These rules describe the live practice modes. Your selections are saved separately for Foundations and Chord Changes; the section Random settings and Rounds values are shared. Rounds can be set from 1 to 22. On mobile, number controls open a selection list; desktop number controls keep their up/down steppers.
Shared Terms and Rules
Diminished 7 has the full formula 1–♭3–♭5–♭♭7. Fretboard markers and practice fragment titles use 6 for ♭♭7 because both occupy the same fret. Minor-Major 7 uses 1–♭3–5–7, distinct from the ♭7 in Minor 7.
- Mode means the top-level Foundations or Chord Changes selection.
- Random switch means the separate position setting for Scales, Triads or Dyads. It controls where exercises appear, not their order.
- Arpeggio is the shared switch in Practice Triads. It changes three-note shapes and seventh fragments into connected, ordered paths across all six strings. Scales and dyads keep their own behavior.
- Type means an individual exercise, such as Major Pentatonic, Minor Triad or Thirds in Major.
- Chord family means Pentatonics, Modes, Basic Triads, Seventh Fragments or Four-Note Extensions. Chord Changes uses only curated in-key chord qualities and the mode belonging to each degree in Major or Natural Minor.
- Practice follows the entered routine order by default. Turn on Random List to shuffle the entries at the start of each routine pass. Every entry keeps its rounds and gets one turn per pass, including duplicates. Changes to the switch apply at the next pass. The builder keeps the entered order, and Chord Changes follows the written progression.
- Selected keys follow A-to-G order, including selected sharps and flats. Select Random in the Keys window to shuffle all selected keys once per pass, then create a new shuffled order. Foundations completes the routine in each key before moving to the next.
- Exercises try the selected fret range first. If a position cannot fit, the fretboard expands by the fewest frets needed for that exercise. Each new exercise tries the selected range again. The selected tuning, open-string rules and enabled shapes still apply.
- Practice starts untimed. Microphone recognition checks one note at a time; Next or Spacebar moves through interval lists. Rhythm Practice optionally adds a beat and timed changes (see Rhythm and Accompaniment). The exact string, fret and octave are not required.
- The fretboard uses the exercise’s root note and intervals. The song key remains identifiable when the chord root is different. Visible, Recall and Show Extra Roots retain their current meanings.
Foundations Mode: Purpose
Learn how selected scales, triads and dyads connect around the same fretboard area. With Random off, compare nearby shapes and use connected dyads to move to a neighboring area. With Random on, practice finding those shapes at unpredictable positions.
Foundations Mode: Rounds and Order
Complete each routine entry’s requested local rounds before moving to the next entry, then complete the selected keys. Rounds applies with one entry as well as several. Foundations teaches how to play the selected material; Chord Changes teaches its musical applications over a progression.
| Exercise | One Non-Random Round | Additional Rounds |
|---|
| Chord | One grip or inversion position. | Continue through unused eligible inversion positions on the same string group, then choose another group. Keep the chosen voicing type through its run. |
| Dyads | Every eligible pair in a complete string-group run. | Alternate reverses the following run. Up keeps runs ascending; Down keeps runs descending. Use other groups as the available runs are exhausted. |
| Arpeggios | One complete connected pass across all six strings. | The return pass is the second round. A non-random paired visit uses the identical path; later paired visits move to another eligible position. |
| Scales | One connected shape, or a connected run for a single full-run entry. | Use a different pentatonic pair from the previous shape to anchor the next shape, when available. |
Movement history continues across ordinary routine loops. Distinct inversion positions include octave-shifted positions in the permitted range. Repeat eligible choices only after the available choices have been exhausted. Explicit reset or relevant setting changes restart the movement plan.
Scale Shapes
Crossroads is the default scale shape. Rectangle uses three pentatonic notes on each of three adjacent strings. Box uses one of five pentatonic patterns across all six strings. Both add modal or blues notes between the pentatonic notes on each string. Pick a shape while adding a scale or editing a scale entry. With Random off, Rectangle can shift one string, one pentatonic pair, or both. Box moves to the next playable neighboring box. When the shape type changes, the site looks for a shared pentatonic pair.
