Frettler - A flexible command line program for generating and displaying musical scales and chords for guitar or any fretted instrument
- Synopsis
- Building
- Execution
- Demo
- Helpers
- Tutorial
- Views
- Command Line
- Caveats
- Tips
- Todo
- Credits
- License
- Contact
This is a CLI program, written in Java 17, that calculates scales, modes and chords and displays them on fretboard representations. It comes with out of the box knowledge of the standard tuning and number of strings for guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, ukelele and banjo, but through use of the optional arguments, can display its full scales and chords for any fretted instrument you may imagine. If your instrument or its tuning is not one of the out of box instruments, take a look at the Custom Instrument
Frettler performs most of its scale and chord calculations using first principles, only the chord subcommand resorts to a database of predetermined fingerings.
For posterity there is a change log here
Here is an example of its output (right handed guitar):
and again (left handed guitar):
I would love to hear from any lefties who try Frettler to get their feedback!
There are two approaches you can take to building and running Frettler. One requires installing the right Java JDK, the other requires installing Docker. As they say, YMMV.
Easily build Frettler from the command line, but there are caveats:
- regardless of the platform you are using your mileage may vary depending on the font your terminal uses. That is out of Frettlers control. I use GoMono for Poweline
- if you use windows, by default color support is disabled, but it can be re-enabled. See below.
- you will need the Java17 JDK installed and in your PATH environment variable
You can check to see if you have the right version of the JDK in your path before installing it, by executing:
javac -version
which should print out 'javac 17'.
If you are new to git you can either skip using git to download Frettler, and simply click the green 'Code' button, top right, and select the Zip download, unpack the download, then go to 'Building' below or if you feeling adventurous, you can install git, then :
git clone https://github.com/philwhiles/frettler.git
./build
The advantage to installing and using git is that you can periodically go back to the folder where you first git cloned the code, and auto pull the latest updates then repeat the build, to stay up to date with new features and fixes, using :
git pull
./build
Frettlers build script is a bash script, and the trickery it perfoms after the maven build to create a single executable, will only work on Linux/macOS/UNIX.
The application is built using maven, but you don't need to have maven pre-installed. Just run ./build, which will:
- download its own maven
- compile the code using that maven
- build an executable 'fat jar'
- create an executable shell command, 'frettler', which is a single relocatable binary that has the jar file embedded within it ie you can copy that 'frettler' to your favourite bin directory
The windows 'build.bat' will run the maven build, the only prerequisite, as for Linux/macOS, is to have Java 11 installed. Once Frettler has built the build.bat creates the wrapper cmd file to launch Frettler, 'frettler.cmd'. The rendering uses Unicode boxing characters and ANSI colour coding, the latter of which does not work in a standard Windows command prompt, so has been disabled in the generated Windows bat file. If you install an ANSI capable console in Windows (see below), edit the build.bat to re-enable color support.
An alternative way of building and then running Frettler is to use Docker. Docker is a virtualisation technology widely used in the IT industry, utilising off the shelf images for things such as Maven and the Java JDK. Docker downloads what it needs to build and run things for you basically. Using Docker to create an image for Frettler, and then being able to run a transient Frettler container from the command line to execute Frettler, means you don't have to download and install the Java 17 JDK, but it does mean having to download and install Docker itself first. You may already have Docker installed, so this may be a route you want to take. The Dockerfile and the instructions below are courtesy of Neos21.
If you use the Docker approach to build and run Frettler, be advised that the custom instrument will not work, nor will the demo, tutorial or helper scripts.
Also if you take the Docker approach to build and execute Frettler this way, be aware that the function shown below will take precedence over a Frettler binary you may have built previously or subsequently using the Maven/JDK approach.
Download and install Docker for MacOS or Windows
Create the Frettler Docker image:
docker build -t frettler:latest .
Run a transient Frettler container by creating a bash shell function :
function frettler() { docker run -it --rm frettler:latest "$@" ; }
And then just run 'frettler' instead of './frettler' (the binary built using the Maven/JDK approach).
If you want to edit and build Frettler in your IDE, you will need to install the Lombok plugin for your IDE from Lombok
Frettler has a demo script that you can run to show the variety of arguments that you can use and the diagrams produced from them. It is probably the easiest way to understand how to use Frettler. Run it and compare each example with the instructions below.
