Fretrune
The Fretrune app icon

Fretboard trainer for guitar and bass

Anyone can learn every note on the neck.

It doesn't take talent. It takes a good tool and a deadline. Fretrune is the tool: it names a note, you play it on your own guitar or bass, and it listens. The Neck Challenge is the deadline: 21 days to learn the first 12 frets.

Coming soon for iPhone and Mac

Fretrune asking for A sharp on the 3rd string, with the neck drawn above and the session's progress below
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The Neck Challenge

21 days. The first 12 frets. Finish, and the whole neck is yours.

"I should really learn the fretboard" has no end date, so it never happens. A deadline turns it into ten minutes a day, and a reward at the end makes those minutes count.

  1. Start the challenge.Every string and every fret opens for 21 days.
  2. Get the first 12 frets to Solid.Every note from the open strings to the 11th fret, on guitar or bass. Solid means you find it quickly, almost every time.
  3. Keep the whole neck.Finish in time and every string and fret stays unlocked for good. Run out of time and your progress stays, and the neck costs you less than full price.
Fretrune's home screen during the Neck Challenge, showing how many notes in the first 12 frets have reached Solid and the days left

How it works

No tapping and no multiple choice. You play the note.

  1. It names a note, on screen or out loud, so your eyes can stay on the neck.
  2. You find it on the instrument in your hands. Fretrune hears it through the microphone and tells you straight away whether you found it.
  3. It keeps count of how quickly you find each note, brings back the ones you hesitate on, and moves on when you know them.

Practice walks you across the neck one string at a time, low frets first. Note Hunt asks for one note everywhere it appears. Fretboard Basics covers the ground rules if you are starting from zero.

A finished session: 3 minutes practiced, 28 of 30 right first time, a typical answer of 4.5 seconds, and the notes that moved up
The Progress screen: 90 of 138 notes solid on a guitar neck, each note coloured by its level, with the goals still to reach

Progress

Speed counts. Solid means you know it.

Every note on the neck has a level, shown on a picture of your fretboard. Getting there eventually isn't knowing it, so a note only reaches Solid once you find it quickly.

  • ShakyOften wrong.
  • LearningMostly right, not yet reliably.
  • SolidRight almost every time, without hunting for it.
  • MasteredRight every time, at recall speed, over a long record.

Guitar and bass

One app for both instruments.

A guitar's four thickest strings are a bass's four, an octave up, with the same note at every fret. Learn a note on one and it counts for both.

Guitar

Six strings, standard tuning. Find every C and a C chord stops being a shape and becomes three notes you can see. Guitar fretboard trainer

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Bass

Four strings, standard tuning. Know the roots on the E string by sight and every line you play has somewhere to start. Bass fretboard trainer

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Price

Free to start. One-time purchase. No subscription.

The low E string is free. When you want the rest, take the Neck Challenge and earn the whole neck, or buy it outright. Either way you pay once: nothing renews, there are no ads, and one purchase covers your iPhone and your Mac.

Questions

Does it work with an acoustic guitar?
Yes. Fretrune listens through your iPhone or Mac microphone, so an acoustic guitar works, and so does an electric guitar or bass through an amp. A quieter room helps.
Do I need to know any music theory?
No. If you are starting from zero, Fretboard Basics covers the ground rules: what a fret is, how the notes are named, and where the sharps go. Then the drill takes over.
What is the Neck Challenge?
A one-time purchase that opens every string and every fret for 21 days. Get every note in the first 12 frets to Solid on guitar or bass before time runs out, and the whole neck stays unlocked for good.
What if I don’t finish in time?
Your progress stays. The rest of the neck locks again, and you can keep it for less than the full price, because you already paid for the challenge. Or keep practicing on the free string.
Is it a subscription?
No. Fretrune is free to start, and the rest of the neck is a one-time purchase, through the challenge or outright. Nothing renews, and one purchase covers your iPhone and your Mac.
Which instruments and tunings?
Six-string guitar and four-string bass, both in standard tuning. If you play both, progress on the strings they share counts for both.
Does it record me?
No. The audio is analyzed on your device while you play, and it is never recorded, saved or sent anywhere. There is no account to create.

Every fret is a rune. Learn to read them all.

Coming soon for iPhone and Mac