String Theory

For £6 this game is very worthwhile, for me. I do hope the dev continues to develop this game. In its current form, it is probably best suited to those who've just started on the musical path in some form. I found the first few tiers (basic major and minor chords) very easy, but it helped to reinforce my shaky knowledge of chord structure. For me, things got much more challenging when it started introducing seven strings, with 7th chord inversions. With 8 strings, I found it tedious when you get most of the tier correct but then have to restart the tier because of one mistake. Still, it seems a good-value ear training program, suited to budding musicians.

Pretty good game. Only downside is that it isn't hard at all. So the ammount of ear training you can achieve is limited. I would've the devs add chord progressions, chord inversions (that you must identify) and borrowed chords to make it more interesting and useful.

I guess there are apps for mobile that do that, but a game on steam - with achievements and all that jazz - that had these features would be really great.

And if anyone decides to do that, add interval recognition, melodic dictation, rythmic dictation and dodecaphonic series dictation to make it a very thorough ear training game.

Overal, if you're a beginner this will be a good start to getting your ears trained. Just make sure to pair it with interval recognition training to accelerate your ear development.

This helps me build chords without looking up charts on ukulele. It's especially useful because ukulele has a lot of inverted notes in chords which the game has practice for. You listen to the key of the music in the background to figure out what key you're in then you cut the string that causes dissonance in the chord. The difficulty goes from absolute beginner to challenging even if you study music theory. If you're good at music theory there isn't a lot of competition in the leaderboards, if you're still learning music this is a great learning tool.

It is a fun educational game for those who play musical instruments.

In a casual/puzzle mode you can test and train your ears to recognize chords.

I personally enjoy it. I play it from time to time and plan on getting the acheivments. It's not super educational but its a nice exercise if you are a musician. It will test the musical part of your brain and keep it sharp. Just unfortunately won't teach you a ton. I got it on sale for super cheap, so over all I'm happy with it.

Nice game! I like it, improves your pitch! However! The achievements are waaay too slow. I wanna use the violin as the instrument when i touch the strings and i dont even know if its included yet. Difficulty is too high.

Otherwise good.

This game helped me to develop my musical ear, to the point where I could be sure that sometimes the game was simply getting things wrong.

It's mostly decent, at worst clunky, but occasionally the answer the game gives is different from the actual note being played, or the chord played at the end of a round is different from the one you get by plucking the individual strings. In the most obvious cases of the game getting it wrong, I had to choose which of two strings to cut when the sound they both made was completely identical.

In a game where the aim is to determine which notes are being played, this is quite a big issue. Its extra time challenges, where a single mistake by you OR the game means a restart, are a lot less appealing now.

I'd love to see more games like this, but that one problem really messes up this game's potential.

Rating: a diminished fifth out of ten.

P.S. On a less justified, more personal note, dominant sevenths are the best sevenths, so it's sad that they don't make an appearance.

I have A Major complaint about this game, it just falls flat...

Jokes aside, while I commend the developer for attempting to make a music theory/ear training game as I do think it’s a great idea, there just isn’t enough content to properly teach or train someone. I had hoped at a minimum for interval and chord ear training along with some basic staff identification but would have been pleasantly surprised to see more robust tools, trainings, and lessons to accompany them.

As of now, I highly suggest musictheory.net for your music theory lessons and ear training exercise needs.

Ear training could be fun to!

Actually for me, as a musican, ear training was quite fun anyway but this is a well done attempt of making it fun for everyone.

I get what some people say, that this is not a propper educational tool for musicans, because it has only few types of chords, and nothing else. But I think this supposed to be something between a game and an educational tool. Something not only for musicans. Something that could be fun also for someone who never had anything to do with music, and now can change that while playing a game.