Run Frettler using the built executable shell command.
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major
frettler.bat guitar horizontal c scale_major
The default windows command terminal does not support ANSI colour encoding, so the frettler.bat built defaults to use the --mono output instead. If you want the colourised output, you will have
to install an alternative terminal program such as ConEmu or Cmder. If you install an ANSI capable console, edit the build.bat and remove
the --mono, then rebuild Frettler.
Do read the details below to get an understanding of how to drive Frettler, but perhaps first, after building it, try one of the provided demo scripts ('demo' for linux/macOS, 'demo.bat' for windows). The demos will run Frettler with a variety of arguments, exercising it fully, and displaying the command used to generate each step demonstrated. The output of the demo command can be seen Here
The command line for frettler is fairly rigid, requiring the right combination of 'instrument', 'command', 'subcommand' etc, and yet quite flexible in that its behaviour can be tweaked with optional arguments, which differ depending on the command/subcommand used. I have tried to set out in this readme, which can be used with which, and explain each in what I hope is adequate detail. I also hope that the demo script shows a good number of the possible command combinations to help get you started.
To further help get started with Frettler and hopefully work out the right commands to use when, there are some helper scripts in the helpers folder.
These helpers are written for use in a GNU environment (such as Linux or macOS) having the bash shell.
None of the helper scripts handle additional arguments - they will each prompt for what they need to know.
Before using any of the helpers, use the init helper to set the default instrument to be used by the helpers that need to use a specific instrument.
cd helpers
./init
Before using say :
./horizontal
All the helpers require you to 'cd helpers' first as they will not expect to find frettler on your path (as that is up to you to do or not), but will instead execute the frettler 'binary' in the top level folder above them.
You can use init again any time to switch the default to a different instrument.
The helpers scripts are as follows:
| Helper | Instrument Based | Description |
|---|---|---|
| box | Y | Display a boxed scale |
| chord | Y | Display the chord fingering for a given chord |
| chords | Y | Display chord fingerings for a given chord |
| digits | Y | Lookup a chord by its fingering and display it |
| display | Y | Display all occurences of given notes on a fretboard |
| fifths | Display the circle of fifths that Frettler uses | |
| horizontal | Y | Display a horizontal fretboard |
| init | Reset the default instrument to be used for helpers that use an instrument | |
| list-chords | List Frettlers supported chord types | |
| list-scales | List Frettlers supported scale types | |
| list-tunings | List Frettlers supported tunings | |
| lookup | Lookup a chord | |
| notes | Y | Lookup a chord by its notes and display it |
| Simply print the notes for a given scale or chord | ||
| progression | Y | Derive a chord progression in a given scale |
| tab | Y | Display a tabbed scale |
| vertical | Y | Display a vertical fretboard |
The helpers all expect to use the Frettler command built using the Maven/JDK approach, and do not work with the Docker approach currently.
Similar to the demo, but interactive, try the tutorial script. It will execute a number of frettler invocations, pausing after each with the last invocation it ran ready for you to edit and experiment with.
After your edit, press return to see the result. Once you have tired of each example, simply delete the example invocation shown and press return to move to the next step.
Frettler has two fundamental ways of viewing entire scales/modes and chords. One is horizontal, the other is vertical. Your mileage may vary, so you get to choose the one you prefer!
Both the horizontal and vertical views can be used to display a scale, chord or mode (in its entirety, and each defaults to showing the first 12 frets), but the vertical view is also used for the practice boxes and when displaying chord fingerings, in which case only the section of
the vertical fretboard around the fingering is displayed.
Frettler also has a tab view, which displays a scale or chord in a horizontal tab format, not a fretboard view.
In any view when Frettler display intervals it uses the following convention :
- P1 - perfect unison/root
- m2 - minor second
- M2 - major second
- m3 - minor third
- M3 - major third
- P4 - perfect fourth
- d5 - diminished fifth
- P5 - perfect fifth
- m6 - minor sixth
- M6 - major sixth
- m7 - minor seventh
- M7 - major seventh
The arguments are the same for the horizontal and vertical views.
