Comparison

ChordDeck vs Banjo Licks

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

Head to head
About

ChordDeck

This app provides jazz chord flashcards for musicians to practice chord recall. It displays chord symbols, tones, formulas, and keyboard highlights, with audio playback. Users can mark difficult cards for later review.

Highlights
  • Practice jazz chord qualities
  • Circle-of-fourths or random root order
  • Continuous or one-pass practice sessions
  • View chord tones, formulas, and keyboard highlights
  • Built-in audio playback
  • Mark and review difficult cards
  • Local storage for settings and marked cards
Features
Read full description

ChordDeck is a compact flashcard app for practicing jazz chord recall. Choose the roots and chord qualities you want to drill, then move through a focused deck one card at a time. Each card starts with a chord symbol so you can recall the answer mentally or on your instrument before revealing the details. Reveal a card to check the chord tones, a short formula, a compact piano keyboard highlight, and built-in audio playback. Mark difficult cards during practice and review them again later from the first screen. ChordDeck is designed for musicians who already know basic chord concepts and want a fast, repeatable way to build fluency. It keeps practice visual and direct instead of turning each session into a lesson page. Features: - Practice common jazz chord qualities across selected roots. - Follow circle-of-fourths root order or use random card order. - Choose one-pass sessions or continuous practice. - Reveal chord tones, formulas, and compact keyboard highlights. - Hear chord tones followed by the full chord. - Mark difficult cards and review them in a focused deck. - Use swipe navigation, previous and next controls, and timed autoplay. - Keep practice settings and marked cards stored locally on your device. ChordDeck is useful for jazz students, pianists, guitarists, bassists, arrangers, and other musicians who want quicker recognition of chord symbols, tones, and formulas.

About

Banjo Licks

Learn bluegrass music by ear for banjo and guitar. This app offers a comprehensive system with lick packs, song experiences, and structured programs to develop musical confidence and improvisation skills. New content is added monthly, with lessons taught by a professional musician.

Highlights
  • Learn by ear, not just tabs
  • Lick packs for musical vocabulary
  • Song experiences for full tunes
  • Structured learning programs
  • 500+ lessons with monthly updates
  • Community feedback and support
Features
Read full description

Most banjo players spend years memorizing tabs and practicing isolated licks — and still freeze up the moment someone calls a tune they don't know. The problem usually isn't effort. It's the method. Banjo Licks teaches you the way musicians actually learn: by ear, in context, in real musical situations. It's a complete system built to take you from "stuck" to jam-ready. NOW MORE THAN BANJO Banjo Licks is growing into a full bluegrass-by-ear platform. Guitar content is now included under the same roof, with the same ear-first method and the same step-by-step system — so you can build real musical confidence on the instrument you love, or more than one. WHAT YOU GET Lick Packs — build a real musical vocabulary one phrase at a time, and learn how each one fits so you can drop it into any song. Song Experiences — play full tunes by ear, step by step: melody, backup, and improvisation. Programs — day-by-day structure for the fundamentals that make everything click, like timing, tone, and backup. 500+ lessons, with new content added every month. Plus a community where you can post videos and get feedback. WHY BY EAR When you train your ear alongside your technique, the instrument stops feeling like memorization and starts feeling like music. You hear chord changes coming, recognize melodies faster, improvise with intention, and finally build your own sound. LEARN FROM A PRO Every lesson is taught by Bennett Sullivan, a working banjo player who's shared the stage with Steve Martin, Billy Strings, and Del McCoury, and whose playing appears in Poker Face, The Greatest Showman, and Bright Star on Broadway. He's helped 11,000+ students worldwide improve their timing, backup, and improvisation. Just $39/month for All Access — every banjo and guitar lesson, program, and song experience in one membership. One private lesson usually costs more than a whole month of this. Cancel anytime. -- ▷ Already a Member? Sign-In to access your subscription. ▷ New? Subscribe in the app to get instant access. Banjo Licks offers auto-renewing subscriptions. You'll receive unlimited access to content on all your devices. Payment is charged to your Account at confirmation of purchase. Pricing varies by location and is confirmed prior to purchase. Subscription automatically renews each month unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period, or the trial period (when offered). Cancel anytime in Account Settings. For more information see our: -Terms of Service: https://banjolicks.com/terms -Privacy Policy: https://banjolicks.com/privacy

Screenshots

ChordDeck4 screens
Banjo Licks3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Banjo Licks at Free against ChordDeck's $0.99. Banjo Licks also leads on ratings volume (4 vs 1). ChordDeck's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). On rating, review sentiment, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Banjo Licks is free to download; ChordDeck costs $0.99 up front. Banjo Licks sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $38.99 per month. ChordDeck asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ChordDeck against 5.0 for Banjo Licks. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChordDeck ships an update weekly, Banjo Licks every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ChordDeck versus Banjo Licks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChordDeckBanjo Licks
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShinhye LeeDaily Banjo Licks, LLC

Customer experience

ChordDeck

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Banjo Licks

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

ChordDeck

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Banjo Licks

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly All Access7 Days trial$38.991 Month

Questions

Is ChordDeck free?
ChordDeck costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Banjo Licks free?
Banjo Licks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ChordDeck or Banjo Licks?
ChordDeck and Banjo Licks are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 4 ratings respectively.
Do ChordDeck or Banjo Licks have ads?
Neither ChordDeck nor Banjo Licks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChordDeck or Banjo Licks?
ChordDeck ships an update weekly, and Banjo Licks every 6 weeks. Most recently, ChordDeck was updated on October 28, 2026 and Banjo Licks on October 31, 2026.

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