Random and Direction
Random chooses a valid musical option and position for a chord, one valid pair for a dyad, or a complete path for an arpeggio. A connected arpeggio finishes all its groups before another choice. Random List controls the order of routine entries. Random Keys controls key order. The next Non-Random exercise connects from where the preceding exercise actually ended.
The Direction setting governs movement along the neck. For dyad runs, Alternate reverses successive runs; fixed Up and Down retain their direction. Arpeggio across-string direction alternates between passes separately from movement between positions along the neck. One displayed pair or arpeggio group is a step inside a run or pass, not an additional round.
Variety in Random Positions
Whenever the site chooses a random position, it remembers the last six choices for that practice type and displayed root. Standard / Drop D and the selected fret range define the current history scope; chord grips and arpeggio paths have separate histories. Major/minor versions of individual dyad contexts are also kept separate.
A different exact pattern is selected whenever another valid candidate exists. Patterns outside the last six exact choices are preferred when available. Within those candidates, the site first prefers positions outside all six recent areas, considering both fret position and strings. An area is nearby when its center is within two frets and at least half of the larger string set overlaps. For scales, the center pair defines the area; for arpeggios, the complete path does. If the range is crowded, the oldest area restrictions are released first until a choice is available. A sole valid position can repeat. A narrow range never becomes unplayable just to avoid repetition.
Among eligible positions, selection remains random. Scale selections still vary their center pair and center string. With Random off, a scale chooses among different pentatonic pairs visible in the previous shape. A pair can move along the same string or onto a neighboring string. The site applies recent-position history to these connected choices and retains that history across scale roots and chords. If no fresh connected pair fits the next scale, a nearby playable position anchors the next move. The site remembers recent starting areas so a change between scales can keep moving along the neck. It also tracks string groups per exercise and favors groups that have been used less often, including the two outer Crossroads groups. Only groups with a playable position in the current fret range are considered when one is available. Ordered chord and dyad runs keep their own movement rules.
This is temporary memory, not a saved activity log. Changing tuning or either fret-range limit clears it; reloading the page also starts fresh. Switching types or keys and restarting the schedule otherwise retain their recent-position histories. Completing the return arpeggio pass does not record another random landing.
Arpeggio Practice
Arpeggios are melodic paths, not simultaneous chord grips. Complete each displayed group before the next connected group. Forward and Reverse control prompt order within the group; Random Interval Order shuffles those prompts without changing the connected path. One full string pass is one Foundations round. Two rounds provide an out-and-back visit. Chord Changes uses one full pass per progression chord, with Rounds counting successive progression chords. Three-note fragments retain their selected three-tone construction. Vertical arrows describe movement across the strings; horizontal direction describes movement along the neck. Hide Intervals and Hide Roots retain their existing reveal behavior.
Four-Note Chords
Four-Note Chords is the final section of the routine builder. Open Settings on a routine line and use Practice to select its shapes. Foundational shapes start selected; useful alternatives and wider shapes can be selected individually. The Triads, Sevenths & Sixths, Extensions and Altered families organize the catalogue and the Chord Quality editor. Multiple fragments and voicings share one progression chord quality. Rootless and omitted-tone voicings rely on the bass or accompaniment to establish the full chord; the four played notes need not include every tone implied by its symbol. Plain 7sus4 uses 1–4–5–♭7. Info describes close, open/spread, shell and drop voicings. Every selected movable shape includes its supported string-group placements. New shapes use Standard tuning.
Common full formulas: Major 7 = 1–3–5–7; Minor 7 = 1–♭3–5–♭7; Dominant 7 = 1–3–5–♭7; Half-Diminished 7 = 1–♭3–♭5–♭7. Diminished 7 has the full formula 1–♭3–♭5–♭♭7; its ♭♭7 keeps the existing 6 fretboard marker because the pitches coincide.
