Notabene3Learn to read music by playing it
Notabene3 listens to your instrument and shows the note you play on the staff, as you play it. Then it asks the questions: a note to find, a scale to play, an interval to hear, a tune to get through. You answer on your instrument, not with a mouse.
For Windows and Linux, with macOS to follow. No account, no subscription.
What it does
Hears what you play
Plug your guitar, bass or violin into an audio interface, or play near your computer's microphone. Notabene3 picks out the note and draws it on the staff, spelt correctly for the key you're in: F♯ in D major, G♭ in D♭.
Or plug in a keyboard
A USB MIDI keyboard works too, with every note recognised instantly. Treble, bass and grand staff are all supported.
Practise in a box
Questions come from a box: a range of notes you choose, such as one position on the guitar neck. Start small, then widen it as the notes become second nature.
Every key, many scales
Pick a key from the circle of fifths and a scale: major, the minors, pentatonics, blues, the modes and more. Questions stay in the key, with its key signature on the staff.
A tuner built in
Check your tuning before you start, without reaching for another app.
Your own instruments
Bass, violin, keyboards of every size and standard guitar come built in. Add your own tunings too: drop D, open G, a five-string bass.
Ways to practise
Random notes
A note appears on the staff, and you play it. The quickest way to learn where the notes are on your instrument.
Ear training
Hear a note, find it on your instrument. It's revealed on the staff once you get it.
Scales
Play the scale through, one or two octaves, up and back down again if you like.
Triads
"Play E minor (vi): E G B". Learn the chords of each key, note by note.
Intervals
Play a major 3rd above C, or hear two notes and find the second by ear.
Melodies
Play a tune through, reading as you go. A handful are built in, and you can add your own in ABC notation, such as the thousands of folk tunes on thesession.org.
Want a challenge? Play a scored set of questions, against the clock, or go for sudden death: one wrong note and it's over. Your best scores are kept for each key, scale and instrument, so there's always something to beat.
Try it for free, for as long as you like
The free version has no time limit. It includes random notes practice in the major, natural minor and pentatonic scales, the tuner, and the MIDI player. A licence unlocks the rest, once, for good, with free updates. See what a licence adds.