Guitar Path
Learn the guitar fretboard one triad at a time. A triad and a glowing start note are given; link the other two chord tones by the shortest path, following the arrows. Links glow blue, then turn green on the shortest path or red when wrong, and the note names appear only once the whole path is right.
Play it in your browser: https://theaminstitute-commits.github.io/guitar-path/
Standard tuning, frets 0–12, landscape, dark. Three levels:
- Beginner – major triads on C D E F G A B, root position, moving right or left. The first Beginner game opens a five-step lesson (12 notes, whole and half steps on the fretboard, picking the C major scale, the triad, D major); each round then opens with a short intro that highlights the 1st, 3rd and 5th of the major scale.
- Expert – all 15 major and 15 minor keys, with inversions and vertical paths.
- Master – diminished and augmented triads in all 12 keys, with inversions.
Also: a left-handed (mirrored) fretboard, whole-path or link-by-link checking, sound, and a review of every missed note after 10 rounds.
Rules
- The arrows show each link's direction as you see it on the board (straight or diagonal; a link may skip strings).
- The start note must stay the lowest-sounding note, so the triad keeps the inversion asked for.
- Shortest path = fewest grid steps (one fret, one string or one diagonal square each counts as 1). Paths that tie all count.
Project layout
| Path | What it is |
|---|
app/guitar-path.html | The whole game (one file: HTML, CSS, JS). Edit this. |
index.html | Generated by tools/build.js for GitHub Pages. Don't edit by hand. |
android/ | WebView wrapper for the test APK (build-apk.ps1 builds it without Gradle). |
linux/ | Launcher, installer and icon for the Linux Mint bundle. |
tools/build.js | Builds index.html, the APK's page, and dist/GuitarPath-linux.zip. |
Building
node tools/build.js
Then commit index.html so the web link updates. For a test APK (Windows, Android Studio + SDK build-tools 36 installed):
.\android\build-apk.ps1 -Version 0.9 -Code 9
Outputs land in dist/ (not committed).
License
© 2026 Dirk Swanepoel. Free for non-commercial use under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence (see LICENSE): you may share and adapt it with credit, but not sell it or use it commercially. For commercial use, ask first.
