[2025 Edition] 4 Recommended FREE Apps for Guitarists to Practice Playing By Ear/Apps You Can Buy That Are Also Convenient!

“I’m not really good at learning songs by ear...”
“I want to enjoy playing guitar more!”

In times like these, music apps for smartphones can be a big help.

In this article, I want to introduce four apps that I personally use and highly recommend. They’re all free to start with and ready to use right away. Out of the many options available, I’ve selected the ones I use most often.

Make Playing Guitar 100 Times More Fun! 4 Free Smartphone Apps Every Guitarist Should Try

Sound House app – A Must-Have App for Gear-Loving Guitarists!

The Sound House app is a must-have not just for guitarists, but for all musicians.
You can earn “Beat Points”, which can be exchanged for S-Points through a lottery system, and you can enjoy exclusive app-only coupons. It’s packed with money-saving features! You can also stay updated with the latest news, articles, and other content.

Two especially useful features for guitarists are the tuner and metronome.
The metronome, in particular, is extremely versatile and it even supports odd time signatures, making it a great tool for practice.

From shopping and discovering new gear to supporting your practice routine,
Sound House covers most aspects of your guitar life all in one app.

Fender – "Fender Tune" A Tuner-Focused App That Makes You Lose Track of Time Because It’s So Much Fun!

If you’re looking for a dedicated tuning app, I highly recommend the Fender Tune app.

Because it’s specifically designed for tuning, it’s packed with thoughtful, user-friendly features. It supports 19 different tunings, including standard tuning, and it even lets you create your own custom tunings.

One feature especially worth noting is the premium (paid) feature set.
As of May 29, 2025, all features are available for free with new user registration, so now is as good of a time to try it!

Another key feature is its integration with Fender Play, which is Fender’s guitar lesson subscription service.
Even if you’re not a Fender Play subscriber, Fender Tune allows you to access TABs and audio samples for intro phrases of select songs.

Although Fender Tune is mostly a tuning app, its rich selection of additional content makes it a powerful all-in-one tool for guitarists.

Yamaha – "Chord Tracker" Quickly Analyze the Chords of Any Song You Like!

Chord Tracker is a great app for when you want to figure out the chord progression of a song that doesn’t have sheet music.
Developed by Yamaha, the app offers high-accuracy chord analysis you can trust.

The analysis takes about one minute.

After that, you can simply play the song and view the chord progression not only in chord names, but also as standard notation, piano keys, or guitar fretboard diagrams, which is super convenient!
In addition to helping with learning songs by ear, it also includes features like loop playback of specific sections, key and tempo changes, making it perfect for practice sessions.

This time, I tested the app with three songs: two original tracks I composed and one I’m currently practicing.

In sections without clearly played chords, tension chords were sometimes simplified, or no chords displayed at all. Still, the app accurately identified the root notes and major/minor qualities in about 70–80% of the song, which is more than enough for singing and playing along. Impressive!

If you want to edit a chord, simply double-tap the chord in question to bring up the editing screen.

Once a song has been analyzed, the same chord progression will appear the next time you open it, so I recommend adjusting any chords that feel off as you go.

Yamaha – "Extrack" Released in March 2025! A Must-Try App for Learning Ear Training

While the previously introduced Chord Tracker specializes in analyzing chord progressions, Extrack is focused on learning ear training.
It allows you to isolate and extract specific instruments, so you can mute vocals to create karaoke tracks or play back only certain instruments.

For this review, I tested Extrack using the same songs as in Chord Tracker.

Song analysis takes about 3–5 minutes.
After analysis, you can not only isolate instruments, but also view chord progressions and chord diagrams.

When it comes to chord detection accuracy, Chord Tracker has the leading edge. However, Extrack’s real strength lies in its ability to separate and extract instruments.
If your goal is to transcribe exact phrases by ear, Extrack is the better tool. If you’re looking to quickly understand a song’s chord structure, go with Chord Tracker. Using both together is the best of both worlds.

Extrack is free to use at the basic level, but the free plan includes some limitations, such as a cap on the number of tracks you can separate per month and fewer instruments available for isolation.

Until August 31, 2025, you can try out the premium Extrack Pass features for free.
Take this opportunity to challenge yourself with learning songs by ear that you’ve always wanted to play!
Just being able to isolate the guitar part makes it dramatically easier to transcribe solos and riffs.

Make Playing Guitar Even More Enjoyable with Apps!

With the apps I introduced in this article, your time with the electric guitar is sure to become even more fun!
Of course, there are many other great apps out there besides the ones featured here. Try out a few and find ones that best suit your style so you can take your guitar journey to the next level.

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