Frettlers command line invocation takes one of the following forms:
- frettler
commandoptions - frettler
instrument-commandsub-commandoptions - frettler
instrument-commandview-sub-commandrootpatternoptions
Where...
instrument-command is one of:
- guitar
- bassguitar
- ukelele
- mandolin
- banjo
- custom
sub-command is one of :
- display
- box
view-sub-command is one of :
- horizontal
- vertical
- chord
- box
- progression
root is one of :
- C
- Cs
- Db
- D
- Ds
- you get the idea
pattern is one of:
- scale_major
- chord_minor
- see all supported patterns here
(Bear in mind that some commands (box, tab, chord, progression) expect the pattern to be of type scale, some chord, and some either)
options is a mixture of arguments which can vary depending on the instrument-command etc such as:
- --lefty
- --mono
- see all supported options here
A fretboard is a fretboard, and frettler can handle any number of strings with any tuning. For each instrument mentioned it has a default number of strings and their standard tunings.
If you want Frettler to display chords and scales for a seven string guitar, or a six string guitar with drop D tuning, you can use the --strings option, and the number of strings you
choose, and their tuning, will override which ever instrument you have told Frettler to use. The instrument argument to Frettler is just a default of --strings really.
ie
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major --strings d,a,d,g,b,e
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major --strings b,e,a,d,g,b,e
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major --strings a,d
How many people play a two stringed guitar, I know, but you get the point.
If you regularly want to use Frettler with different tunings, switching the tuning with the -strings can be tedious and error prone, so instead you can
use the -t or --tuning option flag followed by the name of the tuning you want Frettler to use. When you do this the --strings option is ignored.
ie
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major --tuning guitar_drop_d
To find out what preset tunings Frettler has to offer, use the Tunings Command.
The instrument banjo will assume the fifth string starts at the fifth fret - if you want the display for a banjo having all strings full length,
just use any instrument other than banjo with --strings A,B,C,etc.
The custom instrument differs from the others, in that Frettler has no hard wired understanding of how many strings it has or what their tunings are.
There is a text file called 'custom.properties' in the root folder of Frettler, which defines the name of the custom instrument, its strings/tunings and the number of frets you want displayed
by default, and if it is right or left handed. If you utilise the custom instrument, the --strings and --frets optional arguments will be ignored.
The 'name' property will be used in Frettlers titling of scales and chords.
So with the example 'custom.properties' provided :
name=Irish Bouzouki
strings=G,D,A,D
frets=12
lefty=false
With :
./frettler custom horizontal c scale_major
You will get :
| Scales/Modes | Chords | Chords |
|---|---|---|
| scale_major | chord_min11 | chord_dom7 |
| mode_ionian(a) | chord_dom11 | chord_7(a) |
| scale_melodic_minor | chord_dom9 | chord_min6 |
| scale_major_pentatonic | chord_7sharp9 | chord_maj6 |
| scale_minor | chord_7flat9 | chord_minmaj7 |
| scale_harmonic_minor(a) | chord_maj69 | chord_min7flat5 |
| mode_aeolian(a) | chord_maj6min7 | chord_7plus |
| scale_minor_pentatonic | chord_maj9 | chord_min7sus4 |
| scale_blues_major | chord_min9 | chord_add9 |
| scale_blues_minor | chord_dim7 | chord_add11 |
| mode_dorian | chord_7flat5 | chord_aug |
| mode_mixolydian | chord_min7 | chord_dim |
| mode_lydian | chord_aug7 | chord_min |
| mode_ionian | chord_maj7 | chord_sus2 |
| mode_locrian | chord_maj | chord_sus4 |
| chord_5 |
(Frettler understands interval pattern aliases, so in the above, those denoted as (a) are an alias for the preceeding pattern)
To see the patterns Frettler currently understands use the Patterns Command
Frettler arguments follow the command/subcommands, and customise it's behaviour and output.
