9 BEST Ear Training Apps for Musicians In 2023

Choosing the right ear training app can get you to identify chords and notes in no time! In this guide, I rank and review the top 9 best ear training apps for musicians, along with my personal top 3 picks.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission for certain products in this article. All recommendations are genuine and verified by myself.

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Ear training apps for your smartphone or tablet are portable, take-anywhere tools you can use to improve your musical skills. Whether you are on your commute, lunch break, waiting to pick up your kids from practice, or just enjoying a few minutes of downtime, you can practice and improve your ear anytime, anywhere.

Here are a few of my favorite ear training apps.

1. ToneGym

Verdict: Best Overall

OS: Web-based (supports all devices)

Maker: ToneGym

ToneGym is the best ear training app for musicians by far. It’s also significantly different than most other ear training tools on this list in that it is fully web-based. Therefore, you don’t need to add another app to your phone or download another piece of software to your computer to help train your help.

You can choose 3 different pricing options when you decide to use their paid plan including:

• Monthly: $13.95/month
• Yearly: $74.95/year
• Lifetime: $255 one-time payment

ToneGym takes a very “game” based approach to teach musicians how to better train their ears. There are a ton of different games you can play to help with your training a few of them include:

• Chords detection
• Rhythm
• Scale detection
• Chord progression detection
• Sigh-reading
• Chord inversions

That’s just a few of them but there are lots more.

What’s great about ToneGym is that it also ranks you in comparison to others who use the app. This creates a sense of challenge and encourages you to keep practicing in order to rank higher on the leaderboard and increase your overall stats.

I also really enjoy the fact that ToneGym offers monthly prices for those who rank at the top of their leaderboard.

The analytics section is another standout feature that most other ear training apps don’t provide. Everything from “how you compare” and “Training history” to “Insights & more” and “Learning” is all part of their stats page.

Overall, ToneGym cracked the code on how to make ear training exercises fun and enjoyable both for beginners and advanced musicians. I’d recommend ToneGym to anyone who needs a little more encouragement to do their ear training exercises as well as to those who want to use a web-based app.

Pros

• Offers the best ear training games
• Web-based app
• Makes learning fun
• A wide variety of ear training exercises, tools, and games

Cons

• Pricing is on the more expensive side

2. SoundGym

Verdict: Best for Producers and Mixing Engineers

OS: Web-based (supports all devices)

Maker: SoundGym

SoundGym comes from the same creators of ToneGym although its focus is much more geared toward audio engineering. Whether you’re a producer or a mixing engineer you need your ears to be able to distinguish how the EQ should be adjusted, how to set the proper pan settings, delay settings, filter settings, etc.

All of these skills can be overwhelming to learn. Whether you’re a seasoned or amateur audio engineer, you need to ensure that your skills stay sharp.

That’s exactly why SoundGym was created. With interactive games that make it super fun to learn and practice, SoundGym helps you to strengthen your ears and become a better audio engineer. You can use SoundGym to train your ear to recognize different frequencies, audio effects, and more.

A few of their training games include:

• EQ Mirror
• Stereohead
• Peak Master
• Dr. Compressor
• Filter Expert
• PanGirl
• Bass Detective
• EQ Cheetah.

That’s just a few of my handpicked favorites.

SoundGym also allows you to compare your results with other users to see how you stack up.

For that, you can head over to the Contests page and take part in the weekly contests, one-on-one matches, hourly beat-making races, and more.

Now, in terms of pricing, you have 3 different options including:

• Monthly: $24.95/month
• Yearly: $109/year
• Lifetime: $316 one-time payment

Overall, whether you want to hone your existing audio mixing/mastering skills or you’re just getting started with home recording, I’d highly recommend SoundGym. If you’re a musician who wants to improve their ear check out ToneGym above but for those interested in more technical audio mixing/mastering SoundGym is the perfect fit.

Pros

• Perfectly suited for audio engineers
• Web-based app
• Makes learning fun
• Competitive features help keep me engaged

Cons

• More expensive than ToneGym but you won’t find anything else like it designed specifically for audio engineers

3. EarMaster

Verdict: Best Feedback Software

OS: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Maker: EarMaster

Stats: 4 free modules in the beginner’s course and chord and interval identification lessons. Subscribe for access to all content for $3.99/month or $35.88/year. This includes the ability to use the Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android versions as well as be able to sync progress across all devices.

EarMaster is my third choice for the best ear training app. With over 2,500 music theory and ear training exercises, you’ll learn how to improve your pitch, rhythm, and so much more. What’s great about EarMaster is that it’s incredibly interactive.

