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Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

projects.alesh.com

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Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#1

Post by aleshh »

This started out when I vibe-coded a guitar scale fingering generator. It came out pretty good, and I started adding stuff to it: chords, then how chords and scales interact.

Then I added charts for other instruments I mess around with: piano, cello, alto recorder.

There's a complexity toggle to go from basic harmony to extended/experimental stuff.

It's honestly still mostly a toy, but I thought other people might be interested in playing with it. Source is on github, so it's easy enough to run locally and fork.

https://github.com/aleshh/gtr-scales

Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them
projects.alesh.com

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#3

Post by aleshh »

MattRix wrote: post #2

It’s a cool idea, but is there no way to hear the actual notes?

I've thought about adding something that would vamp certain chords, say. But sounds like you mean something different... like, play the pitches in a scale?

I very much would like some way to preview what the sound and feel of certain combinations of chords and scales/tones is, but I haven't quite figured out how it might work.

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#5

Post by aleshh »

rdataguy wrote: post #4

And you should add that it also teaches modes, which are counterintuitive and with dumb hard-to-remember names. Cool app, good job!

Yeah! I came across a book that was literally just fingering charts for all these scales in all the keys and I was like, wait a second, this is dumb...

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#6

Post by MattRix »

aleshh wrote: post #3
MattRix wrote: post #2

It’s a cool idea, but is there no way to hear the actual notes?

I've thought about adding something that would vamp certain chords, say. But sounds like you mean something different... like, play the pitches in a scale? I very much would like some way to preview what the sound and feel of certain combinations of chords and scales/tones is, but I haven't quite figured out how it might work.

For now I just mean something simple like playing whichever note you press on the piano/fretboard.

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#7

Post by lbreakjai »

aleshh wrote: post #3
MattRix wrote: post #2

It’s a cool idea, but is there no way to hear the actual notes?

I've thought about adding something that would vamp certain chords, say. But sounds like you mean something different... like, play the pitches in a scale? I very much would like some way to preview what the sound and feel of certain combinations of chords and scales/tones is, but I haven't quite figured out how it might work.

Perhaps something like alphatab could work?

https://www.alphatab.net/

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#8

Post by aleshh »

MattRix wrote: post #2

It’s a cool idea, but is there no way to hear the actual notes?

Ok, I took a stab at this!

- All the notes on fingering charts can be clicked and they play a sound

- Chords get a little playback button

- Compose mode gets its own playback controls

The sound is very basic, I'll see if I can fix that next.

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#9

Post by altmanaltman »

This is maybe good as a reference but its much better to just understand the basic shapes and you can play any scale from memory based on where you start the pattern on the fretboard. This seems a bit too intimidating compared to the tab pdf i used over a decade ago

Re: Show HN: I made a tool for learning scales, chords, and how to combine them

#10

Post by aleshh »

altmanaltman wrote: post #9

This is maybe good as a reference but its much better to just understand the basic shapes and you can play any scale from memory based on where you start the pattern on the fretboard. This seems a bit too intimidating compared to the tab pdf i used over a decade ago

Agree, this is very much about where I am and not for beginners. But I think it helps learn the one “big pattern” when you see where the different scale degrees fit into it in each mode?
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