FRETBOX

Support

A tab player for the Guitar Pro and MusicXML files you already own. No account, no ads, no subscription.

Get in touch

Questions, bugs, or a file that will not open: email dismusicartist@gmail.com.

If a score renders wrong, it helps enormously to attach the file. Include your iPhone model and iOS version too.

Getting your files in

From an email or AirDrop

Tap the attachment and choose Fretbox. The file is copied into the app, so it stays available with the wifi off.

From the Files app

Tap Open a file in the Library tab and pick it. Same result.

What it reads

Practising

Slow it down

Play at 25, 50, 75 or 100 percent. The pitch stays correct — it is synthesised, not stretched audio.

The speed trainer

Turn it on and Fretbox starts the passage at half speed, then raises the tempo five percent every time the loop comes round, until you are at full speed. It switches the loop on for you. This is the boring, reliable way to get a hard passage under your fingers, and it is the reason the app exists.

Isolate a part

Mute or solo any track. Solo the guitar to learn it, then mute it and play over the rest of the band.

The tuner

Chromatic, with real pitch detection. Play a string and the needle shows how many cents sharp or flat you are; it turns green and taps you within five cents.

The microphone runs only while the tuner is on. Nothing is recorded, stored or transmitted.

Common questions

Where are the songs?

There is no catalogue. Fretbox plays the files you bring to it. If you want a searchable library of a million transcriptions, this is not that app — and we would rather you knew before downloading than after.

My file will not open

Check the extension is one of the formats above. Encrypted or damaged files will not load. If it opens elsewhere but not here, email it to us — that is a bug worth fixing.

The playback sounds like a keyboard

Playback uses a general MIDI sound set, not sampled guitars. It is there so you can hear the rhythm and the notes, not to sound like a record.

Does it work offline?

It only works offline, in the sense that it never uses the network at all.

What it does not do

Being straight so nobody buys the wrong tool. Fretbox does not have a song catalogue, cannot edit or write tabs, has no MIDI in or out, and does not sync between devices.