I do not think, that the string placement being not "real life" from lowest to highest is a con. Again, this is a game and it have it's own mechanic. It doesn't have to reflect a view of a real instrument to be helpful for a string instrument players. It is an ear training, so stop using your eyes. Wind instrument players would probably never whine about that - they never use eyes in ear training :) only key and string players do :)

And for those who say that they do not notice learning something, because they are not seeing the correct answer. Actually ear training here is done correctly. It never supposed to be done with pen and paper. It needs to be an endless repetition of an exposure. It is like phisical training in martial arts, developing the muscle memory. Ear training should be that kind of "muscle memory" in your ear. You could be not intelectually aware of doing progress, like when memorising information in history classroom, but the ear is getting better and better and you will notice that in action and be suprised.

So if you are not a musican, and like cool indie games with lots of funny achievements - grab it!
If you are not a musican but want to be one - it is a good start!
If you are a musican (like me), just please chiil out, shut up, and enjoy the game ;)

Been playing piano since I was young, and graduated in Music Ed recently. I've used online free music theory stuff similar in kind, so I am comparing it a bit. Since it was on sale for $1>, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Pros: Good as a game for newbies. Starts out very simple. Probably does get more challenging with the learning curve. Allows background music to be turned off, and muting strings.

Cons: I felt that it needs an accurate visual aspect. For example, clicking on a digital keyboard that shows you and plays back low keys and high keys. I felt that if the strings were a violin or guitar string, it would be more real-life accurate, high pitches and string note location in relation to each other. I thought that having background music was distracting, which you could argue that it helps listening against distraction but I think it hinders accurate listening. I thought the layout and menus could've been better, as well as different color schemes. Wasn't really feeling the lavendar/purple gradient.

I obviously didn't play very long, but it didn't pique my interest as something I would use as a tool in the future, except for younger kids who could possibly take something away from this. Maybe it's just too simplistic for me. It could turn out to be much more challenging for a seasoned musician as you move forward in the game, but I didn't really want to put the time into it seeing as I don't really need this for myself. Maybe the whole strings theme didn't relate with me since I've learned (as well as all my college classmates and musician friends) music theory based around the piano. This game is just a different aspect.

Bottom line: I wouldn't personally recommend... but that goes without saying I don't think that it can't find it's place with someone out there.

If you're still curious or feeling unsatisfied with my answer, give it a go. :]

as a musician i can tell you that this "game" is really bad! it explains nothing to the player and it gets very boring and dull after a few minutes. there are far better educational sites on the internet wich you can use for free. this game is so very stripped down of almost everything that is possible in music and music theory, it's actually just a bad joke!

I really like the idea behind this game, but I feel like it's a far cry from what it claims to be and I can't recommend it in its current state. I think the developers have their heart in the right place and maybe they're a little too familiar with the content to see some of the things I feel are shortcomings. With that in mind I have several criticism which I sincerely hope are taken constructively because I want to see this become the game I thought it would be.

I don't feel like I'm learning anything. It might be fun if I already knew something about music, but even when I pass a tier I don't feel like I understand what I did. I wish there was more of an educational element.

The help/cheats aren't very helpful. They just give you answers. I'd consider slowing down the music, or playing the chord clearly without the music, or playing the notes in the chord one at a time to be more helpful. Using the cheats doesn't actually feel like it's helping, just postponing my next failure.

After failing the only option I have is to start the tier over. There is no guidance for your mistake, nothing is clarified. At the very least I'd like to try it again without credit to see if I can recognize my error. I would hope for a lot more feedback. Show me where each string falls on a scale and which ones I cut/left and which ones were correct.

I'm on tier 15 and I still get presented with stages that I think are easy and I cut strings after hearing them after a single pluck. Within the same tier sometimes I get completely stumped. This has been happening to me since tier 5. I feel like if this game had a suitable educational element, I'd have an explanation for this seemingly random difficulty.

Some things I'd like to see in future versions:
-I'd like to play with my eyes closed, but the interface requires a mouse. It'd be nice to have ASDF...or 1234... assigned to the strings.

- More music. The music is lackluster. Some songs have too much delay before the chords. If you're troubled with a tier, the music can be tiresome.

- It'd be nice to have the option to mark what I think is the root/3rd/5th as I make my progress.

- There's a constant audio static which I believe is intentional (maybe like a record?) that would be very nice to shut off.

