Skoove: Learn to Play Piano Reviews

by User544962

I’ve been looking for a decent app to learn piano, and this one ain’t it. I have no issues with the content or design of Skoove and I think it could be helpful if it worked right. But something goes wrong every time I’ve used Skoove on both my phone and iPad. At least once every lesson, the audio prompts me to start playing, but nothing shows on the screen. Only when I play a random note does it correct itself and show the notes I’m supposed to be playing, but by that point my timing’s off and I’m unable to complete the lesson since it marks me down. There’s also a separate issue when you play along with music where the music is completely out of sync with your sheet music, so it's impossible to play correctly and Skoove marks it as a failure. Just a busted app and I couldn't imagine paying $20/month for it (I'm on a free trial now).

by Your Very Sad Friend

Hi, as you can see I don’t like Skoove cause when I download apps I ALWAYS check the reviews and they were pretty good so I got Skoove . To my surprise I finished the first lesson in a couple minutes but after that it said I had to get premium to continue on to another lesson. This makes me super disappointed cause I’ve been looking almost for my whole life for an app that didn’t cost money. The only reason I wanna get a app that doesn’t cost money is because my parents don’t really have enough money to be wasting on piano lessons in person, so they told me to get a app or something so I did that, I’ve been searching Skoove Store ever since and when I saw this application I got it and boom there it was, telling me I had to buy to continue. Developer I’m very sad cause of this I’ll keep on searching and try to find a free piano app but for now I’m asking to make Skoove free cause I loved it and I just wish I could continue playing. Thank you if you respond.

by Pomodoroman

this app becomes annoying very quickly. It has a great defect that made me stop playing with it just a couple of weeks after subscribing. this app does not allow you to browse through the scores, so that you are condemned to boredom in the “learn the keys” sections because you have to play note by note very slowly so that the software recognizes what you play before it takes you to the next “page.” In the “play on time” sections you have to go at whatever speed is set for the piece you are practicing (no tempo settings) and, worse of all is that you cannot practice each page because if you stop, it takes you back to the first one. The reason for this one star review is that, since I am using Skoove at least 5 updates have been released and these issues are still there despite fixes being requested by a number of users.

by BiG BOoTy JuDy!!123

I got Skoove a few days ago and I’ve tried on multiple occasions with different Internet services and it never load loaded whenever I tried to sign in. And I read one of the reviews that said that Skoove cost money and I have pretty much tried every piano app out there and I thought this was the one but I’m not willing to pay $112 for piano lessons on my phone it won’t even teach me that much will be different if they were real in person piano lessons and they were actually teaching me anything. I feel bad for giving them a bad review because I know that Skoove can be free because I know people have to make money. However Skoove just isn’t for me I don’t know if everybody has a problem with trying to sign in and it not working/loading I hope Skoove and get some improvements because it’s definitely not the Internet again I’ve tried it on multiple occasions and it never worked.
:((((((((((

by Game Champ Lola

To play this you have to log in or sign up which means you have automatically subscribed. You have to pay $90 a year. That may not sound like a a lot to spend. But for kids that want to play piano, they might not get to do it. Some parents wouldn’t want to pay for this. I realize that you are trying to make money, but what is told about Skoove in the description says that over 1 million people play. So if you really need to charge that much money then obviously you are not being accurate about ratings. Yes it is okay to have a free game with in app purchases that are optional. But to have everyone who wants to use your app have to pay is not okay. PLEASE fix this . it shouldn’t have to be a problem! Please reply

by Should Be Freeware

This has to be the worst piano app I have used. I bought it on Black Friday when it was 50% off. It is not worth it even at that price. I have used FlowKey, Simply Piano, and have taken a year or so off in person classes. I find Skoove to be both frustrating, limit, and of less value than the other learning methods previously mentioned. Pass on this, it will save you from buyers remorse. this app did provide a quick refund since it was less than 14 days since purchase. They were professional in their response, so I will upgrade from 1 star to 2 star since the risk is lower due to quality customer service.

