BassEducation Fretboard
The bass shape notebook
$4.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Build a scale on your own fretboard, hear it on a real bass, label it your way, and
save the shape. Your practice notebook, not a chord chart someone else drew.
I'm a working bassist, and this is the app version of what I made for myself as a student (using endless pads of graph paper): This is a place to build a scale, chord, or intervallic shape on your fretboard (or explore the full library of scales already populated within the app).
See it, hear it, mark it up the way you actually think about it, and keep it.
Most fretboard apps hand you a guitar diagram and a picture. This one is
bass-first, and it's yours to write in.
BUILD IT ON YOUR FRETBOARD
Pick any of 61 scales and modes — the majors, melodic and harmonic minor, the
pentatonics and blues, symmetric scales, and a deep world and exotic section
(Hungarian minor, Japanese scales, maqam, klezmer, flamenco). Set your root,
your tuning, your string count. Four, five, or six strings. Left or right handed views.
HEAR IT
Every dot is a real sampled bass note, not synthesized. Tap one to hear it. Hit Play
and the scale walks the fretboard the way a bass player actually fingers it — an
even spread across the strings, not one long crawl up the G string.
MAKE IT YOURS
This is the part I built for myself. Tap notes on/off a scale until it's the shape
you actually use. Or start on a blank fretboard and place the notes yourself. Label
them however you think: note names, scale degrees, solfège, or your own text —
put "PIVOT" on the note you always pivot from. Save it. It's a shape in your
notebook now.
I had a pad of graph paper loaded with shapes like this for years. Now it's in
my pocket and it makes sound.
ORGANIZE AND TEACH
Create the library of shapes you want to use and reference. Group your shapes into practice sets and work through them in order. Export any
shape or a whole set as a PDF or image — a full-colour version, or a clean
print-friendly one for handouts. Send a shape to a student with a link.
FIND ANYTHING
Search by name in plain language — type "major #5" or just "major" and it finds
what you mean, without knowing the formal name. Or search by shape: tap the
notes you remember onto a small fretboard and the app tells you what scale
you're playing, what it's called in other traditions, and what it's one note
away from.
HONEST ABOUT THE REST
No account. No subscription. No ads. Nothing is collected about you, and it all
works offline — it's your notebook, on your device. One price, and it's yours.
Built by Damian Erskine — touring bassist, educator, and author of two books on
bass playing. Bass samples by Soundiron.
NOTE: When using the app (iPhone only), I've decided to force a landscape perspective when viewing the fretboard in order to keep legibility high and everything looking pretty (and functional). Most other screens are in portrait mode for the same reason. There is a short animation rotating the screen between the two perspectives. iPad version supports full landscape or portrait modes across all screens.
The developer, BassEducation, LLC, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- BassEducation, LLC
- Size
- 3.5 MB
- Category
- Music
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 BassEducation, LLC