Other bugs:
the disabled state for he 5th cheat button is the 3rd button
The drop shadow on the string cut button is cut off on the bottom
all 3 circles for the play chord, mute and settings buttons have flat bottom and right sides

String Theory on PC / Steam
Score 10 / 10

2016 STEAM AWARDS "Just 5 More Minutes" Nominee

[This review has been updated following a complete second ‘Standard’ game playthrough following last week's patch 2016.02.26. Score before the patch 9 / 10]

Recognizing chords and matching notes to music is a fun experience in this musical game. All levels of musicianship from newbs to card carrying long hairs will benefit from this software including those with formal training in solfège. I purchased this software on day 1 because I thought the concept was cool… and I was right. I have made extensive notes for musicians in this review. On with the show….

The background music plays (BGM) and you pluck virtual strings that may or may not be in harmony. Pick the right strings and cut the bad ones. This game introduces simple 2 and 3 note chords; forget the musical theory you do not need it; just enjoy the experience. Game levels 1-20 are straightforward and can be completed by everybody. Go ahead and dive in….

Each level represents 5 chord challenges which must all be correctly resolved to progress to the next level. The complexity progresses gently through increasing the number of strings in a chord, increasing the number of alternative strings, mixing the order of Majors and minors, and finally inversions. Every time I finished a level I kept saying to myself “just one more level before going to bed”. I went to bed late, a few times. There are a total of 40 levels.

The game really takes off at level 21 with the introduction of 4 note chords, 7th chords to be precise, driving up the difficulty. I did find myself occasionally misidentifying the tonic or the third; patience and concentration is required especially when surviving chord inversions. Following the patch I can confirm that all sonic puzzles resolved to either Major 7ths or minor 7ths as per game instructions; the game will challenge you with alternatives such as Major 6ths, dominant 7ths, and minor Major 7ths but they were not solutions in these puzzles.

Achievement notes: Achievements are linked to completing levels with specific BGM. Playing alternative modes changed my BGM when I resumed ‘Standard’ playthrough. Check the achievement requirements and reset the BGM manually through ‘options’ while in-game if necessary.

Honorable mentions
1. Many different styles of music are represented here and are sufficiently varied to keep us interested. Chapeau :hat1: to the music director.
2. Lots of extra game modes including Chaos and Endless.
3. Steam accoutrements including huge numbers of achievements, cards, and leaderboards. Woo!
4. Special thanks to the devs for opening a line of communication to allow for questions that I had about the game; they have been responsive to their players with the patches.
5. This game is the first in its genre; genre defining. Honour this.

Last words
I often pick up my guitar while jazz or rock is playing and determine the chord progressions and spend some time improvising on the spot. This game fulfills the same role of learning the key of the sound space but just using a computer instead. I really took this game to heart and wanted to prove to myself that I have internalized all my intervals, an exam so to speak that I passed with just a slight bruising of my ego! Musicianship is great for the mind; it teaches the qualities of perseverance, gives improved memory and concentration including better academic performance, and has proven protective against the afflictions of aging (alzheimer’s and dementia).

Buy this software if you are a musician at any level or the least bit curious (or shy).This fun musical game is genre defining and is the logical evolution of using computers to help us train our minds in the realm of music.

My scoring system 10 / 10
10 / exemplary execution of the genre with compelling innovation
9 / exemplary execution of the genre don’t miss out, for fans of the genre and the curious alike
8 / for well done not a must play, fans of the genre and newbs will be happy it is well done
7 / for calibrated expectations only, fans of the genre would not miss out if they skipped this
6 / only for serious fans of the genre for whom game play with bugs is acceptable
5 / enough bugs to make me unhappy

It's great for listening to and choosing notes for major and minor chords. On the negative side, I was also really hoping it would help me to see in a melody when I should use I, IV and V7 chords and help to teach that aspect of harmony. (Perhaps we could see that in a future update or game mode?)

Well it's a sweet little toy really but I can't see how educational it is. I breezed through first 7 levels in few minutes and... well, and what? I guess that on later levels I need to leave more strings out of more strings which surely will be harder but it still doesn't teach me very much. Anyone remotely interested in music and not deaf should be able to tell which tone doesn't fit. But how does it help you to tell which chord it is or how to make chords? It doesn't.