The arguments, required (req) or optional (opt), vary for instrument based commands ie guitar depending on the subcommand used ie vertical:
| argument | vertical | horizontal | chord | box | display | progression | find | tab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| --added | opt | |||||||
| --box | opt | opt | ||||||
| --chords | opt | opt | ||||||
| --digits | opt | |||||||
| --easy | opt | |||||||
| --frets | opt | opt | opt | |||||
| --group | opt | opt | ||||||
| --intervals | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | |||
| --lefty | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | |
| --mono | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt |
| --notes | req | opt | ||||||
| --octaves | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | |
| --progression | req | |||||||
| --strings | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | ||
| --tuning | opt | opt | opt | opt | opt | |||
| --verbose | opt | opt | opt | |||||
| --which | opt | |||||||
| --zero | opt |
Basically:
-aor--addedused by thechordsubcommand to add an additional note to the chord-bor--boxused by theboxandtabsubcommand to allow the choice of which practise box to display-cor--chordswill calculate and list the diatonic chords in the scale (Chord name and notes).-dor--digitsused by thechordsubcommand to allow searching for a specific chord fingering-eor--easyused by thechordsubcommand to only display the default/cowboy chord-for--fretsN will display either horizontal or vertical views with N frets instead of the default 12 for each instrument.-gor--groupused by theboxandtabsubcommands to choose the number of notes on each string-ior--intervalsan optional flag which makes Frettler display the note intervals(*) instead of the default note name.-lor--leftydisplays for a left handed instrument-mor--monoan optional flag which will make Frettler display its diagrams without colour.-nor--notesallows a comma separated list of notes to be specified-oor--octaveswill colourize the notes or intervals according to the relative octave (**)-por--progressionused by theprogressionsubcommand to choose the chord progression to display-sor--stringsfollowed by your preferred string tuning to override the instruments default tuning. Need to use drop D tuning? just use-s D,A,D,G,B,E. (If you regularly want to use a non default string setup, see below)-tor--tuningoverrides the--stringsif used and the instruments default tuning with the tuning type provided-vor--verbosewill print out some explanatory info about Frettlers decision making, see below.-wor--whichinstructs thechordsubcommand to list the chords it has for the instrument and root in its chord bank-zor--zeroinstructs theboxsubcommand to consider open strings ie fret 0
The menu and fifths commands take no additional arguments, but :
- patterns allows
--typeas an option - tunings allows
--instrumentas an option - lookup commands allows
--monoas an option but always requires--notes
It's all well and good that Frettler can work out the scales and chords for you, but if you want to understand what choices it makes that leads to the notes displayed and how it identifies the chords, ie its application of music theory, you may like to use the verbose mode occasionally. With verbose mode on, Frettler will print out a bit of background info to help explain what it is doing.
For example:
./frettler guitar horizontal e scale_major --chords --verbose
Produces (truncated output here) :
The chord mode displays a more traditional chord chart and differs from the vertical view in that it displays filled circles for each note, Frettler can display chord 'fingerings'.
ie as an alternative to showing all the occurences of a chords notes on the fret board, frettler can now show a chord as it
is meant to be fingered, like a traditional chord diagram and gives a summary below the chart aligned with the strings, showing their notes and intervals.
The internet archive of OLGA provided the bulk of the guitar fingering definitions, which were munged, with corrections, into Frettlers own repesentation, including chords with added notes.
Chord definitions are supported for some of the other Frettler instruments as well, and the chord definitions currently stand at :
| Instrument | Chord Definitions |
|---|---|
| GUITAR | 1022 |
| BASSGUITAR | 96 |
| UKELELE | 165 |
| MANDOLIN | 129 |
ie to get frettler to show the fingering for 'Am':
./frettler guitar chord a chord_min
Produces:
If it is a barre chord, then frettler will show you:
The chord mode also allows use of the --octaves and --mono arguments.
If you would like to see which chords frettler can show you for a given root, ie for A, use :
./frettler guitar chord a --which
Asus2 (a chord_sus2) [A(P1), B(M2), E(P5)]
Asus4/B (a chord_sus4/B) [A(P1), D(P4), E(P5)]
Asus4/C (a chord_sus4/C) [A(P1), D(P4), E(P5)]
Asus4 (a chord_sus4) [A(P1), D(P4), E(P5)]
A5 (a chord_5) [A(P1), E(P5)]
etc
etc
If you want to see which chord definitions Frettler has for a specific chord type, add the interval pattern name as well :
./frettler guitar chord d chord_dim --which
Ddim/C (d chord_dim/C) [D(P1), F(m3), G#(d5)]
Ddim/B (d chord_dim/B) [D(P1), F(m3), G#(d5)]
Ddim (d chord_dim) [D(P1), F(m3), G#(d5)]
Ddim/Bb (d chord_dim/Bb) [D(P1), F(m3), G#(d5)]
Note that the chord definitions found include those with added notes.
