I recently took a look at Planet Waves Chordmaster app for iPhone and really like the interface and detail the company put into the app. I like the same things about another of its iPhone apps, Scale Wizard. It’s very easy to make an app about guitar scales suck really bad. I mean, they are scales — they are always the same, so if you are going to do something different, it has to be done in the interface.

What I really like is that the interface for Scale Wizard is quite similar to that of Chordmaster. It gives you a familiarity like the kind you get when using a suite of Apple’s applications or those from Adobe.

I’ve been an A Minor Pentatonic player for most of my years. It works for me and allows me to play most of the music I like, so I’m comfortable. However, there are plenty more scales out there that players could get to know.

Scale Wizard offers over 10,000 patterns and alternate tunings in the app. You get Major, Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Major and Minor Pentatonic, Blues and Chromatic scales. You also get the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian modes.

Holding the iPhone in portrait mode will give a look at the full interface where you can chose the mode and position of the scale you want to see. However, if you turn the iPhone to landscape mode, the app gives you a larger view of the scale. You can still switch the scale in this screen by clicking the arrow button.

You can have the app play the scale for you by simply swiping your finger down the screen. It will play the scale from bottom to top by swiping down the screen.

The options screen gives you the ability to allow big stretches, change the speed and switch to left-handed orientation if you’re a lefty.

Scale Wizard is a focused app, but like Chordmaster, Planet Waves has done an excellent job with it.

Scale Wizard is available from the App Store for $1.99.