This is really cool, thanks for sharing.

The Tenuto app has some similar exercises (also available here: https://www.musictheory.net/exercises) you might take inspiration from, or others might find useful:

- fretboard interval identification. shows two dots on the fretboard, you are supposed to indicate the interval between them. this is useful for bridging the gap between audio interval recognition and actually playing by ear. since you already have the functionality for selecting notes - which the Tenuto app does not - a useful extension would be to have it where the app presents a note and an interval, and you select the note that is that interval distance from that note on the fretboard.

- fretboard chord indentification. shows multiple dots on the fretboard, you are supposed to indicate what chord it is. the tenuto app doesnt have the functionality for you to indicate what the inversion is. you could also do a similar extension where the fretboard has some notes selected and a chord display, and you select the rest of the notes needed to complete the chord.

Signed up for mailing list but app is completely broken for me on Firefox, won't start at all, couple of errors in console, but nothing in Privacy badger or Ublock.

Looks great! I like the idea of focusing on highlighted regions at a time. I spent some time exploring similar form factors for learning the fretboard, focusing intervals and shapes more than the notes themselves (link below) - I implemented a two-step drag-and-release gesture with visual feedback for selecting positions on a mobile device, and I think it helps avoid frustrating mis-taps. Maybe something to consider for your UI as well. The additional modules look interesting! Bookmarked.

https://awhitty.me/fretcards/

I like it, it's a great idea, at least in theory.

I did something similar to the 'practice mode' some years ago, just for myself, did not publish it. I used the The Synthesis ToolKit (STK) C++ library for the guitar sounds.

In the end, I didn't use it all that much, but I still believe in the idea. Maybe it's just hard to find the best expression/execution.

One idea that comes to mind is to highlight or find the different voicings/aliases and octaves for a given note, since most notes on guitar have at least 3-4 or four equivalents.

Another idea would be to color code the notes on the fretboard. Again, it's been tried before, but maybe there's a reasonably good way to make it stick into visual memory.

Sounds good. Jumping all over the fretboard makes it hard since I am beginner so I don't know any notes.

I tried setting up the filter, Frets 0-3 and string 1/2/3, but either I am doing something wrong or it doesnt respect the filter, the next note would still go outside the filter range.

Have bookmarked it.

Neat! I’m having some issues with how things are displayed on my iPhone. The low E string wasn‘t reachable for me.

Musically speaking, I never really understood the point of knowing the notes on the fretboard. Scales, intervals and chords are waaaaay more useful to know. But I‘m self taught, so what do I know?

Anything similar for piano?

be nice if there was a "learning" mode where it shows you where things are and then quizzes you.

like that game "Memory" or Simon says.

Also this is training you visually. wouldn't it be better to train you by feel?

I like the general idea - I would like a game tool like this.

(and before I give my feedback, I should say, I spent a year or two working on a solo indie Zelda/Diablo mishmash focused on teaching guitar fretboards and music theory back in 2006-2009. A video of that incomplete game is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6O32PFGZCE . It relied on players playing intervals and chords to cast spells, for both fighting and puzzle solving, in an ARPG real-time context. I had to pause development due to life, but I'm desperately hoping to find a way to finish and ship it.)

Anyway, I think that your game is... well, really, really hard. More specifically, it feels like it gives a lot of negative feedback right from the get go.

If it were me, I would probably add substantially more scaffolding early on - pull from a smaller section of the fretboard at first for the player to master and get more positive feedback, then expand from there in much more incremental steps. I also feel like the timer feels pretty harsh and negative at the beginning. I've played guitar for many years but have, myself, not really memorized all the higher notes on all the higher strings, so I'm actually receptive for what this tool is doing. But running out of time and then losing a life while I'm trying to count off notes feels frustrating, like it's actively interrupting me doing the learning activity I'm there to do.

Hope that helps! As I say, I like the general idea and would love to see a more fleshed out version.

I was gonna ask about a bass version but poked around in settings and found the option to toggle it—glad you didn't forget about us :)

My one suggestion there, then, is to perhaps make the guitar/bass toggle more prominent to grab the attention of four-string aficionados.

What I see when trying to play the game: https://0x0.st/Hqgk.png

You might consider starting with learning the open strings, then the first fret, then second, etc. The way it works now requires a level of expertise beyond what beginners are likely to have.

But the idea looks great!

Nice work. Other instruments like Banjo would be cool too.