Chord Changes Mode: Purpose
Click a progression number to learn that degree’s role, chord tones and practice options. Click the chord name to choose shapes for that position in the active progression. The Practice Type button opens guidance for the exercise on the fretboard. For chord exercises, it also lets you select shapes for the current chord. The guide uses chord numbers and root-relative intervals, so its explanations apply in any key. It explains the chord-root and song-key viewpoints. For diatonic chords, the matching mode uses the song-key scale pitches with a different interval reference. Seventh colors on plain triads are optional. The window pauses microphone advancement and the Spacebar shortcut while you read; close it to resume.
Learn to follow changing harmony while keeping the exercise family consistent. Play matching triads through a progression, then matching pentatonics or modes through that progression. With Random off, choose nearby positions that connect the chords smoothly.
Major and Minor Keys
In Foundations, Scale Context → Major / Minor under Practice Dyads → Individual Intervals chooses pairs from the major or natural minor scale of the selected key. It does not change explicitly selected scales, triads or Scale Sequences. In Chord Changes, choose Major or Minor inside Edit → Chord Progressions. Loading a progression restores its context immediately; edits to that context take effect with Apply. Minor starts with natural minor: 1–2–♭3–4–5–♭6–♭7. Written chord qualities are preserved when changing the editor’s context.
Custom and Minor Progressions
Open Chord Changes → Edit to load, build, save or apply a progression. Choose Minor, then use degree and quality buttons to build 1m–4m–5m for natural minor, 1m–4m–5 for a major fifth chord, or 1m–4m–5⁷ for a dominant seventh. The Creating and Saving Chord Progressions section explains the editor controls.
Chord Changes teaches diatonic harmony in Major and Natural Minor. The builder’s degree buttons show 1–2–3–4–5–6–7 in Major and 1–2–♭3–4–5–♭6–♭7 in Natural Minor. Chord-quality groups show only curated choices whose complete formulas stay in the parent scale. Changing a degree selects its Key triad. Switching Major/Natural Minor resets all progression chords to their Key triads while preserving degree order. Sixth, added-tone, extended and altered colors appear only where they fit. A ♯ or ♭ inside a chord’s name does not necessarily put it outside the key: the ♯11 of chord 4 in Major belongs to the parent scale. Harmonic-minor dominants, chromatic roots and Blues practice are outside this curriculum; Foundations keeps its full catalogue.
Modes follow each degree’s corresponding mode. Pentatonics prioritize useful same-root choices in the key; where none fits, such as Locrian, the neutral Info button explains the alternate-root pentatonic and why it works. Chord Changes dyads follow the degree’s mode; fixed From Root drills remain in Foundations. Rounds, Random and nearby-position movement retain their usual behavior.
Open validates every imported chord against the selected key and Major/Natural Minor context. Incompatible roots, chord qualities or slash basses are omitted and individually listed as import errors. A named-chord file missing key information requires a key/context choice. Export writes degrees, explicit chord qualities, Major/Natural Minor context and per-position shape selections. No fixed root key is exported: another player can import the progression and practice it in any selected key.
Minor in Foundations Mode
The key context changes the source scale for Individual Interval dyads: Major uses the major scale; Minor uses natural minor. Major Sixths still means a major-sixth distance, but its pairs now come from the chosen source scale. The guide for an individual dyad states that source scale.
Named exercises keep their meanings. Sixths in Major and Sixths in Minor use their explicitly named scales, regardless of Scale Context. Selecting Minor does not replace Major Triad, Ionian or another checked exercise. For a focused minor session, select Minor Pentatonic, Minor Blues, Aeolian, Minor Triad, Minor 7 fragments, and your preferred dyads in Minor. Dorian and Phrygian remain useful separate minor-color drills. Diminished Triad is now available for practicing 1–♭3–♭5 on any selected root, including arpeggios. Foundations Mode does not automatically build a chord progression.
Chord Changes Mode: What You Select
The progression stays intact while each routine entry supplies a musical approach. Practice Triads offers Basic Triads, 7ths & 6ths Triads, Triad Extensions and Altered Triads. Four-Note Chords offers 7ths & 6ths, Added Tones, 9ths, 11ths & 13ths, Altered 5ths, ♯11, and Altered 9ths & 13ths. Pentatonics, Modes and the selected dyads provide melodic alternatives. Each chord type retains its independent shape choices.