You can use your microphone or a MIDI keyboard to sing and play answers to their quizzes in real-time. Once you’re done with your quiz, EarMaster processes your input and scores you based on your pitch and accuracy.

EarMaster is also incredibly in-depth. With a large number of lessons and workshops available, there’s really something here for everyone. EarMaster not only trains you how to improve your ear but also recognize, transcribe, and sing melodies, scales, chords, and more.

Whether you’re a music student or just play music as a hobby, this app offers a great level of education and feedback.

Pros

• Incredibly in-depth
• Perfect for music students or hobbyists
• Take quizzes with your microphone or MIDI keyword in real-time
• Easily track your progress

Cons

• The free option does not offer many lessons

4. Functional Ear Trainer

Verdict: Best for Relative Pitch

OS: Android and iOS

Maker: Kaizen9 Apps

Stats: Free, with in-app purchases from $.99 to $15.99. On Google Play App Store: 100,000 + downloads, 4.8 average rating with over 6,000 reviews.

Functional Ear trainer is a relative pitch app more than anything else, but I like this because relative pitch is one of the most useful skills you can develop as a musician. Through this app, you learn to identify the scale degree in the context of a particular key. For example, you learn to recognize the 3rd degree of the C major scale instead of learning to identify an E note outside of any context.

The app is based on the Alain Benbassat program, “Functional Ear Trainer” and is basically an app version of the Benbassat program. After you master the C major scale, you can then move to random major scales, minor scales, chromatic scales, and more. You don’t have to be able to read music to use this program. It has a simple interface that anyone can use, making it great for kids and adults alike.

I enjoyed using this app and will continue practicing with it. I aced the major scale section, did well on the minor scales, and was at times humbled when it came to chromatics. I could use some practice in this area.

If you want to improve your relative pitch, this is a great app. It is not a full ear training program and does not offer every type of ear training available. What it does, however, it does extremely well and is therefore highly recommended.

Pros

• Easy for anyone to use
• Does not require sight reading
• Perfect for learning relative pitch in the context of a particular key

Cons

• Limited to relative pitch and scale degrees only, although it does this extremely well.

5. Perfect Ear Trainer

OS: Android

Maker: EDuckAppsSV

Stats: Free, with in-app purchases. On Google Play App Store: 1 million plus downloads, 4.7 average rating, with over 44,000 reviews.

Perfect Ear Trainer is a feature-packed app with many different functions including ear training, rhythm exercises, drills, and music theory articles. Although I will focus only on the ear training aspect of the app, the additional features would prove useful to musicians of all types as well.

The ear training section is divided into intervals, scales, and chords sections. The interval section includes lessons and games in the following areas: introduction to intervals, interval comparison, interval identification, interval singing, and interval reading.

The scale section focuses on an introduction to scales, scale identification, melodic dictation (in this you input the melody you just heard), and scale reading. There are lots of lessons and exercises to help you improve and track your progress.

The chords section features an introduction to chords, chord identification, chord inversions, chord progressions, and chord reading. I especially liked the chord progression section as this is an area some of the other apps I tried seemed to leave out.

Understanding chord progressions and being able to identify them is extremely important. This section of the app will help you develop this skill.

An additional drills section lets you practice sight reading, absolute pitch, and note singing. A fretboard trainer is also included for guitarists.

Exercises are customizable, allowing you to create custom scales, chords, and chord progressions. Plus you can perform the exercises with either a piano or guitar interface; definitely a plus. Simply go to the Instruments and Sound Packs section and choose guitar or piano.

Overall, this app is really easy to use and navigate. There is a lot of content, so much so that beginners may have trouble knowing what areas to focus on. However, if you start with ear training and start at the beginning, you will find many tools to help you improve as a musician.

Pros

• Lots of features and many types of lessons and exercises
• Ability to customize exercises
• Ability to use a guitar interface or piano interface on the lessons
• Well rounded.

Cons

• So much content that inexperienced users may not know what areas they should focus on.

6. Complete Ear Trainer

OS: Android and iOS

Maker: Binary Guilt Software

Stats: Free, with in-app purchases. A one-time purchase of $2.99 unlocks all of the features. On Google Play App Store: 100,000 + downloads, 4.6 average rating with over 2,400 reviews.

Complete Ear Trainer is an excellent app that is both fun and easy to use. It has more of a video game like feel than the other apps I tried. Kids, as well as competitive users, will find this fun and engaging. You can share your scores and compare them to your friends’ scores. There’s also an arcade mode which has lots of exercises in a fun, arcade-style setting.

There is so much ear training content on this app, including 150+ drills, over 4 different levels, with 28 chapters; twenty-four different intervals, thirty-six chord types, chord inversion lessons, twenty-eight scales, melodic dictations, and lessons on chord progressions. I liked that the exercise examples are in different octaves and the drills have quality grand piano samples.

