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Lane Holloway edited this page Sep 28, 2026 · 7 revisions

Fretman — Fretboard Trainer

Fretman is a free app for learning the notes and chords on a guitar or bass fretboard, by eye and by ear. It asks quick questions, walks you along two Duolingo‑style paths (the fretboard from the low E string to barre chords and drop D, and ear training from the open strings to intervals), plays every answer on a real guitar or bass, and keeps track of where you are strong and where you stumble.

Platforms: iOS, Android, Linux (x86‑64: AppImage, Flatpak or tarball) and macOS.

Start here

  1. Installation — Android APK, Linux, macOS, iOS
  2. First steps — pick your instrument, take the first lesson, run a drill
  3. The learning path — what each fretboard unit teaches and how lessons unlock
  4. Ear training — the second path: open strings, notes and intervals by ear
  5. Drills — every question type and its options
  6. Stats and practice — the heatmap, streaks and weak‑spot practice
  7. Chords and tunings — how chords are named, what happens in drop D
  8. Settings
  9. Troubleshooting
  10. Building from source

Downloads

Ready‑made builds are on the Releases page. Current release: 0.5.0 (2026‑09‑28). Every release's notes are also in the changelog.

  • 0.5.0 adds every‑place questions: a note shown or played, and you select every place on the neck that sounds it. A new fretboard unit after The whole fretboard and a new ear unit after Find the note by ear. Find the note by ear now covers every string. The Linux AppImage is renamed Fretman-<version>-x86_64.AppImage and can update itself.
  • 0.4.0 adds ear training, a second path on the Learn tab.
  • 0.3.0 adds sound (real guitar and bass recordings after every answer), the Stats tab, practice that brings back your weak spots, a random cryptid on the launch screen, and a privacy policy.
  • 0.2.1 adds Linux builds. 0.2.0 adds the octave shapes unit. 0.1.0 was the first release.

Support the project

Fretman is free. If it helps you learn the neck, consider buying me a coffee.

Privacy

Everything stays on your device: settings, lesson progress and practice stats are stored locally, and there are no accounts, no analytics and no network calls. The app opens two links, the tip jar and the privacy policy.

Why Fretman? He is Mothman's musical cousin. Look closely at the icon: his eyes are the twelfth‑fret inlays. His friends show up on the launch screen: Bigfoot on bass, Nessie on her own neck, the Jersey Devil on banjo, the Jackalope on ukulele and El Chupacabra on acoustic.

Fretman

Releases · Issues

☕ Buy me a coffee

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