Dromos Trainer

A serious self-teaching trainer for hearing harmonic movement, mapping it on the neck, comping, and soloing in the jazz ii–V–I pivot cycle and Greek dromoi (Major, Natural minor, Harmonic minor, Ousak, Hijaz). It turns the same progression into an ear drill, a fretboard map, a low-movement triad path, and a targeted soloing exercise.

No install. No build. No runtime dependencies. Open index.html, or host the folder for an installable/offline-capable browser app on mobile and iPad.

open index.html

Score study

The Analyze area accepts chord maps and chord-aligned note fragments. It can also read an uncompressed, partwise MusicXML (.musicxml / .xml) score that you choose locally when it contains written chord symbols. It explains the harmonic map, labels note roles, gives target-tone routes, and generates a compact chord chart plus tab for the selected tuning.

It intentionally does not OCR a PDF, transcribe an audio recording, read compressed .mxl, or include a copied repertoire database. Export a score you own to MusicXML (including harmony symbols) for the reliable, transparent route.

Sources and rights

The Concepts area includes a linked Trigas reference shelf and complementary bouzouki methods. These are research pointers and original curriculum connections—not scans, copied exercises, recordings, or notation. Three short Analyzer starters are taken only from the user-authorised local study material and identify their source.

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The practice path

Use the five-step loop, in order, on one progression and one position before moving on: Hear → Map → Comp → Solo → Recall. Full curriculum intent and roadmap: docs/CURRICULUM.md.

The practice areas

1. Pivot Cycle

A ii–V–I where each Imaj7 becomes the iim7 of the next key — lower the 3rd and 7th a half step and you are in a key a whole step down. Six keys, then it closes back on itself an octave lower.

C:   Dm7  →  G7  →  Cmaj7 ┐
                          ├─ Cmaj7 becomes Cm7 …
B♭:  Cm7  →  F7  →  B♭maj7┘

At every change exactly two voices hold and two step down — the app animates the moving pair so you can see the guide-tone line that steers the whole spiral. A shared Now → Next guide previews the next playable shape as an outline. Full Cycle uses all 18 chords, Single ii–V–I stays inside one key, and Pivot trains only the honest adjacent I of the old key → ii of the next key pair; use Pair controls to change keys.

2. Progressions

Five modal/harmonic maps, each with a ranked bank of the progressions that actually earn their place, and a one-line reason for each.

Every bank entry is a complete solo-training phrase rather than a chord list that only resolves by implication. Two- and three-chord cadences run for four bars; longer routes run for eight. The final tonic is shown, sounded, and held for two bars before the loop starts again, and the roadmap names each chord's job: Establish → Move → Cadence → Resolve.

Mode	On D	Signature move
Major	D E F♯ G A B C♯	Em7 – A7 – Dmaj7
Natural minor	D E F G A B♭ C	Dm – C – Dm
Harmonic minor	D E F G A B♭ C♯	Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm
Ousak (Ουσάκ)	D E♭ F G A B♭ C	Dm – Cm – Dm
Hijaz (Χιτζάζ)	D E♭ F♯ G A B♭ C	D – E♭ – D

Two things the app is built to teach:

• Natural and Harmonic minor are different Recall answers. Natural minor keeps ♭7; Harmonic minor raises it to 7 so the V7 has a leading tone into i. The app no longer calls a iiø–V7–i prompt simply “Minor.”
• The strict Ousak Recall prompt is internally coherent. On D it uses Dm – Cm – Dm, so the descending Ousak collection and every displayed chord tone agree. This is a practice model, not a claim that every recording has one fixed harmonisation; analyze an actual score or recording in context.
• Hijaz has a major tonic but a minor ♭VII. D – Gm – Cm – D. That friction is the sound.

Turn on Scale overlay and the ♭2 and 3rd of the current mode get an orange ring everywhere they appear on the neck. Switching Major → Minor → Ousak → Hijaz then shows you, physically, that only two dots move.

3. Solo Lab — technique and ear

The core technique and ear routine that supports the target map.

