Fretionary vs Nashville Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fretionary
This app transforms your device into an interactive guitar fretboard, visualizing scales, chords, and progressions. It offers color-coded displays and real audio playback to aid music theory learning.
- Interactive fretboard visualization
- 14 scales and modes
- 25 chord types
- CAGED system shapes
- Chord progression builder
- Color-coded by function
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Fretionary turns your entire fretboard into a visual theory map. Stop hunting for scale shapes on YouTube. Stop forgetting which chord is which. Fretionary puts every scale, chord, and progression you need right on an interactive fretboard — color-coded, labeled, and playable with real guitar audio. FEATURES • 14 scales & modes — Major, Minor, Pentatonic, Blues, Dorian, Lydian, and more • 36 chord types with fingering diagrams — Triads, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, Sus, Add, and more • CAGED system — all 5 shapes color-coded across the neck, with reference chord diagrams • 64 chord progressions — across Pop, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Latin, Motown, Gospel, Classical, Reggae, and more • Progressions builder — Common, Diatonic, or build your own from scratch • Practice drills — Name the Note, Find the Note, String Drill (Beginner to Advanced) • Identify — reverse chord lookup: tap any notes on the fretboard, get the chord name • Progress tracking — daily streak plus scales explored, chords learned, and progressions played • Interactive fretboard up to 24 frets — tap positions directly, focus on any range • Color-coded by function — roots, 3rds, 5ths, and extensions instantly visible • 9 alternate tunings — Standard, Drop D, Drop C, DADGAD, Open D/G/E, Eb Standard, and more • Real guitar audio — sample-based playback for every scale, chord, and progression • Built-in metronome (free) — BPM 40–240, six time signatures, tap-tempo • iPad optimized — full-screen fretboard with side-by-side controls FRETIONARY PRO Unlock all scales, chords, progressions, tunings, and practice modes. • Monthly: $7.99/month • Lifetime: $44.99 one time Subscriptions automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://fretionary.com/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Nashville Trainer
Learn to play music in any key by understanding chord relationships through numbers. This app offers visual drills, ear training, and interactive tools to help musicians transpose and play by ear with confidence. It's designed for worship teams and session musicians.
- Visual drills connecting numbers to chords
- Ear training for chord recognition
- Interactive fretboard and keyboard
- MD Mode simulating music director calls
- Expert Mode for manual chord building
- Progress tracking and statistics
- Multiple instrument sounds
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Play any song in any key. Nashville Trainer teaches the Nashville Number System, the language worship teams and session musicians use to call chords as numbers. Instead of memorizing chords for every key, you learn to think in numbers. Once it clicks, you can read a number chart, follow the band, transpose on the fly when the leader changes key, and play by ear with confidence. WHAT YOU GET • Visual drills that connect numbers to chords and back • Ear training to recognize chords and progressions by sound, with a Slower button when you need it • Song Mode (beta): chart your songs as numbers with the words, paste a chord sheet, or open a ChordPro file, then read it in any key and share it with your band • Setlists: put Sunday's songs in order, each in the key you'll play it that day, practice the whole set at once, and share it with your team in one link • Stage view: the chart big and easy to read on your music stand, a page at a time or the whole song, with a Bluetooth page turner if you have one • A capo helper that turns the letters into the shapes you'll play, with a chord box for each one • Battle (Pro to start, free to join): race up to three friends live through the same questions over Game Center • A Daily Challenge that's the same for everyone, plus in-app leaderboards with a podium for the top three • 16 achievements to earn, from your first session to a 100-day streak • Practice Plans: guided day-by-day paths with a clear goal • Review My Misses: a session of just the questions you've been getting wrong • An interactive fretboard and keyboard to see the numbers in any key • MD Mode, which simulates a music director calling changes on a Sunday morning, with an optional Beat the Clock timer • Expert Mode, where you build every chord by hand with no multiple choice • Extended Qualities: sus, maj7, m7, and the other color chords worship runs on • Progress tracking with accuracy, streaks, and focus areas • Widgets for your Home Screen and Lock Screen, practice reminders, and Siri: ask it to practice a song, review your misses, or check your streak • iCloud sync, so a new iPhone picks up right where you left off • Made for iPhone Duo: open it and a chart reads like two pages of a book • In English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German • Multiple instrument sounds and color themes BUILT FOR WORSHIP MUSICIANS The app uses the real conventions worship teams rely on, including the 5/7 walk-up that players use in place of the diminished 7. Guitar, keys and bass players all practice the same numbers on their own instrument. Your setlist, your keys, your capo, all ready for Sunday. FREE TO START Six core practice modes are free forever, along with the Daily Challenge and its leaderboard, achievements, your first song in Song Mode (with stage view, the capo helper, and ChordPro), the starter Practice Plan, widgets, and iCloud sync. Upgrade to Pro once (no subscription) to unlock all twelve keys, Keys and Bass modes, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master difficulty, MD and Expert modes, Extended Qualities, unlimited songs, setlists, Review My Misses, every Practice Plan, Key Practice, the full stats dashboard, progress sharing, and every theme. No ads. No account to create. Your practice, songs and settings stay on your iPhone and in your own iCloud, where only you can see them. Your lyrics go to someone else only when you choose to share them.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Nashville Trainer at 5.0 against Fretionary's 4.5. Nashville Trainer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 78%). Fretionary's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Fretionary sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Nashville Trainer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Nashville Trainer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28 and 30 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Fretionary's written reviews are positive against 100% of Nashville Trainer's.
Fretionary ships an update every 4 days, Nashville Trainer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Fretionary | Nashville Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (28 ratings) | 5.0 (30 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 28 | 30 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 58 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brandon Sumner | Anthem Visuals KC LLC |
Customer experience
Fretionary
Nashville Trainer
In-app purchases
Fretionary
- Fretionary Pro Monthly$7.991 Month
- Fretionary Pro Annual$24.991 Year
- Fretionary Pro Lifetime$44.99
Nashville Trainer
- Nashville Trainer Pro$9.99
Questions
Is Fretionary free?
Is Nashville Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Fretionary or Nashville Trainer?
Do Fretionary or Nashville Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Fretionary or Nashville Trainer?
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