Guitar Fretboard Trainer’ is a new app, created by Birmingham graduate Stuart Bahn, to help aspiring guitarists learn where notes are located on the guitar.
According to Stuart who studied at Birmingham University, “Surprisingly, most guitarists do not know where every note is on the guitar. Many ‘get by’ using shapes and patterns, but to reach the higher levels of musicianship a guitarist must know the location of each note instinctively. This requires rigorous testing, under time pressure, on a real guitar.”
In contrast to recent apps such as ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Rocksmith’, Guitar Fretboard Trainer works on one simple principle: finding notes efficiently. “Animations and points-based games are great for entertainment but for people serious about improving their playing, I’d like to see better learning tools, like this, produced for guitarists.”
Guitar Fretboard Trainer prompts the user visually and with audio, to find notes on their guitar. Users can set the time between prompts so the tests are challenging but achievable. As their skills develop, users can decrease the time between prompts or increase the number of strings on which they play the notes, providing scope for development over time. Images of the fretboard showing note locations can be displayed for users to check results.
‘Guitar Fretboard Trainer’ is available to buy for Android devices at £1.49 or equivalent at Google Play: http://goo.gl/HU2zet and Amazon: http://goo.gl/Gp9pE5
About Stuart Bahn
Stuart Bahn is a professional guitarist and music educator in Ealing, west London and former Course Leader for The Academy of Music and Sound. He is a member of the Music Masters Association and has taught more than 1000 guitarists during his career. For more information contact Stuart Bahn directly:
Email: info@stuartbahn.com
URL: www.stuartbahn.com