There’s a simpler way this is done, where there’s a long narrow sticker that goes on the neck of the instrument. I can’t seem to find the right picture. The internet has stickers that go on the body, or between the frets, but my friend found a ribbon sticker and used them when learning ukulele.

If only I’d had this back when I wanted to be Steve Vai to Yngwie Malmsteen

Oh no, it runs on a timer :(

Obviously this would be a ways into it, but it would be nice for those who play in different tunings to be able to change the notes. I've got the fret board (mostly) memorized for standard, but not for alternate tunings.

Hey I love this! Although there are some issues in the first game with touches not registering and also the entire play board not being visible.

I think what other people are saying about graded difficulty is also true. I have a degree in classical guitar performance. So I did fine. But I've had the fret board memorized for years. Unless there were settings I missed that could restrict the play area, I don't think most would be able to use this very effectively as a learning tool.

Really cool! Like i_c_b mentioned my only feedback is that, even in the practice mode, there's a lot of negative feedback.

I'd recommend adding a step to the practice mode where whatever highlighted region of the fretboard you're practicing has all of the notes visible, and then over time the notes are taken away as you build up your memorization.

omg, I would pay $100 for something like this on the Chapman Stick fretboard. ("which Stick fretboard and which tuning" of course are the hard questions on said weird instrument... but 10-string Baritone Melody please? :) )

I’m so glad you included bass and left handed mode, thank you!

Am I the only one finding this fretboard representation not jiving with their mental model? The thing is, I'm no Jeff Healey, so I never place the neck before me this way. Generally, I look down only to correct my longitudinal position, and then I just place my fingers in the right place. At the moment of actual finger placement I don't really visualize the fretboard, but I kind of see/feel it through the neck outward of my body.

Also, the unnatural trapezoid shape of the board throws me off a bit too.

BTW, I don't believe the reversed vertical orientation makes it any better for me. Looks like I just use my spatial orientation and tactile facilities, not visual.

Cool could you extend this to cello finger board?

The sound when missing the note is repugnant.

This is awesome. As a complete noob, it would be nice to hear the correct note once I swat the fly. There isn't a lot of positive reinforcement with this and it's really hard

I always found it best to learn a few notes and then use intervals to find others. Eventually you will learn their absolute positions too

> “Uhh…Where’s the C# here?”

> The stack is Vue 3/Nuxt 3/Firebase/Firestore/Tailwind deployed on Vercel.

Legit disappointed that you missed the opportunity to write this in C#

I will critique the training method.

The way the game is presented is as a kind of flash card app: Guess and check. That can work - spaced repetition has been demonstrated to work for symbolic knowledge.

However...the way in which we learn this kind of skill - which is also a muscle memory skill - is not in consciously making a guess "I think it's E here" as we play, it's in "monkey see, monkey do" - associating motion with an idea, and generalizing on that. We know how to "walk to the left" without guessing. That's why musicians play so many scales and arpeggios.

So when the game presents a randomized grabbag of question-answer knowledge demonstration, there's no preparatory step that would contextualize it in a relationship to a motion like "travel through all positions of E". You just grind through punishment until you figure it out. That's always been a problem with educational software because it's often difficult to successfully isolate a concept into a motion - if presented with lots of information we'll pick up on the most obvious cues and ignore the other parts that we might need to rely upon for a full memory.

Find a way of presenting an isolated pattern followed by the current knowledge demonstration, and the software will probably be 10x as effective.

Is it necessary to learn the notes on the fretboard?

I grew up playing piano, so the keyboard is my reference. Years later, learning the fretboard has been less about learning which string/fret combination sounds a given note, but instead, given a certain chord:

1. where is the root of that chord, and with that as my anchor...

2. where is the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of that chord? Only once I can easily find those three intervals...

3. where is the 9th, 11th, and 13th. Finally, the sharps/flats of all of the above.

When it comes to organizing all of this across the fretboard, I've found the heptatonic approach to the fretboard to make the most sense and the most economical. YMMV.

Great idea! - Name the chord (maybe give multiple choice) would be good - Popular tunings would be good perhaps as a hard mode. Fining G on standard tuning is one thing, but if you're tuned to D or playing a 7 string, things get interesting.

Perhaps the first level of the game should start closer to the nut in the campfire zone. This is an important zone to understand and shows wear on many guitars. Players then use that as the basis to venture into open wilderness, e.g., by using octave patterns to identify matching notes on different frets.