The database currently contains over 1000 chords for guitar, six string, standard tuning. If you currently choose an instrument other than 'guitar' or use the '--strings' argument, frettler will politely exit, as it will not have a chord definition for that instrument/tuning combination. Until you email it to me and I add it to Frettler for you!
The 'chord' feature is fairly new, and over time I would like to build up the data in the database such that it can display chord fingerings for a wider selection of guitar chords, but also chords for other instruments, and with different tunings.
If you would like to have additional chord fingerings added, email me with the following info, and I will gladly add them for you:
- Instrument: Guitar
- Tuning: EADGBE
- Root: A
- Chord: CHORD_MIN
- Frets: x,0,2,2,1,0
- Fingering: x,x,2,3,1,x
'Frets' is... the frets to be pressed (where 0 is open string), while 'Fingering' is, well you get it. Currently frettler does not use the fingering data, but it exists in the database for the currently known chords, and in time I will add an optional argument and the wherewithall to display finger numbers in the chart instead of the note or interval.
With the chord mode, Frettler does have some definitions of standard chords with added bass notes. Use the optional `-added' argument followed by the added note.
With the chord mode, Frettler may have multiple fingerings for each chord, and will display them one after the other.
In its database, the most common 'cowboy chords' tend to be the first listed. If you only want it to display the first ie easy chord use the optional `-easy' argument.
This is a lucky dip from the chord bank for the chosen instrument. Literally. Each time you run this, you will get a single random chord shape, picked from the set of known shapes. So even if the same chord is selected a second time, you be presented with one of that chords alternate positions.
./frettler guitar random
When using the horizontal or vertical subcommands for an instrument to display a scale, you can use the --chords option to get Frettler to print out the chords in that scale, but the progression
subcommand takes this functionality one step further, combining it with the ability to display chord fingerings for the nominated chords in a scale.
./frettler guitar progression a scale_major -p 1,4,5
Will show the default chord fingerings for each of the I, IV and V chords in the scale of A Major
The chord fingerings will be the default from possibly many variations for the root and chord type, usually the simpler cowboy chord fingerings. If you want to see the other variants, use the chord subcommand
above individually.
Frettler can show a 'boxed' view of a scale, centered around one part of the fretboard, for practising. This has only recently been added, and requires a few tweaks to its note selection, so pull the code periodically and check for updates. It looks at the scale you want boxing, and displays the notes in the scale sequence, by default starting the box sequence at the first occurence of the scales root note on the lowest string and then finding the following notes (2 for diatonic scales or 3 for pentatonic scales), on the same string before moving to the next highest string. This produces the typical scale boxes that you see on various sites and tutorials.
In the box view, the root of the scale is displayed inverted, to make it stand out. This is because there are two optional arguments you can use with the box subcommand, which make the sequence of the scales
notes different, and keeping sight of the root helps when practicing:
--group or -g followed by a number determines the number of notes to look for on each string, before moving to the next string. If not used, the default group is 0.
--position or -p followed by a number determines where the box sequence starts in the scale. If not used, it defaults to 1, meaning the sequence starts on the root or P1. Use -p 2 and the sequence
will start on the 2nd note of the scale.
Here is an example of a boxed diatonic chord, using ./frettler guitar box c scale_major :
And here is an example of a boxed diatonic chord, using ./frettler guitar box c scale_major_pentatonic :
The idea for the boxing came from an experiment with practice sequences, which first triggered the development of the tab subcommand. I tried a wide variety of practise sequences as used in the
open source project 'Fretboard' (see credits), but the results were quite mixed. The jury is out on those sequences, but I might resurrect those later.
As mentioned above, the tab subcommand came about from experimenting with sequences, but they were parked for the time being. But I realised that the tab might be useful for practising the boxed scales
so it stayed. If you want to see a standard tab for a boxed scale, just use ./frettler guitar tab c scale_major :
Just like the box subcommand, the --group and --position options will move the tab sequence around for you.
