My friend from Germany built an interactive fretboard in Excel to help me conceptualize music theory via guitar. Rachit, a professional pianist with a love for Midwest emo, took the ideas that flew over my head and took the time to teach them. I’m providing a recreation of his genius here so it can help others the way it’s helped me.
This is a cipher, not a ruler: music theory helps explain why creations are beautiful.
Build
Use the fretboard below to build your own chord.
A progression is just a few chords from your key played in an order.
Add a chord from C major
Or start from a popular one
Optimal capo position to play your progression with simple, open-shaped chords.
Build a run of measures in different time signatures and feel the rhythm.
Add a measure
Sound Wallet
Your favorite chords, progressions, and meters.
Tuner
♪
flatsharp
Or tap a string for a reference pitch
Metronome
Notes you play appear on the staff.
The Scale
These are the notes that make up your key.
C
Chords In Key
Every key comes with a built-in family of chords.
Every key has smooth places to move next. Pick a key to change to and hear a path that carries you there.
Any Chord
Pick any chord from any note. Use the arrows to flip through different ways to play it.
Play a familiar open shape with a capo on, and find out what chord actually comes out.
Measures
This is one measure: a small box of time. The time signature says how many beats go in the box and which note counts as a beat. Feel how the groove changes with each meter.
Rhythm & Phrasing
Split each of the four beats in this measure into four, and you get sixteen slots. Which slots you fill in is where a song gets its rhythm.