Picking path. Runs the mode as a path across the neck with strict alternate picking marked on every note (↓ downstroke, ↑ upstroke), and every string change classified:

• Green solid = outside picking — the pick sweeps around the string pair
• Red dashed = inside picking — the pick is trapped between the strings, and these are the crossings that break down first when you push the tempo

Switch between 3/str, 2/str, box and horizontal to move where the strings break — that is what changes the crossing pattern. ◀ below / above ▶ walk the same shape to the core positions above and below. Loose wrist, pick barely clearing the string, and drop the tempo until every crossing is clean.

The standalone Picking Lab turns that feedback into a 13-exercise, five-stage mastery spine: ta–ka attack, hand/course coordination, neck-route choice, phrase language, then performance transfer. Every note picked is the explicit default for articulated lines; tremolo is a later, separately labelled sustain choice. Exercises add grouped accents, graded degree windows, isolated and mixed crossings, horizontal-versus-tiered route and timbre comparisons, a Pennanen-bounded strict-alternate versus glide/sweep A/B, ornaments, a generic dromos contour, and a triad-arpeggio arrival on the coming chord's 3rd. Each has an animated pick cue, theory link, event rail, exact instructions, listening goal, pass test, provenance, and a rights boundary. No published exercise or recorded lick is represented as a transcription.

Each drill also has a small practice engine. Loop repeats the exact key and shape for consistency. Evolve keeps the drill and pulse fixed while moving through verified neck positions, circle-of-fourths keys, or both. Runs may use a grouped one-bar count-in and metronome; the roadmap previews every stage, and an evolved run starts again from the key/position where the previous run finished. The selected practice sound is shown inside the lab. Sampled piano is the stable default, and Test sound explicitly unlocks or restores Web Audio after an iPad tab/app switch instead of leaving a silent playback button.

Audiation cells. Start with 3 notes, add one each pass to the octave, then take one away back down to 3. The last note is the target: playback leaves a silent beat where it belongs so you sing it internally first, then reveal to check yourself.

3a. Solo Road — map before patterns

Solo Road turns the Solo Lab into a deliberate sequence: Road → Shape → Numbers → Changes → Ear. Choose the dromos, home key and progression in one place; the active chord appears with its Roman-numeral function (for example iv · Gm → V · A7 → i · Dm).

The 24-fret map is split into a colour-coded lower 1–4 and upper 5–8 road. This is a practical fretboard-learning lens, not a claim that every dromos has one fixed historical tetrachord analysis. Work one colour lane in one position, then connect lanes. The Number step supplies original, singable contours such as 1–3–5–3 and 1–2–3–5; it does not imitate a living player’s phrase.

3b. Triad landscape and melodic routes

Changes shows four different jobs at once, deliberately separated by visual weight: the solid three-note shape is the nearest voice-led triad; faint shapes are the other inversions across the full neck; quiet dots are the pentatonic connector frame; rings are the target notes for the current and next chord. Select Colour 3rd, Triad tones, or Guide tones to choose what the rings mean.

The Shape page then applies the same target lens to a technique road. Choose one route before playing fast: Triad first, 3 + landing, Nearest link, Approach → resolve, or Motif + space. Each names a small note budget, its target path, what to hear, and what to think about. An approach note is optional, comes on a weak pulse, and resolves immediately; it is never silently treated as a new dromos tone. This keeps “scale practice” subordinate to making the next chord audible.

3c. Ear checks — colour and harmonic map

Ear checks has two distinct jobs. Dromos colour asks for Major, Natural minor, Harmonic minor, Ousak, or Hijaz after a coherent cadence and melodic run. Key & changes can train a known home key or test it blind, then asks for the harmonic/dromos family and its progression boxes. Answers are reversible until Check is pressed; progressive hints teach what to hear without quietly scoring a click. The reveal displays the scale and actual chord symbols for transfer to Song Map.

3d. Video Study

Video Study links a small, source-labelled set of publicly available lessons found via the Bouzouki Learning Website’s lesson index. Videos remain at YouTube. Set an A–B range, slow it down, watch one technical detail, then return to Song Map to explain the home, targets and chord function. The app does not download, extract, or reproduce third-party video.

3e. Pulse-aware timing and practice ensemble

Choose a Greek pulse in Practice Ensemble—Zeibekiko 2+2+2+3, Kalamatianos 3+2+2, Hasapiko/Tsifteteli/Roumba 2+2—then turn on a simple moving root-and-fifth bass or light grouped percussion. The pulse changes the transport's bar length and accents; the selected Song Map still supplies the actual dromos and chords. It is a timing aid, not a claim to recreate a full traditional rhythm-section arrangement.