Frettler can display all occurences of arbitrary notes on the fretboard for you with the display command. ie to see all occurences of the notes
c and g, try:
./frettler guitar display --notes c,g
One way of getting Frettler to do a reverse chord lookup is to use find as the keyword immediately following your instrument. In fact there are two ways to get frettler to find chords:
./frettler guitar find --notes As,D,f
With this form, frettler will display the chord found using its Vertical view on the selected instrument. Frettler will only display the one chord that has only the provided notes, with the tonic being the first.
Find and display the chord chart matching the provided fret numbering.
./frettler guitar find --digits x,0,2,2,1,0
Using this command, Frettler will search its chord definitions, looking for a match, instead of dynamically calculating the entire chord across the fretboard and looking for a note match.
I would have used --fingers but --frets was there first, and as the shortform for that is -f, I opted for digits instead. Only so many options in the alphabet!
Start Frettler with the menu argument and it will offer a simple one line menu. Depending on your key presses it will display your fretboard over and over, each time
reflecting your choices. It will become apparent when you start it ie ./frettler menu:
All the usual instrument mode optional arguments can be used when first starting Frettler in menu mode (--intervals --verbose --chords --mono --octaves --strings --frets).
The first three of those can be toggled with key presses once in menu mode, while the others will be used constantly.
Frettler generates dynamically a representation of the Circle Of Fifths, that it uses to determine if scales should use sharps or flats as the accidentals.
It is perhaps better described as a Line Of Fifths, due to its somewhat flat structure, and the clockwise and anticlockwise arms don't overlap, but the fifths command
will print this out for you if you are curious or want to refer to it.
Frettler also has a simple chord reverse lookup command.
The simplest takes the form :
./frettler lookup --notes As,D,F
A#maj (A# maj) [A#,D,F]
- It expects the
--notesargument, followed by the notes (using its notation for sharps or flats) - The output is simply the printing of the chord found as shown above.
The chord matching can follow one of three rules, using the --rules [strict,relaxed,loose] optional param :
strictThis is the default rule, in which the first note is assumed to be the tonic, and only the chord having all the notes and only the notes will be listed. If you are wondering about the significance of the tonic, consider Cm7b5 (C m7b5) [C,D#,F#,A#] and D#min6 (D# min6) [D#,F#,A#,C].
> ./frettler lookup --notes c,e,g
Cmaj (c chord_maj) [C(P1), E(M3), G(P5)]
relaxedThe first note is again considered to be the tonic, the listed chords will contain all the provided notes, but not exclusively ie the chords may include other notes.
> ./frettler lookup --notes c,g -r relaxed
Cmin11 (c chord_min11) [C(P1), D#(m3), G(P5), A#(m7), D(M9), F#(M11)]
Cdom11 (c chord_dom11) [C(P1), E(M3), G(P5), A#(m7), D(M9), F#(M11)]
etc
Cmaj (c chord_maj) [C(P1), E(M3), G(P5)]
C5 (c chord_5) [C(P1), G(P5)]```
looseNone of the notes is considered the sole tonic, and all chords, with any tonic, even those not provided, will be included in the list. This will be a long list if all you provide is one note.
> ./frettler lookup --notes c,g -r loose
Cmin11 (c chord_min11) [C(P1), D#(m3), G(P5), A#(m7), D(M9), F#(M11)]
Cdom11 (c chord_dom11) [C(P1), E(M3), G(P5), A#(m7), D(M9), F#(M11)]
etc
etc
etc
Am7b5 (a chord_min7flat5) [A(P1), C(m3), D#(d5), G(m7)]
A#maj6/9 (as chord_maj69) [A#(P1), D(M3), F(P5), G(M6), C(M9)]
Currently, Frettler contains a set of out of the box tunings for guitar only, that you can use with the --tuning option.
The tab completion does not work with that option currently, and the only way to know what tunings are available is to either read the code, or use the tunings command:
./frettler tunings
GUITAR_STANDARD [E, A, D, G, B, E]
GUITAR_DOBRO [G, B, D, G, B, D]
GUITAR_AUS4 [E, A, D, E, A, E]
etc
etc
Frettler will then list out the names of all the tuning presets it contains, and the tuning for each. You can also use the optional --instrument argument to specify the name of the instrument you are interested in.
