About

Fretboard Calculator was designed and developed by Andrew Bolt in Cascadia.

The origin story of Fretboard Calculator

Fretboard Calculator began as a personal project to help with my own understanding of the music theory and it's implementation on the fretboard. My music teacher showed me how every scale has a maximal tertian chord resulting from stacking diatonic thirds (or scale-thirds). So I went about diagraming these fretboard shapes on graph paper for hours, which quickly grew tedious and inspired me to automate the process by building the first prototype of Fretboard Calculator. The prototype took about a 5 days to build and 6 weeks to perfect.

Fretboard Calculator version 1.0

Demo GIF

Implemented with TUI and python. This prototype assisted in my original mission of seeing the alternating thirds of any scale; but it also forced me to confront my understanding of music theory aka the fabric of the universe. I decided to take this project further, as it would force me to articulate the western model of music theory, while keeping my software development skills sharp, as if that still mattered beyond the intrisic benefits of mental fitness. So I spent 6 months locked away from the life I once knew to develop my ideal user interface for fretboard scale computations which would become Version 2: Fretboard Calculator: Scales.

Python code for terminal UI available in old GitHub repository.

Fretboard Calculator: Scale version 2.0 (Scales)

The goal of Version 2 was to write software tools that I would personally use but were also polished enough for a public release. I chose to make it a desktop app over a web app for many reasons:

  • Not reliant on internet connection nor server. Offline access.
  • Low latency.
  • Easier MIDI configuration (possibly).
  • Not subsription based
  • Nostalgic
  • Non-survelance capitolism / subscription based buiness model.
  • Running code locally is more like playing analog audio.
  • Closer to a calculator. A dependable tool.
  • I’ve always wanted to write application code.

For the UI framework I chose Kivy because it compiles to Mac OSX, iOS, Windows, and android. Eventually I would like release on all those platforms as well, but that is not a priority yet. Contact Support if there’s a platform you’d like to see first on the list!

Early prototype: Demo GIF

The future of Fretboard Calculator: Scales

More features are planned for release! If you see a feature here that you would like to see first, let me know!

Currently roadmapped features:

  • Custom string tunings.
  • Historical information about the scale or mode.
  • Optional age restriction feature for censoring unsavory historical information about attrocities committed by people who shred dorian.
  • Note naming features.
  • Quick view (Eye of Horus) for Secret Circle View (if you know you know).
  • Interval naming of scale/filtered notes. See distance from previous note. (stacked 3rds etc).
  • Lock/Follow keychange for Range Filters.
  • Hide piano button (for effeciency).
  • Save/resume settings.
  • Save presets.
  • The Preset Matrix (to replace Lessons Pages)
  • The Scale Labratory…

If there’s a scale or specific tuning you’d like to see, send a request and I’ll add it in!

Beta for Windows

A windows release is planned and being beta tested now. Contact Support if interested in beta testing new features or the planned windows release.

The future of Fretboard Calculator

If this program proves useful to other people, I will continue it’s development. Version 2 (current version / Fretboard Calculator: Scales) is narrowly focoused on scales, but I would like to build new interfaces for chords and harmony, which I expect to be a larger project. A mobile release is being considered but it would involve limiting or reworking the interface. Also a mobile experience does not reflect a core value of this project, which is to connect with music rather than The Network of Distraction. Fretboard Calculator does not need the internet and will work in the event of an apocalype. As the network colapses and servers go offline, we want our software and computers to still help us. With that in mind, the best way to enjoy Fretboard Calculator is to go out to a internet-less cabin in the woods with a laptop, hardrive full of movies, and Fretboard Calculutator. Then explore a new corner of the musical universe with your instrument and a fresh scale.

Thanks for check this thing out!
~ Andrew B
Founding member of Washington Instruments,
a family owned Fretboard Calculator company WA Instruments