Comparison

Minute Chords vs ScaleMaster Pro

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

Head to head
About

Minute Chords

This app helps you practice and improve your chord transitions. Track your progress by timing how many chord changes you can make in one minute and aim to beat your personal best. It's designed to make learning guitar chords faster and more efficient.

Highlights
  • Chord transition timing
  • Score tracking
  • Progress monitoring
  • Clear chord sound guidance
  • Finger movement optimization
Features
Read full description

Minute Chords is the fastest way to build smooth, confident chord changes on guitar. The #1 skill bottleneck for beginner and intermediate players is slow chord transitions. Minute Chords fixes that with focused, timed practice โ€” one minute per chord pair, tracked and scored. HOW IT WORKS โ€ข App shows two random chords to switch between โ€ข You get one minute โ€” change chords as many times as you can โ€ข Your score is recorded so you can track improvement over time โ€ข Repeat daily for rapid, measurable progress CHORD LIBRARY (full version) A, Am, A7, B, Bm, B7, C, D, Dm, D7, E, Em, F, F easy, F bar, G, G v2 โ€” 17 essential chords covering everything a beginner and intermediate player needs. WHY IT WORKS Deliberate practice with a timer forces you to stay focused. Seeing your score improve each session keeps you motivated. Most players see noticeable improvement within a week of daily practice. PERFECT FOR โ€ข Complete beginners learning their first open chords โ€ข Intermediate players cleaning up transitions โ€ข Anyone who wants to build muscle memory fast โ€ข Daily warm-up before band practice or lessons Free version includes the 6 most essential beginner chords. Upgrade once to unlock all 17 chords โ€” no subscription, no ongoing fees.

About

ScaleMaster Pro

Learn musical scales on your instrument with visual aids and adjustable tempo. Explore different scales, save your practice sessions, and discover new sounds for improvisation. Adapts to various instruments and tunings.

Highlights
  • Learn scales in notation and on instrument
  • Adjustable tempo for practice
  • Save custom scale documents
  • Support for piano, guitar, bass, and more
  • Custom tunings
  • All common clefs for reading practice
  • Scale transposition
Features
Read full description

Just started piano lessons? Or maybe you picked up that cool looking headless guitar from an auction site and surprise, it's a baritone and in D! Or perhaps you've been playing violin for a while, but that new piece has you wondering about the harmonic minor scale. And if you picked up a mandolin this time instead of yet another guitar, you certainly want to see how your favorite pentatonic is played on that slim fretboard. Starting out can be rough, but learning continues as our interests evolve and that is fantastic. ScaleMaster is your go-to companion for learning scales on your instrument, and no matter how we look at it, scales will remain an essential part of our musical journey as beginners or professionals. Seeing any scale in music notation and on your instrument at the same time is pretty cool. No need to translate between the two. The notation shows you what to play, and your instrument shows you where your fingers go. Whether you're just starting out or need a quick reference, it's all right there. As you practice, you'll want to speed things up, slow them down. Maybe you've got your fingers organized after a couple weeks of working that harmonic minor mode, or you're working through a tricky passage. Adjust the tempo and keep pushing yourself. Save your scales too, that E Blues scale you've been working on, the exercises for your band's repertoire, or the scales you're exploring for that chord progression that keeps showing up. Each scale document remembers your instrument and where you left off. And that includes positions because for some of us an F Mixolydian scale looks very different in 5th position than it does in 3rd. But as for help with improvising, this is where ScaleMaster really shines. That Bbm7b5 chord keeps coming up, and you're tired of that same old scale. So, find the scales that work. Hear how they sound, and flip back and forth between different possibilities until something clicks. It's not about memorizing every scale, it's about discovering the ones that speak to you and expanding your vocabulary when you need it. If you're a pianist, you get a full 88-key interface. Guitar players get the 24 frets they want. String players can set custom tunings, that detuned E string on your violin, your new five-string banjo, or that Open D tuning for that one song. And when you're ready to work on reading music, switch clefs and practice with the same scales you know by ear. It all connects. โ€ข Over 200 scales from around the world โ€ข Scale visualization for your instrument in music notation and schematic โ€ข Reference instruments: piano, guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, violin, viola, cello, double bass โ€ข Scale documents recording instrument, position and more for current and future reference โ€ข Universal transposition of any scale or exercise โ€ข All common clefs for reading practice โ€ข Dozens of tuning presets There are two main pillars to ScaleMaster Pro - reference and play. Finding good scale options for that old major chord is one thing, evaluating their sound another. For that you can generate scale patterns, change their tempo, key and sound to get a taste for what fluency would get you. Reference - as in reference instruments, alternate tunings, sound and notation alternatives and more. Playing along on the other hand is foremost excellent practice. You can slow things down or crank up the speed - ScaleMaster shows you where the notes are and play along if you want it to. Scales are a central topic for us musicians with many periods of interest. For a while we're into pentatonics but then get caught up in blues scales, church modes, exotic scales and more. ScaleMaster helps keep track and lets you sound things out.

Screenshots

Minute Chords3 screens
ScaleMaster Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Minute Chords at 100% against ScaleMaster Pro's 42%. Minute Chords also leads on price (Free vs $4.99) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). ScaleMaster Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence 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

Minute Chords is free to download; ScaleMaster Pro costs $4.99 up front. Minute Chords sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. ScaleMaster Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences ยท 2 level
Minute Chords versus ScaleMaster Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinute ChordsScaleMaster Pro
PriceFree โ€” better$4.99
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews โ€” better41.7% of reviews
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases โ€” betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac โ€” better
Requires iOS15.6 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size14 MB26 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperGerard GrundyRoGame Software

Customer experience

Minute Chords

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ScaleMaster Pro

Written reviews12 reviews
Positive41.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Minute Chords

One-time5
  • Manual Chord Picker$0.99
  • Remove Adds$0.99
  • Tip / Support development$0.99
Show 2 more
  • Large Coffee$9.99
  • Extra Support$99.99
None

ScaleMaster Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Minute Chords free?
Minute Chords is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ScaleMaster Pro free?
ScaleMaster Pro costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Minute Chords or ScaleMaster Pro have ads?
Minute Chords shows ads; ScaleMaster Pro does not.
Which is updated more often, Minute Chords or ScaleMaster Pro?
Minute Chords ships an update every 2 months, and ScaleMaster Pro every 2 months. Most recently, Minute Chords was updated on October 26, 2026 and ScaleMaster Pro on October 24, 2026.

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