In each new chapter, a theory card goes over the concepts discussed, making sure you understand what you need to know to complete the lesson. I found this to be a really helpful overview.

Ear Trainer is a great app, with an excellent interface, well thought out design, and lots of different types of lessons and exercises. It has something for everyone, from beginner to highly advanced, and is highly recommended.

Pros

• Lots of great content
• Has a video game like structure that many will enjoy
• Well thought out, with an intro tutorial for each section
• Easy to understand and navigate
• You can share your scores and compare them to your friends’ scores

Cons

• Content doesn’t go as in-depth as some of the other apps on this list

7. The Ear Gym – Ear Trainer

OS: Android

Maker: Francisco P.

Stats: Free, On Google Play App Store: 10,000 + downloads, 4.8 average rating.

Ear Gym – Ear Trainer is a great app that focuses on learning to identify and understand intervals, chords, harmony/analysis, and more. The interval section includes interval identification, interval comparison, interval singing, interval reading, interval construction, and interval inversion.

Within each section, you can choose which intervals you would like to work with. Choices range from perfect unison to double octave. You can also study both ascending and descending intervals, a feature some of the apps I tried didn’t include, as well as harmonic or melodic intervals.

The chords section features twenty-nine different chord types, as well as lessons about harmony, harmony analysis, and cadences. There are numerous chord exercises that focus on reading, comparison, identification, construction, and inversions of chords.
Also included are clef reading and key identification training sections, as well as perfect pitch ear training.

All in all, this is a great app with a lot to offer musicians of every skill level. I especially liked the Roman numeral chord identification exercises and the cadence identification exercises.

Pros

• Great interface
• Specific content which focuses on intervals, chords, harmony/analysis, and more

Cons

• At first, it was difficult to notice the additional tabs for content at the bottom of the app interface
• The chord and harmony/analysis tabs were small and hard to see. Once I saw them, however, the app was easy to use and navigate

8. Piano Ear Training Free

OS: Android and iOS

Maker: Learn to Master

Stats: Free, but contains ads. Google Play App Store: 1 million + downloads, 3.9 average rating with over 5,000 reviews.

Piano Ear Training Free includes pitch training, interval training, chord distinction, scale identification, melodic dictation, chord progression training, and absolute pitch lessons. The games have different levels, making this a great app for beginners to advanced musicians. You can also choose which aspects to focus on in the games, allowing you to tailor the experience to your particular needs. Each game has its own tutorial which explains what you will be doing and how to get the most out of your time spent.

This app is particularly good in the chord identification section. I like that you can select the arpeggio mode to hear the chord in individual notes. You can also highlight the chord at any point in order to look at and study the chord’s construction. I found the chord type identification game especially addictive. Although I did well on the most common chords, some of the more obscure chords gave me trouble. After reviewing them, however, I started getting them right. I see this as a good indication that anyone from beginners to advanced musicians can learn from this app.

Pros

• Well laid out, lots of great content, I especially like the chord identification games

Cons

• Lots of annoying ads

9. ET – Ear Trainer

OS: Android, iOS, and MacOS

Maker: DesCom

Stats: You can purchase this app on the Google Play Store and App Store for a one-time fee of around $6. It is still fairly new and has 100+ downloads on the Google Play store, and 1000+ on the App Store.

The ET – Ear Trainer app was developed by son and father duo Elia and Daniel Schenker. Daniel is a Swiss IT specialist, jazz trumpeter, and Zurich University professor. Their app offers a myriad of features and exercise options including five-tone range major, intervals, triads, scale identification, chord progressions and so much more.

The game-like features make it easy and fun to test your skills and you can either choose to work through the exercises using your microphone or the piano included in the app.

The ET – Ear Trainer also allows users to choose between active and passive ear training exercises. Active refers to reproducing the sounds you hear while passive refers to identifying things such as scales, triads, etc. What’s more, is that you can also see how to stack up against other users of the ET – Ear Trainer app and publish your high scores and trophies.

Whether you’re a singer looking to improve their singing pitch or a musician searching for an app to improve their note recognition, this app is worth checking out.

Pros

• Lots of different active and passive exercises to choose from
• Fun leaderboard achievement features
• Ability to connect a MIDI device

Cons

• The app’s UI could use some work
• The app’s “tour” is a bit long and could be condensed

Final Thoughts

I hope this article gave you some insight into a few of the best ear training apps available. Download them today and explore what they have to offer. You will certainly find tools to help you develop your ear, grow as a musician, and have a little fun along the way.