I'm always on the lookout for free resources on the internet. I recently came across such a website. The website is called Chordbook and trust me when I say that it is endless hours of fun for the budding guitarist (not to mention that it's good for that whole learning thing). Let's take a brief look at this website together.
Go to the Chordbook Home Page Now
The Home Page
The homepage might not look like much when you first arrive but behind this simple layout rests an entire universe of good guitar knowledge. From here you can navigate to the things that you need most. The nice thing about the homepage is that there is a brief description of the websites key features. In doing this the creators of the website are saving you a little bit of time from having to navigate through several different links to find out exactly what each section of the site does. We're going to begin by looking at the "Guitar Chords" section of the site.
Go to the Guitar Chords section Now
Guitar Chords
This screen has a really cool look to it. The whole interface is very intuitive and easy to use. It does, however, assume that you have some basic knowledge about the guitar. For example, it assumes that you know what each of your strings is called in standard tuning. Some guitarists, oddly enough, don't know this basic information. So if this screen mystifies you a little bit don't fret. Hopefully what we talk about here will help make certain things less confusing for you.
Above the picture of the guitar you'll notice a bar with all kinds of information in it. This bar contains options for the following: Tuning, Capo Position, Hand Position (righty or lefty), Volume Output, Strum Speed, Guitar Type (electric or acoustic), and the Notes in the order that they are strummed. If you scroll down the page a little bit you'll find explanations for each of these. There are so many combinations of options here. You can theoretically tune the guitar to any tuning that you want, no matter how weird. You can capo anywhere and you can also see all the notes that you'll be playing. All those lefty Jimi Hendrix wannabes out there can rejoice because you can choose to see all these chords from the left handed perspective. Now matter what you do in this bar, the chord diagrams below will adapt to show you how to make certain chords happen no matter what position or tuning you happen to put your guitar in.
The main graphic on this page is awesome. It allows you to choose what fret you're on. It let's you choose any root note out of the chromatic scale and build a chord on top of it. Have you ever wanted to know how to play an Eaug9...chordbook will show you how. Most of the primary chord qualities (major, minor, augmented, diminished and various other kinds of chords) can be found here. There's no shortage of flavor that you can add to each one of your chords. Tired of playing the same old C chord. Try a different quality of chord. Try out the Cmaj9. This webiste really helps you expand your creativity. It can help spruce up the same old boring chord progressions that you've been playing for years. As if that wasn't enough you can also see inversions of these chords. Think of inversions as chords where the root note is not the lowest sounding note of the chord. In standard, non-inverted, chords the root is usually the lowest sounding note. In a standard C chord shape (x32010) C is the lowest sounding pitch because C is the note found on the third fret of the A string. However you can take that same shape and add a finger to the third fret of the low E string and produce a C chord (which now looks like...332010) that has a G as the lowest sounding note. Folk guitarists use these kinds of techniques to help them produce constant droning notes to make their guitars sound really full all the time. If you've never consciously played chords in inverted forms you should try it. It sounds really nice. You can also design and store your own chords from this interface.
Next up is the "Guitar Scales" section...
Go to the Guitar Scales section Now
Guitar Scales
Scales are the building blocks of music and every musician should have at least a basic understanding of what scales are and how to use them. I don't know anybody that can honestly say, "I LOVE PRACTICING SCALES!!" However, scales are just like Wheaties...they're just good for you. From this interface you once again have a small army of options. The two key options here are "Hand" and "Direction". Hand simply meaning that you can choose which hand perspective (left or right) you wish to see the guitar in. Direction simply meaning whether you choose to see the scale in ascending or descending order.
There are 14 different kinds of scales and arpeggio forms to choose from here. You can also choose any note of the chromatic scale to begin your note on. If you've always had that burning urge to learn the C# melodic minor scale then chordbook's got what you need. Some of the basic scales you'll want to begin learning are the blues, major, minor, major pentatonic, and minor pentatonic. These are some of the most basic and useful scales to have in your arsenal.
Next we'll look at the "Guitar Tuner" section.
Go to the Guitar Tuner section Now
Guitar Tuner
The guitar tuner section is simple enough. In this graphic you can tune to any notes you want. Every note is modifiable. So if you're playing something in a weird open tuning (like CGCGCE), chordbook can provide you with the tones that you need to tune your guitar by ear. This doesn't do you much good if you can't really tune by ear but this could also be a great training tool for people who are trying to learn how to tune by ear. Simply hold your mouse over the tuners and adjust notes either up or down. Try to keep it real world though. Strings only have so much tolerance before they sound loose and jangly or simply snap right off the guitar. When tuning strings down make sure you have a heavier guage string on the guitar. When tuning strings up you might want to consider a lighter guage string.
The last two features of this site are the "Cafe" and the "Chord-Board". The Cafe is a section with play-a-long audio. It's pretty cool but needs more expansion. The Chord-Board is a user forum where you can ask all kinds of guitar related questions. All things considered this website is a great free resource. Out of all the "chord-generators" and "scale generators" that I've seen on the web, chordbook seems to offer one of the finest. So go ahead and get your feet wet. Try some new chords and learn some new scale patterns. You won't be sorry that you did.
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