Thursday, August 27, 2009

Coming Up with New Chords

DrFretBoard 4/27/2004 4:24 PM
I noticed the older thread about 'do you have a new chord for me'... I created an application for Windows, called FretBoardKnowledge (it's free: http://www.fretboardknowledge.com/) that can give you every fretboard-position for any chord formula and display it graphically. Also, you can make it calculate scales to match chords. Mr. Mock, I'd love to hear from you about this app; if you can find a use for it!

Don Mock 5/4/2004 6:41 PM
Alexander, good post about your chord program. I tried to go to the address but could not enter. I congratulate you for the work it must have took to write a software program to build chords, but this is one topic I have serious reservations about. In all my years of teaching it's become very clear to me that students need to learn the fingerboard and the theory so they can build any chord they need, right on the guitar. I hate chord books and anything that players think they have to use as a outside tool to learn voicings. I bet that you, after thinking about and writing your software, that you now no longer need it. You can probably figure out any chord you'll ever need. I want students to be able to "write the software" themselves. This means know the instrument well enough to be able to come up with any chord, arpeggio or scales by using the fingerboard right in front of them. Not running to a book or a computer. Certainly computers can offer a lot of help in learning music and recording, notation, almost anything. I live in front of a computer. But when it comes to the learning process, this is one subject where it's time to leave the computer off. I would, however, be happy to see a teaching program/software that helps students learn chord construction theory. And how to use the guitar itself, as a learning tool, not the computer. Hope this does not discourage your work on softwares, there is always a need for good learning tools, whether it be books, videos or computer programs. Thanks again for the post and I will still try to look at your site to check out what you have. It still might be very helpful to many players. -Don Mock

1 comment:

  1. Don, in reference to your remarks above (which I agree with)- what do you think of Jon Damian's book "The Chord Factory" which gets the student to work out chords and compile your own "chord directory". The point being less to compile the directory but to learn the fretboard inside out, including chords.

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