Fretboard Skeleton Key

The top bar holds the key, major or minor, and the one-fret arrows. The key menu lists both names of the keys that have two, such as F# and Gb, and every note is spelled from its degree, so a 3 is always the third letter up from its root and a bb7 keeps its letter. Under the neck are capture, the lesson sheet, print or save PDF, save as HTML and copy link, and the Display row at the bottom holds the label menus, the root highlight, the CAGED brackets and the fret count. Under the neck, three pills open the functions: Chords, Scales and Progressions. One is open at a time, and tapping the open pill closes it, which leaves the key's scale on the neck with the brackets and nothing else. The chosen function travels in the link.

The key menu at the top drives the whole page. Choose a key and major or minor, then choose a chord by its number in that key. The numerals carry the quality the key gives them, upper case major, lower case minor, a circle for diminished, so in E major the row reads E, F#m, G#m, A, B7, C#m and D#m7b5 when seventh chords are showing. The chord type menu sets the size of chord the numerals build, triads, sevenths, ninths or sixths, and it also changes the chord on the neck to any type at all, so I with 7 chosen gives the E7 of a blues. The chord type menu holds everything from the triads through the sevenths, sixths, added-note chords, ninths and the altered dominants. The one-fret arrows move the key by a half step, so a shape you are looking at slides one fret and takes a new name while your hand does nothing new.

Scales. The Scales pill draws the key's scale or the arpeggio of one of its chords, chosen by numeral, with the chord type menu setting the size and quality of the chord the numerals build, the same way as under Chords. Five scale layouts: CAGED position in the chosen box; three notes per string in one of seven patterns; diagonal, three octaves up the neck from the sixth string with one octave on each pair of strings; octave shapes, one octave root to root from a root on the sixth, fifth, fourth or third string, one shape for each finger the root sits under; and a single string. Four arpeggio layouts: the chord tones inside a CAGED box; one-octave shapes on a three-string set; six strings in position, every chord tone from the sixth string to the first inside one hand position, with the root on the sixth, fifth, fourth or third string under the fourth, second or first finger; and diagonal, one octave on each pair of strings up the neck, three octaves from a root on the sixth string or two from the fifth string carrying on along the first. The arrows step through the shapes and patterns. Every layout starts on the root, and the notes of the position that come before the root are dimmed rather than hidden. The range menu offers the full window, one octave root to root, two octaves root to root and the full position; when a box holds more than one root, the root arrows choose which root the octave starts from; when a range reaches past the box the window is widened a fret at a time and the caption says so.

Progressions. The Progressions pill takes a preset, numerals typed in the box (I vi ii V7; lower case for minor, b or # in front for a borrowed chord, V7/ii for a secondary dominant, ° or dim for diminished), or chord names (Am F C G, Bb7, F#m7b5), which are turned into numerals against the key in the top bar and draws every chord's grip inside the chosen box, each slot in its own color: purple, blue, coral, amber, teal. A note two chords share carries a ring split between their colors; a chord tone outside the key has a dotted ring and its key degree reads with the accidental. Up to three distinct chords are drawn together; from four, one chord is in color at a time and the rest are grey ghosts, and the transport under the neck plays through the slots on a timer, with back and next to step by hand; with three or fewer chords the current chord stays in full color and the others fade while the transport is in use. Each slot row has a drag handle, the numeral, a chord type menu, a voicing menu, a V7 of button that inserts the chord's secondary dominant in front of it (V7/ii before the ii, and so on; the button is left off diminished chords, which take no secondary dominant), grip arrows through every grip of that voicing on the neck, nearest the box first, with a note of how far one reaches outside it, set arrows that move the same voicing to the next string set up or down, a color swatch, an on-off switch and a remove button; a slot that is off stays in the list and leaves the neck. A grip may reach one fret outside the box; a chord with no grip on the neck is greyed and the caption says where its next repeat falls.

Intervals. The switch on the Intervals row replaces the chord with one interval at a time: the root of the scale showing and one other degree of it, chosen in the menu, up from the root or down from it, with the two notes joined by a line. The shape arrows step through every root in the box and every place the second note can be taken from it (same string, next string, or a string skip); the set arrows jump to the roots on the next string up or down. The caption names the degree, the strings and frets, and the interval as it sounds, which for the downward direction is the inversion. The mode menu turns the interval into a two-note chord scale: chord scale in the box puts the chosen interval on every degree of the scale (thirds become G-B, A-C, B-D and so on, major or minor as the scale gives them) inside the box, with the chord arrows stepping the degrees, the shape arrows stepping the string pairs for the current degree, and the other degrees ghosted; chord scale up the neck keeps one string pair and climbs the neck degree by degree, with the shape arrows moving to the other string pairs that can hold the interval.