Useful Options and Fallbacks
All useful enabled options in the active exercise can participate. Matching considers actual chord tones, written alterations and compatible harmonic collections, rather than requiring identical chord names. Read the displayed exercise root: a useful scale can use a different root from the progression chord. Scale tensions can be expressive without sounding equally settled when sustained against every melody.
Try other permitted positions before changing musical material. Chord exercises use selected voicings of the exact written quality. Four-note practice can use a selected three-note fragment of that same quality; without a selected playable voicing, practice holds on the chord. Scales try a compatible major or minor pentatonic, then an arpeggio of the actual chord. Dyads first use compatible scale pairs, then another quality within the interval family; final simplifications use a chord-tone pair or an actual chord tone doubled at the octave. Both notes of an ordinary scale-based dyad need not belong to the underlying chord.
A neutral Info button beside the Practice Exercise Type button explains a fallback or worst case, including its cause and why the displayed substitute works. Selected shapes govern ordinary choices; the defined safety substitutes can come from outside that selection while respecting tuning and fret range. Entirely cleared shape selections remain a configuration issue. A red Info button identifies a blocking restriction. The chord is never automatically skipped; timed advancement pauses when the current chord cannot be performed.
Chord Changes Mode: Rounds and Movement
In Foundations, Rounds count exercise units at the same key root; the entire routine completes before the next key. In Chord Changes, Rounds count successive progression chords assigned to an entry: Rounds 2 keeps that approach for the next two chords. The routine and progression cycle independently. Keys change whenever the progression restarts, retaining the active entry and any remaining Rounds.
For Non-Random chords, remember each progression position’s chosen voicing and inversion progress separately. On its next visit, choose the closest eligible next inversion within that sequence. Keep the string group while it can continue, then use another permitted group. A shared note is preferred, not required; a more distant valid position is tried before a musical fallback. Movement history continues across normal loops, including independent histories for repeated progression positions.
Non-Random dyads used as main exercises complete a string-group run for the current chord. Arpeggios complete all connected groups in their string pass. Then the progression advances; these local steps do not multiply the progression-round quota. When dyads accompany other entries, retain their connection role between the outgoing and incoming chord exercises. Missing a shared note does not justify skipping either chord. Musical choices and positions can vary with Random on, while progression order remains fixed.
Chord Changes Mode: Mixed Checkboxes
Each family uses its section’s Random setting. A random exercise may jump; the following connected exercise starts near that actual position. If the next main exercise is random, its destination may be distant, so do not claim that two neighboring dyads can bridge the jump. Use a compatible pair and allow the requested random repositioning. Family, chord and key order remain unchanged.
Unavailable Matches and Manual Navigation
- No selected keys or exercises: wait for a selection and explain what is missing.
- Foundations Mode: retain the current exercise and explain the restriction if it cannot be performed anywhere on the supported fretboard.
- Chord Changes Mode: do not silently omit a progression chord or substitute an incompatible scale. Show “No Matching Exercise” and let Next Exercise advance past that chord, or let the player change selections or range.
- If a two-pair connection is impossible, use a valid shorter connection and identify the limitation. Defined musical substitutions are identified explicitly.
- Next Exercise in Foundations Mode skips the remaining local rounds or current run and advances to the next scheduled type or key.
- Next Exercise in Chord Changes Mode skips the remaining work on the current chord and advances to the next chord. At a progression boundary, follow the normal pass, family and key rules.
- Selecting a chord chip starts practice from that chord. It restarts the current pass; a full counted pass then requires visiting every chord once from that point.
- Changing keys, practice selections, progression, tuning, fret range, Arpeggio or Random settings restarts the schedule. Display-only options do not reset progress.
Theory references: Triads and Seventh Chords · Modes · Voice Leading. The scheduling and movement rules above are specific to this trainer.