Currently Frettler only has tunings for --instrument guitar anyway, but when it is extended further, this will allow you to display only the tunings for your chosen instrument.
Frettler understands three types of interval patterns - scales, modes and chords. At times it will expect you to provide it one type and not the other. The framework it uses for parsing the various commands will help you by suggesting the possible type at times, and bash tab completion can help you a lot - if you had typed 'scale' then hit tab, it would list only the possible scales you can use (that's why the patterns are prefixed with their type). But if you don't use bash and Frettlers provided tab completion, it might help you to list the possible patterns occassionally. This is where the patterns command comes in. Simply use :
./frettler patterns
and you will get a list of the pattern superset.
Want to just see the list of Frettler understood chords?
./frettler patterns -type chord
Or 'scale'. Or 'mode'. You get the idea.
The print command is just that - it print out the notes in scale or chord (with their intervals), no instrument, no fretboard, just that.
So:
./frettler print e scale_minor
prints:
E(P1), F#(M2), G(m3), A(P4), B(P5), C(m6), D(m7)
And:
./frettler print d chord_maj
prints:
D(P1), F#(M3), A(P5)
If you use bash as your shell, frettler can output a tab completion script to use. Just use the following :
source <(./frettler completions)
Tab completion in bash helps greatly with Frettler - bash will complete all of the args for you and show you the possible completions, handy with the Frettler interval pattern names. The interval patterns all have a prefix or either 'scale_', 'mode_' or 'chord_' largely to allow the tab completion to show you just the selection of patterns that is relevant to you.
I use macOS for all my work and play, and used linux for many years prior to that. I use the bash shell exclusively (v5.0.7 installed via Homebrew). I like to make my life as easy as possible and spend a huge amount of time at the command line - one of the reasons Frettler doesn't have a GUI I guess! I keep lots of random personal utils in a bin folder off my home folder, which is in my PATH and executable from any folder in the command line. I keep a copy of Frettler in ~/bin and in my ~/.bashrc I also have :
alias f='frettler'
source <(~bin/frettler completion)
complete -F _frettler_completions f
Which ensures that whenever I start a new shell session with bash, the completions are loaded, I have an alias for frettler, so I can just use 'f' instead of 'frettler' and the completions still work if I need them with the alias. I also use the single letter short cuts (see below) in frettler as an alternative to using tab completion - I have tried to make Frettler as easy and as helpful as I can! So I often end up using something like :
f g c c chord_maj
instead of :
frettler guitar chord c chord_maj
If you use Frettler for a while, once you have learned its command line verbs, using shortcuts comes more natural.
This is a work in progress, pretty much like the authors understanding of music theory. And his guitar playing come to think of it, which would be a lot better by now if he hadn't spent so much of his spare time writing Frettler! Contributions and advice are welcomed. Frettler was initially created as an exercise in learning music theory and the author still has a long way to go.
Left to the end to avoid confusion and detracting from the understanding of the arguments required.
The Instrument command can be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation is unique within the set of instruments. ie you can use g instead of guitar, but you must use ban or bas.
The Instrument sub command can only be abbreviated to a single letter ie h, v, b.
So :
./frettler g h c scale_major
would do the same as :
./frettler guitar horizontal c scale_major
All the arguments except for the instrument, have default values. This means you can incrementally drop the arguments from right to left, but cannot drop one in the middle. So './frettler guitar' or even './frettler g', would do the same as './frettler guitar horiontal C scale_major'. And './frettler g v', would do the same as './frettler guitar vertical C scale_major'.
- change the ANSI colour encoding used to be cross platform using jansi. If I hear of enough Windows users wanting this...
- blues scale does not support chord generation...
- Use the chord defintions fingering data in the rendering to show the finger numbers to use
- The chord fingerings in the ChordBank class were initially seeded from a dataset within fusionproggy/Fretboard
- The chord fingerings were then given a huge boost by a transformation of the data found in the web archive of OLGA
This work is provided as is, with no warranties or guarantees, and is subject to the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
If you have any issues with running Frettler, questions or can help providing input, chord fingerings or even code, do please get in touch. And if you like Frettler, star the GitHub repo, top right of the page, and I shall at least get the satisfaction of knowing that you like and use Frettler.
email: phil.whiles@gmail.com