For many beginners today, learning piano isn’t about dusty sheet music, hundreds of piano lessons or endless scales. It’s about apps that fit your life, spark your curiosity, and make practice feel less like a chore and more like an adventure. Two big names in this space? Melodics and Flowkey. But which one deserves your time, energy, and a spot on your device?
Let’s break it down together. We’ll compare features, teaching styles, pricing, and the all-important fun factor to help you decide which platform is your perfect practice partner.
Melodics is built for modern music creators - from finger drummers and beatmakers to electronic musicians. It’s not a full-blown theory course or a virtual piano teacher. Instead, it’s a skill-building platform that helps you play better - more in time, more expressively, and with a greater feel for rhythm.
Lessons are short, gamified, and built around genres and techniques you’ll actually use in your tracks. Think hip hop, house, trap, funk and more - the songs you’ve been dying to learn. And through breaking down these beats, you’re “accidentally” learning music theory concepts along the way, to put into your own music. Melodics is all about getting you started straight away, learning to have fun with your playing.
Perfect for producers: Great for playing in chord progressions, sketching melodies, and being inspired by sounds and other genres.
Flowkey feels more like a traditional piano teacher - but digital. It offers a massive library of songs to learn, from classical music favourites to pop hits. The app’s learning experience focuses heavily on learning pieces by playing along tutorials, with on-screen notation.
It also provides structured courses covering music theory, sight-reading, and technique. This makes it attractive to learners seeking a more comprehensive curriculum.
1. Learning focus and musical goals:
Flowkey: Focuses heavily on song-based learning across various genres (pop, classical, jazz, film & TV, etc.). It caters to a wide range of skill levels, from absolute beginners to advanced players looking to expand their song library.
Melodics: Designed for modern musicians and producers, with a strong emphasis on developing practical skills for learning on a MIDI keyboard. It teaches music theory through the hands-on lessons across genres like hip hop, electronic, and R&B.
Example: If your main goal is to learn to play popular songs on the piano, read sheet music, and understand traditional piano techniques, Flowkey is likely a better fit. However, if you're keen on developing your ability to play beats and grooves on a MIDI controller, or producing your own tracks, Melodics offers a more tailored and performance-oriented learning path.
2. Interface and experience:
Flowkey: Features a clean, intuitive, and user-friendly interface. It often uses a split-screen view with a video of a pianist's hands playing overhead, synchronized with interactive sheet music or a piano roll. Flowkey also offers a number of different learning tools such as ‘Slow Mode’ and ‘Wait Mode’ to make learning a better experience,
Melodics: Boasts a sleek, vibrant, and highly gamified interface. It's designed to be engaging and addictive, with real-time feedback, progress streaks, and challenges that encourage consistent practice. The visual feedback is immediate, showing notes played as early, late, missed, or perfect. We want to make practice fun and interactive.
Melodics also has ‘Practice Mode’ which gives you the tools to lock in every detail. Loop tricky sections, slow things down, and use ‘Wait Mode’ to master each step before moving on. With real-time feedback and full control, you can build precision and confidence one note at a time.
Here’s where Melodics shines. The app listens to your playing through a MIDI keyboard and gives instant feedback on how you played, your feel and precision. Plus, Melodics works with all MIDI instruments. So just plug in your MIDI keyboard and start learning, no setup stress required. When you learn songs through MDI, you know straight away where you nailed it - and where you need a little more work.
Flowkey also listens via your device’s microphone or MIDI connection, providing helpful guidance as you play. It focuses on recognising correct notes, which also makes it a great tool for building accuracy and confidence.
Both apps work on Mac, Windows, and iOS. Being a beatmaker-first app, Melodics requires a MIDI keyboard - It works with all MIDI models. While Flowkey can work with an acoustic piano using your device’s mic.
Learning an instrument is hard. Staying motivated? Even harder. That’s where Melodics changes the game.
It’s more than a piano practice app. It’s a partner in your musical journey. With its gamified lessons, real-time feedback, and structured progression, you’ll feel the thrill of improvement every time you sit down to play.
Unlock levels, hit streaks, and watch your confidence grow as your fingers fly across the keys. That’s the Melodics experience: Music practice that’s as fun as it is effective.
NEW LESSON DROP!
NEW LESSON DROP!
Doo Wop (That Thing)
As made famous by Lauryn Hill
Learn to play this and over 500 songs in Melodics
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