Bug Fixes

If you encounter problems with either of the locators, please e-mail me. Much appreciated!

February 24, 2009

Fixed a problem with both locators where straight bar positions showed up in the results, even if the Straight Bar slant option was deselected. I find it very useful on occasion to deselect the easy options to see what shows up.

February 16, 2009

Added the ability for users to define their own tunings for use with both locators. These custom tunings appear at the top of the Select Tuning menu and are labeled 'Custom'. Just click on the Add Custom Tunings sidebar link. You can define up to 3 tunings. If any of you find this restrictive, please let me know! The tunings are stored as a cookie on your machine. You can delete your tunings by removing the entries in the Add Tuning form and then submitting the form.

February 14, 2009

Some users were confused by the tablature results display... it resembled a fretboard diagram. The tablature notation has been dressed up to look more like standard tablature. But more importantly, users can now choose whether to display results as tablature or fretboard diagrams.

Planned Updates

Including labeled chord tones in results - Some are requesting that the results for the Generic Locator include an analysis of the chord tones used. Great idea! I'm on it... I'll try to have it up in a couple of weeks.

Sorting by level of difficulty - For searches with tons of hits, it would be handy to show the most basic positions first, then the more difficult ones. Currently the results are sorted by fret number so you can start low on the neck and move up.

Handling difficult slant positions - There are some results that work in theory but are just about impossible to execute. For example, slant bar work where there's an open string BELOW the bar. Some may find these useful. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it... I'm thinking about displaying them with a colored background or giving the user the option to leave them out. I'll keep you posted.

Some Thoughts on the Chord Locators

About Tablature

I've had some interesting feedback on the notation I use for results, some of which I've already incorporated into the scripts. Just a couple of thoughts. Tablature is normally accompanied by a standard staff which can make things like rhythm much more clear. There are a couple of reasons I don't include standard notation. First, it would be an overwhelming programming task to automatically generate standard notation on the fly... I'm sure it could be done, but not with the tools I'm using (the standard PHP graphics functions). Second, I always display results as whole notes (one note per measure) and this makes the need for standard notation somewhat less pressing. By the way, this is why you don't see stems in my tablature... All notes are whole notes. And it gets me out of drawing cheesy stems!