Fretboard Explorer is written in C using the Allegro Programming Library see Here & Here
What is Fretboard Explorer
This version of Fretboard Explorer is free but if you would
like to make a donation to encourage future development and to
receive any updates and new versions then please visit
www.fretboard-explorer.co.uk
and click on Donate.
Fretboard Explorer is a tool that enables the 6 string Guitar
or 5 string Banjo Player to relate the
positions on the fretboard to different Notes,
Chords & Scales in any common or
custom tunings
for both left and right handed players.
It is both for the beginners who just want to know the note positions, to the
advanced players who want to practice scales and discover new tunings &
chord
positions.
The Note Selector
This allows you to Select / Deselect any note. Notes are selected by clicking
on the green button above the required note and deselected by clicking
on the
red button below the
note. When a note is selected it will be highlighted in yellow.
For flats use corresponding sharp i.e. for Ab use G#.
There are also two more buttons. One to select all notes and one to select no notes.
Instrument Type Select
Use this to select Guitar or Banjo.
Chords & Scales
Displays any chords and scales that are made up of the notes selected on the
Note Selector. I.e. if C, E & G were selected then the chord of C maj
would be
indicated.
Also by clicking on a chord or scale the notes for that chord or scale will be
selected on the Note Selector.
Guitar Fretboard
Banjo Fretboard
Shows the positions of the notes on the fretboard for the notes selected on
the Note Selector or the selected Chords or Scales for the
selected
tuning.
The fret numbers are shown above the frets. At fret 12 the pattern repeats i.e the notes at fret 14 are the same as those at fret 2.
Any notes shown at the NUT position indicate that the string is to be played open i.e not pressed down at any fret.
If the Notes have been selected by clicking on a chord or scale then the root note for that chord or scale is shown in Blue.
Notes can also be Selected / Deselected by clicking on the fretboard.
Tunings
This allows you to select how your Guitar or Banjo is tuned. In this example it shows the standard Guitar tuning of EADGBE.
The tuning can be changed for each individual string by clicking on the small blue Up/Down buttons.
By clicking on the store button the current tuning will be stored into the memory that is currently selected.
The memory number can be changed by clicking on the small Up/Down buttons. There is capacity to store up to 30 different tunings.
Clicking on the List button will display all the tunings and the corresponding memory number.
Clicking on one of these memories will select the tuning stored in that memory. Clicking anywhere else outside the popup will close the list.
Right or Left Handed
This changes the orientation of the guitar neck depending on whether Right or Left Handed is selected.
Help / Information
Selecting Help gives a brief overview of what each section does.
Selecting Information displays the formulas that this program uses to determine the Chords and Scales from the selected notes.
Exit
To exit the program just click on the Exit button.
All settings will be saved and will be loaded the next time that Fretboard Explorer is run.
Trouble shooting & other features
On computers running display resolutions of 1024x768 or less Fretboard Explorer will attempt to run full screen at 1024x768.
For resolutions above 1024x768 Fretboard Explorer will run in a window.
You can force Fretboard Explorer to always run full screen by editing the fbx.ini file and changing the [Screen Mode] from 0 to 1.
Depending on which version of windows you are running, fbx.ini
will either be in the directory into which you installed
Fretboard Explorer or in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program
Files\Fretboard Explorer.
If for any reason the screen requires refreshing, you can do this by clicking the right mouse button.