by SirGeorgeMartin

After giving Skoove a good faith try for about three weeks, I’ve given up on it and will seek out a different tutorial. There are so many things I dislike about the way Skoove works, it’s hard to list them all. One major annoyance is having to constantly tap the iPad to move on to the next extremely short segment (some of them are five seconds or so in length, most a bit longer than that), which gets really annoying after a while. Another thing is, when you hit the start button to start showing the notes to play, it often doesn’t even give you two seconds to get your hands back on the keyboard and in place to play. For a beginner, it’s impossible to place my fingers on the right keys in that amount of time. My major grievance, I suppose, is the unrealistically fast pace that the lessons move at. I’ve only been playing piano for three weeks, I can barely play, and I’m already expected to read and play sheet music at a fast pace with two hands? Seriously?

by Sunddbrunch

Skoove will NOT remember your progress! It will tell you that you have yet reached lesson 2 when you’ve already completely all the lessons in the whole series.
It also won’t recognize some notes on the piano even though I have a very standard brand new piano. It won’t recognize certain notes no matter how loud I play them. This makes it impossible to play fluently, or to play with any rhythm in mind because you are forced to repeat certain notes otherwise the sheet won’t progress. This and the fact that they don’t provide full sheets of music but Skoove only progresses by listening to you make it very ANNOYING to practice with. There’s also no rewind button so forget about returning to a certain segment to practice more. Overall very poorly designed and difficult to use.

by Amandae117

I’ve really been enjoying getting back into piano practice with Skoove and for the most part the more advance I’ve gotten in Skoove the more the bugs are starting to affect my practice. Skoove has a hard time recognizing all the notes when you play chords which means the lesson stops until is hears the right note, this means I have to play the same note many times until Skoove registers it which is annoying and messes with the flow of the song. I would also the ability to read through the sheet music on my own and practice specific parts of the song without running the whole lesson which right now is not possible. Overall I love the idea and Skoove has helped me but i would love to see more improvements!

by Pockets1112

I wanted to bad to love Skoove, and I do quite enjoy it and I have learned a lot with it. There are things it does that makes learning for a beginner really hard and frustrating. It can miss reading or hearing a note multiple times to the point of I have to stop and keep hitting said note hard and loud until it decides ok I got it. As if this isn’t bad enough every 20 seconds I get a pop up smack in the middle of the screen saying it is taking longer than usual and won’t close until I click wait or exit.... Seriously are you kidding me? First of all when this pops up Skoove and song is working just fine and playing along..... even if it was “slow” to Skoove while are you telling me this? And why does it need to be in a pop up that blocks my notes and won’t go away until I interact with it? Forcing me yet again to stop playing to address something that isn’t even an issue. There is a lot Skoove does right, but there are some glaring issues that make continued use frustrating on a daily basis.

by Rheanne K

I agree with other reviews that this is one of the best piano apps out there, although very irritating at how often it fails to hear the notes. It interrupts the flow of the lesson and after a while just becomes completely frustrating. I was also given a 50% off coupon before my trial expired. I used that to buy Skoove , but then I was charged again full price for the subscription when the trial was over. Also incredibly frustrating. It’s a shame for an otherwise good app to have these significant issues.

Edit: To their credit, the this app team responded by email to my refund request and resolved the billing issue quickly-the refund was issued in less than 24 hours.

by The Reluctant Critic

Skoove has great potential, but I don’t believe the developers are very ambitious. It doesn’t have user tracking, which keeps you from having your progress tracked across multiple iPadOS devices. Super PITA that is. Almost every other music learning app has this feature. What is the reason for this? I mean, really? Changing the tempo of songs is limited to increments of ten percentage points, though such is the case with most apps of this genre. There is one app out there that will allow one point increments in tempo, all the way up to 125%. But this app does have a good song selection. NOTE: I did figure out how to isolate portions of the song and have them loop. But it isn’t super user intuitive to figure out. Just click on those arrows that go in opposition directions and it’s quite easy after that. I wish you could give half stars. I’d go 3.5.

by Userfromlosan

I rate this three stars because there is an annoying message every time I attempt to start a lesson saying digital piano detected. I am playing without a bluetooth keyboard nor a midi cable and am using the mic, but it asks every time whether I want to set up the audio. I could not find a setting to turn this annoying message off.