Chord scale. The switch turns the chord scale on, and the chord arrows then walk the seven diatonic chords of the key on the voicing that is showing, either up the neck on the string set or in the box across string sets, by the menu beside them. The current chord is drawn in color with its chord degrees beside the notes, and the other six are ghosted as grey rings carrying the note name and the key degree. A numeral row above the neck marks the current chord. Along the string set, the grip arrows move the whole walk to another grip of the I chord; in the box, they step the current chord through every grip of the family near the box, nearest first, on any string set. Surroundings draws the scale at full size in a window around the grip that is showing: the box's frets on the grip's strings plus one string each side, widened a fret at a time until every degree of the scale is present.

The voicing menu picks the grip family. Full chords comes first: the five CAGED forms of a major, minor, maj7, m7 or 7 chord, and the E and A barre forms of the other types, stepped through with the grip arrows; a form that falls at the nut is the open chord players call a cowboy chord, and the caption says so. After that come close and spread triads on a string set, drop 2 and drop 3 four-note grips, shells (root, 3 and 7 with the root in the bass, on the string named), guide tones (the 3 and 7 alone), the full CAGED forms and barre chords, three-note rootless grips (3, 5 and b7 for a 7 chord; 3, b7 and 9 for a 9; b7, 3 and 13 for a 13), the dyads players use from the scale that is showing (thirds, sixths, fourths, fifths and tenths), octaves, the arpeggio of every chord tone, and the root map. Choosing a family a triad does not have moves the chord type to its seventh chord, and choosing triads on a seventh chord shows the triad inside it. The neck shows one grip of the family, large; the grip arrows step through the others up the neck, the set arrows move the same voicing to the next string set up or down, and all grips on set draws every one at once.

Teal is the chord root, orange the other chord tones, and the small pale notes are the rest of the scale. Every note carries its name inside the circle and its degree beside it; the labels menu switches between dots only, names, degrees and both, the degree menu chooses chord degrees, key degrees or both (the key degree then goes inside the circle under the name, in purple), and the root highlight button switches the root color off and on. A dotted ring marks a chord tone that lies outside the scale drawn. Chords chosen by number are placed inside the chosen box when one is chosen, so pressing I, then IV, then V walks a progression through one region. A thick grey bar is a barre, one finger across two or more strings at the lowest fret of the grip. For the guide tones and the three-note grips the root is drawn hollow on the nearest open string; it is there to find the grip by, and you leave it out when you play.

The scale menu has two settings. From the key draws one scale from the key root and keeps it there while the chords change, which is how a chord's grip can be seen inside the box it lands in; the pale notes then count their degrees from the key and the chord tones from the chord root. Every scale is in the menu under both settings; from the chord lists the scales that fit the chord type first, and choosing a chord by number picks the scale of its function in the key.

The CAGED brackets name the five boxes, alternating above and below the neck so that neighbors never share a side. The box menu outlines one box solid, and the also buttons add neighboring boxes, each outlined dashed, so you can see where boxes overlap; whole neck clears them. The boxes are placed from the scale that is showing, so with from the key on they stay put while the chords change, and with from the chord on they move with the chord root. Scale only hides every chord and draws the scale at full size with the root in teal, limited to the chosen boxes. While a grip is showing: the grip arrows and all grips on set then offer only the grips that lie inside the chosen boxes, and the arpeggio family marks every chord tone inside the box, so a chord, its arpeggio and the scale can be seen together in one region without naming frets. For a pentatonic box the caption gives the fingering players use.

Lesson sheet. Capture copies the neck as it is showing, with its caption and note, onto a lesson sheet in a drawer that opens from the lesson sheet button in the top bar; the badge on the button counts the cards. Cards stay on the sheet between visits on this device. Each card can be saved as a PNG image, the whole sheet can be saved as a printable HTML file or printed straight to paper or PDF, and the sheet can be cleared. Type a title before you save or print, because the title becomes the heading of the sheet and the name of the file.

Sharing. The address of the page carries everything that is set, so copying it with the copy link button and sending it to someone opens the app in exactly this view. Nothing is stored anywhere but in the link and on the device. The fret menu sets how long the drawn neck is; grips beyond the last fret are left off. The flats button switches every name between flat and sharp spelling. Reset view clears the boxes, scale only and the layer buttons back to their starting state and keeps the key and chord.