7 pre-defined instruments, or create your own custom instrument or tuning: • Guitar • Bass Guitar • Ukulele • Mandolin • 5-String Banjo (Open G) • 5-String Banjo (Double C) • Tenor Banjo • Custom — build any instrument with your own tuning (up to 12 strings) SCALES • Major & Minor • Pentatonic Major & Minor • Blues • Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian • Harmonic Minor • Chromatic CHORDS • Major, Minor • Dom 7, Maj 7, Min 7 • Augmented, Diminished • Aug 7, Dim 7 • 6th, 9th, 11th, 13th • Sus2, Sus4 POWERFUL VIEW MODES Switch between four views to explore music theory your way: • Chromatic — see all 12 notes across the entire neck • Scale — highlight every note in your chosen scale • Chord — see all chord tones up and down the fretboard • Scale + Chord — overlay both at once to understand how chords live inside scales FLEXIBLE NOTE LABELS Choose how notes are labeled on the fretboard: • Note Name (C, D, F#...) • Scale Degree (1, 2, 3, 4...) • Interval (R, M3, P5...) MORE FEATURES • Sharp/flat toggle for your preferred notation • Pinch-to-zoom for detailed fret inspection • Landscape mode for a wider fretboard view • Full tablet support • Clean dark interface designed for readability on stage or in the studio
Screenshots
Verdict
Thelonious and FretWizard are too close to call on the numbers: across 8 compared parameters — price, rating, ratings volume and ads among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Thelonious against 5.0 for FretWizard. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
| Parameter | Thelonious | FretWizard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 34 MB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Robert Natale | Alexander Douglass |
In-app purchases
Thelonious
No in-app purchases
FretWizard
No in-app purchases