EDIT: After trying Skoove for several hours, I was disappointed that the MIDI detection can be very finicky at times. I was doing the James Bond course and when I had to play on time, some of my keys were not being registered as being pressed. I have tried playing the same melody in GarageBand and it showed that my cable or keyboard is not the problem.
In addition, my progress or current lesson does not work properly. When I try to advance, I have to find the lesson myself because the home screen did not update.

by Anku94

This is an initial review after completing a couple of beginner lessons. I’ve been using Skoove in the acoustic mode and it’s possible that this will change once I get the MIDI cable.

Skoove does not hold you to any standard. You play a piece extremely sloppily - mess up the note lengths, rests, dynamics - and you still get a green checkbox at the end.

It seems to be designed for the illusion of progress - to make people think they’re making progress when they’re clearly not.

On top of that, its note recognition in the acoustic mode is extremely hit or miss, which totally messes up the flow of the piece.

The positive is that it is engaging - even if you can only hit one note they’ll make you hit it to a backing track, so you feel a sense of accomplishment, compared to practicing random scales for days under a proper teacher. The downside is an extreme lack of rigor - you wouldn’t have developed any real skills/techniques powering through this content.

If these are the limitations of the acoustic mode, there’s no reason for it to exist. If they exist with the MIDI cable as well, then this is barely a video game. I’ll update the review as I make more progress.

by Smm-37

I’m 60 years old and want to play piano for enjoyment. I purchased this app and Flowkey. I started with lessons in both and find both very good. I find the lessons in this app very doable and have made good progress in about 6 weeks. I can read music and play songs with both hands. I love it! I practice every day because I want to improve.
I would give 5 stars if I could slow down playing with the band and increase the speed once I became more proficient. I find the transition from practicing to the band too challenging.
I also find the messages that appear while playing can be distracting and sometimes block my view of the music. I appreciate the feedback for my playing but they appear in the middle of my playing sometimes.
I like the way music theory is taught through the lesson in playing, connecting the concept to piano playing instead of separately.
The arrangements for beginner level are very good and are enjoyable to play. I wish there were longer versions to play outside of lessons for practice and enjoyment. I would also like more holiday music at this level.
Overall, it is a great app and I love connecting my iPad to my Yamaha keyboard through a midi cord for accuracy, although I found it also works fairly well through the microphone.

by Tatipu

The interface is okay. I can see how it would benefit those who have little to no experience with piano.

I’m impressed with how Skoove can pick up sound correctly though. For advanced players, it’s frustrating since you have to play by the tempo given but again, primarily for beginners so I can’t be too upset. I played a few things here and there. Songs are not the full piece though so I’m not a fan of it saying you played the full song. Otherwise I would definitely recommend this to beginners. It’s well worth the price.

I remember having to go to an actual teacher and pay $ 30-50 an hour per week for over 15 years.

by Dgdg87

I think this is the best piano tutor app out there, but it needs work. The inability for it to properly recognize notes is frustrating and interrupts flow and learning. I purchased the cords to hook up my keyboard to my iPad, so hopefully that helps, but there is no work around when playing my acoustic piano, so I'll have to play my keyboard when using Skoove, also frustrating. I would also like to have more control of the sheet music in the lessons. I would like to press pause and then be able to scroll through the sheet music. Right now when you hit stop it takes you back to the beginning of the sheet music automatically. At least allow me to pause it where I'm at and practice and repeat the current notes at my own pace, or have an option in the lesson to review all sheet music and scroll through it there. For what it is and the need to purchase cords, $5 a month should be the max for a subscription.

by Wenrl

This is a great app for learning the piano whether you take lessons or not. Very helpful for learning notes and fingering for beginners. I haven’t gotten into more advanced music, but I’m looking forward to completing everything you offer here.

