Comparison

RiffMentor vs Guitar Tab Notes

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

Head to head
About

RiffMentor

Features
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RiffMentor is your virtual practice coach for guitar, piano, and more. It turns a few focused minutes a day into real progress with guided sessions, a personal coach, and streaks that keep you coming back. It works fully offline, and your practice data stays on your device. GUIDED PRACTICE SESSIONS - Follow 15 curated sessions across warm-up, technique, scales, chords, rhythm, ear training, repertoire, improvisation, speed, and theory. - Play through each exercise with a built-in timer, a get-ready countdown, and a clear next-up indicator. - Turn on configurable countdown beeps and rep pacing cues for hands-free, eyes-on-your-instrument practice. BUILT AROUND YOU - Personalized onboarding sets up your instrument, goals, skill level, session length, and focus areas. - A virtual coach gives tips based on your history, streaks, and goals. - Supports 7 instruments: guitar, piano, bass, ukulele, violin, drums, and voice. - Build your own custom plans with blocks, rep counts, durations, and rest intervals. STAY CONSISTENT - Grow current and longest streaks, and protect a missed day with Streak Freeze. - Track total sessions, total minutes, a practice calendar, and your skill distribution. - Unlock 17 achievements and celebrate every finish with a share card for Facebook and Instagram. - Get a weekly digest and a Year in Review of your musical journey. YOURS AND PRIVATE - No analytics, no accounts, and no cloud. Your data stays on your device. - Works fully offline, with no login required. - 25 languages with right-to-left support, 7 color themes including AMOLED Black, and accessibility options like high contrast and scalable fonts. ABOUT THE AUTHOR RiffMentor is developed by POLPROG, a Polish technology company creating browser extensions, web applications, and mobile apps with a focus on privacy. Website: https://polprog.pl/ RiffMentor product page: https://polprog.pl/apps/RiffMentor/

About

Guitar Tab Notes

Features
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Guitar Tab Notes is a fast sketchpad for guitar players. When a riff or a chord shape shows up, open the app and get it down before it slips away. Instead of finger numbers or fret numbers, every position on the fretboard is shown as the actual note it plays (C, C#, D and so on). You read the sounds, not the shapes, so an idea still makes sense days later and is easy to move around in your head. WHY GUITARISTS USE IT - Capture ideas fast. Tap the fretboard and the note appears. Nothing in the way. - Think in any tuning. Standard, drop, open, or completely custom alt tunings that you type in and save. Every note name updates instantly across all of your chords. - Made for sketches, not for perfection. Group ideas into projects, drop in quick section labels like verse or chorus, and reorder everything by dragging. - Hear it back. Tap play to strum a chord and check an idea on the spot. - Color your voicings. Highlight alternate notes in four accent colors (turquoise, violet, amber, coral) right on the diagram. Colors can even share one spot with the main note: the dot splits into colored sections. - Capo aware. Set a capo and the fretboard and note names follow along. EVERYWHERE YOU WRITE Guitar Tab Notes runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and your whole sketchbook syncs automatically through your private iCloud. Start a riff on the couch with your phone, then finish the arrangement on iPad or Mac later. Nothing to set up and no account to create. EXPORT AND SHARE Send a single chord as an image, or a whole song as plain text or as a print-ready PDF: clean black-on-white A4 pages with your section labels, automatic page breaks and a choice of 2, 3 or 4 chords per row. On Mac, exports go through the standard Save dialog. Simple on purpose and quick by design. Keep the guitar in your hands and let the ideas land.

Screenshots

RiffMentor4 screens
Guitar Tab Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Guitar Tab Notes at every 3 days against RiffMentor's every 3 months. RiffMentor's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RiffMentor ships an update every 3 months, Guitar Tab Notes every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
RiffMentor versus Guitar Tab Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRiffMentorGuitar Tab Notes
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size33 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDamian SkrzynskiUnited App Sp. z o.o.

In-app purchases

None

RiffMentor

No in-app purchases

None

Guitar Tab Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RiffMentor free?
RiffMentor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Guitar Tab Notes free?
Guitar Tab Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do RiffMentor or Guitar Tab Notes have ads?
Neither RiffMentor nor Guitar Tab Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, RiffMentor or Guitar Tab Notes?
RiffMentor ships an update every 3 months, and Guitar Tab Notes every 3 days. Most recently, RiffMentor was updated on October 12, 2026 and Guitar Tab Notes on October 14, 2026.

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