Modes Guitar

Identify what you're playing, see it as CAGED and three-notes-per-string shapes, grab playable chord grips in 20 tunings, and drill it with the built-in metronome.

Modes Guitar is a hands-on fretboard lab for iPhone and iPad. Tap the notes you're fingering to find out what you're playing, lay any scale out in CAGED or three-notes-per-string positions, browse playable chord shapes in any tuning, and practise it all against a built-in metronome.

SCALE & CHORD FINDER Tap the notes you're holding down straight onto the neck. Modes Guitar names the chord in real time — major, minor, diminished, augmented, extended, suspended and more — and ranks every scale that fits by note coverage. Filter by scale family to narrow the list, then jump straight to that scale's chords.

SCALES ON THE FRETBOARD Pick a root and a scale and watch every scale tone light up across the neck. Switch to CAGED positions or three-notes-per-string runs, drag a box up and down the neck to change position, and narrow the notes to triad, seventh, pentatonic or the full scale to see the shape behind the shape.

CHORD SHAPES Every degree of the scale gets real, playable grips, complete with open- and muted-string markers, barre indicators and a fret-number gutter when the shape sits up the neck. Step through positions along the neck, choose an inversion, or force any scale tone into the bass for slash chords.

TRIADS ON THE NECK Take any chord in the key apart and put it back on the neck. Pick a degree of the scale and Modes Guitar lays out every close voicing of that chord as a grid of diagrams, grouped by string set and running root position, first inversion, second inversion. Choosing one puts it on the fretboard with the rest of the chord tones around it for context, and you can drag it up the neck to walk the same grip through every position.

20 TUNINGS, PLUS YOUR OWN Standard, Drop D, Drop C, Eb Standard, DADGAD, Open G, Open D, seven-string, baritone, four- and five-string bass, ukulele, banjo (five-string, tenor and plectrum) and mandolin. Shapes, grips and note names are recalculated for the tuning you choose, and retuning keeps your fingering so you can hear what the same shape becomes. Or build your own: pick 3 to 8 strings and tune each one by ear, starting from any preset.

STROBE TUNER A stroboscopic tuner is built in. Play a string and three rings of segments drift one way when you're flat and the other when you're sharp, standing still the moment you land on pitch — far finer than a needle can show. It follows whichever string you play, or pin one and work through them in order, and it reads in whatever tuning you're in, so a guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo or mandolin is tuned from the same dial, custom tunings included. Set the reference A anywhere from 415 to 466 Hz to play alongside older or non-standard pitch. Everything is analysed on device and nothing is recorded.

PRACTICE METRONOME A full metronome comes along for the ride: time signatures, subdivisions, swing, per-beat accents, four click voices, adjustable volume and haptics, plus quick tempos and saved presets for the passages you're drilling.

WIDGETS, CONTROL CENTRE & LIVE ACTIVITIES Put the metronome on your Home Screen or Lock Screen and start or stop it without opening the app. Add a Control Centre toggle, keep an eye on the tempo from a Live Activity while you play, and get a fresh Scale of the Day and Chord of the Day to work on.

Everything runs on device. No account, no tracking, no internet connection required. Localised in 11 languages with light and dark appearances throughout.

Try free for 7 days! After the trial, unlock full access with a one-time purchase — no subscriptions.