I would like the option of learning the full songs and the option of downloading pdf of the music learned. I would be willing to pay extra for the full version of songs and sheet music so I could practice without Skoove once I have played with Skoove a few times. Like, 1-3 dollars for full song and download from a separate this app site.

by Adia1011

If your goal is to learn and not just "play“ a few songs using muscle memory, this app should be your number one choice. I compared it with other options in the market, and its course development is the best. It really makes piano learning easier, without sacrificing the knowledge teaching part necessary for music appreciation or skills improvement. I have played flute and taken classes for 15 years, an I can tell that the way this app breakdown the learning process of each song into lessons and steps, with tips along the way, is exactly what a real teacher would do.

by Tina.Loves

I have tried so many different apps to help learn to play the piano and none compare to this. I can play for as long as I like and I’m able to learn at my own pace. Going back to lessons is super easy compared to others. I really appreciate not being forced into a subscription to learn more as well. I am given the tools necessary for free and the option to subscribe for more songs and such.

by Tortilibilly

Skoove won’t register notes and keeps saying the note I’m playing is wrong when I’m playing it right next to the microphone with an electric keyboard. I’ve tried turning up the volume, there’s no (loud) noise around me, and I’ve tried exiting the lesson and app together, and it still won’t work. I tried contacting staff through the conversation feature and said they would be back tomorrow. When playing with Skoove , it got kind of confusing when the segment of the piece restarted, as it suddenly went off beat with the tempo given in the beginning.

by Rivers920

The concept behind the software is great but the fact that it has to hear the notes on the piano in order to move ahead made it really frustrating. It often did not hear the notes even when we had it turned up so we had to continuously go back and play the same notes. We have a brand new piano too. Due to licensing they cannot give you just the sheet music to play (it only gives you a line at a time). We pretty much stopped using it after a week. Wish we didn’t waste the money on the 3 month subscription.

by Cjx3illo

I downloaded Skoove to relearn piano- the last lesson I had was 15 years ago and I’ve forgotten most of it, but have some muscle memory. I started on Advanced mode. The way this app takes you through each piece is excellent! BUT the note recognition fails (often on keys E and B) and it is ANNOYING and disruptive to learning!! Especially for both hands at the same time. It makes me want to throw my phone, I have to bang the key SEVERAL times for it to recognize it. It makes me want to try a new app but I’ll keep trying just in case they patch it.

by Khalid G.

An amazing app with a lot of potential and I have learned quite a bit so far. However, there are some issues that I have noticed. This first thing is when I open Skoove , it asks me to login every time and I have to go through the process of logging into Facebook. The second thing that can be improved are the bugs when I play along with the animation, it often does not follow the keys and the sounds play at different times.

by Rosemosh

I always wanted to play the piano but never had the opportunity to take lessons as a child. Now, as a senior, I decided it was not too late. I downloaded several piano apps but found this one the best. Skoove has it all. The systematic way the lessons are presented makes it simple, easy and fun to learn. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Skoove and how thrilled I am to finally be able to play something other than chop-sticks.

by KC555444552698766

To all of the people having trouble getting Skoove to pick up notes from their piano/keyboard: I have had this problem with all of the piano apps that I have tried and I figured out that if I transpose my keyboard, usually up one from the default, it will register the notes. If going up one doesn’t work, I would recommend fiddling with it until the notes register, as other keyboards may be set up differently from mine. Hope this helps!

Note: I am giving this review more as advice than an actual review, so I will be giving it five stars automatically, regardless of my actual rating.

by Cawh

this app offers so much more than other apps. I used it after not playing for over 40 years. I was able to become advanced again using it 1/2 hour daily for 6months. When my 12 year old granddaughter visits, she tinkers with it and was able to play many songs in just a few days. I highly recommend Skoove.