Guitar Learning Software and Apps

by

Welcome to the online guitar apps section of the site. Here, I’ve developed some online apps to help you learn guitar. The apps focus on learning the notes of the fretboard as well as developing skills at reading music and recognising intervals on the fretboard. I’ve developed the exercises as games in which you have 99 seconds to try and pick as many correct options as you can.

There’s also a number of ear training apps to learn to identify things such as intervals and chords by ear.

The tools:

---

Fretboard Notes

>> Guitar Notes Fretboard Trainer

Learn the notes of the fretboard by picking the displayed note. Countless top level guitarists believe knowing the notes of the fretboard is essential to get the most out of your playing, but it is surprising how many guitarists neglect this knowledge and only know the notes of say the bottom two strings or the notes on the first four frets.

Options allow altered tunings and limiting the range of strings or frets you are being tested on. Game mode tests you knowledge against a countdown timer, while practice mode can tell you the note if your having problems picking the note.

---

Reading Music

>> Reading the Music Staff

Learn to recognize the notes of the music staff. This is an important first step in learning to read music. You can test your recognition of notes on the treble or bass clef.

---

>> Reading Music Fretboard Trainer

Combines the above two tools by displaying a note on the music staff and you click on the fretboard where the note is located. Once you’ve got a good sense of the notes of the fretboard and music staff, this game will help you combine them.

---

Recognising Intervals

>> Interval Fretboard Trainer

See two dots displayed on the fretboard and pick the interval between them. The intervals between notes are fundamental building blocks of music and are used to construct chords and scales. This tool should help ingrain a recognition of intervals on the fretboard.

---

>> Scale Degree Fretboard Trainer

See a root note and another note on the fretboard and pick the scale degree of the note relative to the root. Viewing notes in terms of their scale degree relative to a root note has a strong relationship to how we perceive and appreciate pitch in music. Viewing the fretboard in terms of scale degrees is the basis of the fretboard knowledge of many accomplished guitarists.

---

>> Interval Note Namer

Learn the notes that comprise intervals. Answer questions such as which note is a certain interval above or below another note.

---

Ear Training

>> Interval Ear Trainer

Learn to identify intervals by ear. The app will play two notes and you try and pick the interval between the notes. The notes can be played melodically or harmonically and there are a number of other options. Learning to recognize intervals is a common first step in ear training.

---

>> Chord Ear Trainer

Learn to identify different types of chords by ear. The app will play a chord and you pick from 10 different chord types such as major, minor, diminished, …

For each chord type with any given root note, options allow the chord to be arranged in a number of ways such as using inversions and open and close spacing. This will help you become accustomed to the quality of the chord irrespective of how it is played or arranged.

---

>> Arpeggio Ear Trainer

Learn to identify different types of arpeggios by ear. Similar to the chord ear trainer, the app will play a chord as an arpeggio and you pick from 10 different chord types such as major, minor, diminished, …

For each arpeggio type with any given root note, options allow the arpeggio to be played in a number of ways such as using inversions or playing sequences of the arpeggio. The arpeggio can be played a different speeds and on the fast setting the arpeggio is played quite quickly.

---

>> Chord Inversion Ear Trainer

Learn to identify both the type of a chord and its inversion with this chord inversion ear trainer app. Pick if the played chord is major, minor, diminished or augmented and also pick the inversion the chord is played in. Different inversions of chords have a different chord tone as the lowest note. You will need to pick the chord type and start to hear the individual notes comprising the chord to do well with this app.

---

>> Intonation Ear Trainer

Develop your intonation by picking if the second note is higher or lower than the first for notes that are less than a semitone apart. The more correct picks you make the closer the notes get until they are almost identical.

---

Software Influences

A quick shout out to some of the sites that have been an influence on the development of this section of the site:

An early version of the tools over at FaChords guitar was a definite influence, particularly in terms of the concept of a race against time/countdown timer concept. Also, think it was the iPhone game candy crush that was an influence on some of the sounds and high scoring rewards.

In terms of the ear training, I’m not sure if the main influences are still online. There was a site I used to use that had a whole variety of ear training tests as well as a different web software project that was an interval ear trainer and had the idea of being able to turn on and off the individual intervals. I found that really helpful when I first used it.

I hope you find the software helpful.

by