I hope I'm not too harsh with this review. It should get a neutral recommendation but it's unavailable. Perhaps I'll change it to a "Yes" if I find it interesting on later levels. Otherwise I'll ask for a refund because so far it's not what I was expecting after reading the reviews. Oh and it could be cheaper, 3-4 euros at most.

Very good game and great for ear training, but I'd be hesitant to recommend this to anyone without any prior music experience or education. A complete novice could probably get the hang of things eventually, but unless you already know a little bit of music theory you probably won't really understand what you're learning. It's one thing to gloss over this in the tutorial, but even in the in-game glossary, it's not explained why the first, second, and third notes in a chord are called the root, third, and fifth except that "music theory is weird". While music theory is indeed super weird, the explanation for that is very simple - the root is the first note of the scale the chord is named for, the third is the third note in the scale, and the fifth is the fifth note in the scale(you can probably guess about the seventh). As another reviewer noted, some of the note names appear to be slightly off, but that's not really a big deal here - the point isn't to memorize the the names of the notes, but train your ear to identify the relationships between the different notes. You don't get to see any note names until you've figured things out (same goes for the scale they're in) and they flash by fast enough that you probably won't even read them. This is for ear training, not memorizing chords. Another minor gripe is that a couple songs (two out of the roughly fifteen I've played so far) have relatively long drum lead-ins, four or eight bars, before the melody kicks in. That would make sense in a rhythm game, but here you end up just sitting around for a while until you can start listening for a root note. Those minor complaints aside, I'd recommend this in an instant to any musician. The first ten levels or so are a breeze if you have any prior music experience, and you'll be worried you wasted your time and money, but things get really interesting and fun after they start with inversions and 7ths. I've played several instruments for over fifteen years, and professionally over the last seven years as both an instructor and performer, and I can't recall better, more dense training in a single session than the two hours I've spent with this so far.

String Theory is a really fun, relaxing game and a great concept. It's educational or recreational for all ages or musical skill levels. Well worth the low price and a step beyond the conventional, an inspired new idea and friendly but challenging format. A game I enjoy playing by myself but would also recommend for a friend's musically inclined children, at the same time my non-gamer parents would enjoy it too. 10/10 very cool <3

First off, this game is a fantastic addition to any music lover's game library. The concept is really cool and is a fun and interactive way to train your ear to hear different chord qualities. However, I do have a little beef with this game as of now. The simpler levels where you learn to identify major and minor triads are perfectly fine, but things start to get mislabled once the seventh gets involved. For example: whenever the song is in the key of A Major in these levels, your goal is to identify an A Major Seventh chord, but the chord identified as the A Major Seventh is spelled "A-C#-E-F#" (an A Major with an added sixth). This also applies to the E Major Seventh. Also, no distinction is made between a dominant seventh and a major seventh, or between a minor seventh and a minor chord with a major seventh. Sorry for my lil rant here. I just don't want people to wonder why one seventh chord sounds different than another seventh chord with the same label. Also, I've only played for about an hour, so maybe this is cleared up in later levels. :p Otherwise, this is a great game.

I've always been into rhythm action and music based games. So a music puzzle game seemed right up my alley. After the first few stages I realized this game can be quite difficult for those with an untrained ear. Its going to take me some time but I think I can get really good at it. Also my 1 y/o daughter seems to really like the sounds and colors. A rare kind of puzzle game with a reasonable price I'd say.

This is great! Super cool concept, cool execution. I've only played like 4 stages and it's actually kind of challenging. But I enjoy it! The trailer is also great, reminds me of Rick and Morty because it has that awkward spacing of words. The trailer is what made me impulse buy it.

+ Cool concept
+ Variety in sounds and background music
+ Things to unlock
+ Quite some levels I think
+ Funny achievements

- The sounds, particle effects and textures feel 'cheap'
- Some BGM has a long barely tonal intro that makes it so you have to wait like 3 seconds before you can hear the resonance

All in all pretty cool, if you're passionate about music you'll enjoy it.