In Solo Changes, the Timing matrix follows that same pulse. It animates the chosen route from anchor through connector (and an optional approach) to the next target, while the matching note class lights on the full-neck map. The matrix describes note jobs and timing—players make the actual phrase.

3f. Practical guitar chord cycle

The Cycle page includes Practical chords, a dedicated guitar lens that uses the selected Major, Natural minor, Harmonic minor, Ousak, or Hijaz progression. Choose Full 6 for validated common open forms and movable E/A-family shapes, Triad 3 for compact inversions, or Compact 4 for clear root/colour/guide-tone comping. All displayed full forms are chord-tone checked and stop at fret 15. When a quality has no clean full six-string form (for example some half-diminished contexts), the app directs you to a compact voicing rather than faking a barre.

4. Solo Lab

The missing bridge between scale practice and real playing. It gives you the correct five-note frame for the mode, then highlights the current and next chord-tone targets. Start with 3rds; then switch to guide targets (3rds + 7ths when the chord has sevenths, otherwise 3rd + root for a triad). The rule is simple: move through the pentatonic, but arrive on a target when the chord changes.

Hijaz uses dominant pentatonic (1 3 4 5 ♭7), never minor pentatonic—its major 3rd is essential.

5. Ear Trainer

Plays a coherent map followed by a descending run, and you name the exact modal/harmonic family. The run is not decoration: it distinguishes Natural minor's 2 from Ousak's ♭2, while the cadence distinguishes Natural minor's ♭7 from Harmonic minor's leading tone 7.

The whole skill in one table:

You hear	Mode
E♮ F♮ C♮	Natural minor
E♮ F♮ C♯	Harmonic minor
E♭ F♮	Ousak
E♭ F♯	Hijaz

6. Foundation & Styles

Start with the shared language—singing an answer, compact triad landmarks, pentatonic/tetrachord routes, motifs, touch, and pulse—then choose a Greek style map. The current maps are Zeibekiko 9/4 (2+2+2+3), Kalamatianos 7/8 (3+2+2), Hasapiko, Tsifteteli, and Roumba. A style map teaches where a phrase and an accompaniment belong in time; it never pretends to choose the song’s dromos for you. Use Open Song Map from a style to choose the actual harmony.

7. Study Analyzer

Enter a progression such as Dm Gm A7 Dm with its home and dromos. The analyzer shows function, strong landing notes, modal/harmonic events, and a one-target-per- chord solo plan. It recognises that a major V in minor introduces a leading-tone pull, and that a major IV in minor may be Dorian/modal mixture or a temporary dominant—context decides. Add a line as Chord: notes | Chord: notes to label chord tones, dromos tones, and outside/approach notes.

It is deliberately transparent: this version analyzes material you enter. It does not claim to transcribe a recording, infer a dromos from one chord, or pronounce an outside note wrong without hearing its resolution.

8. Concept Pyramid

Every analysis ends in four separate causes of a good phrase: Time & Form, Modal-Harmonic Map, Melodic Route, and Touch & Instrument Role. This is an answer-first, MECE teaching structure: each layer has a Greek/Balkan lens and one concrete drill, so the player can fix the actual problem instead of learning another unrelated lick.

9. Adaptive Practice Coach

The Coach answers questions using the instrument, tuning, current dromos, Song Map, style, selected study, and recent practice history. It ends with at most one safe, one-tap route into an exercise—such as the exact Song Map, Triads, Solo Lab, Style, study starter, or Analyzer state that answers the question.

The visible Player profiles · this device menu keeps each learner's instrument, stable practice settings, and ear scores separate in local storage. Dre starts on four-course bouzouki (C F A D). Each local player also receives a separate signed, opaque anonymous Coach session; conversation and practice events live in configured Neon. These are local profiles, not password-protected or cross-device accounts.

The Coach is inactive when opening index.html directly. To activate it, deploy to Vercel, connect Neon through Vercel Marketplace, and add the server secrets in docs/DEPLOYMENT.md. The current economical default is gemini-3.1-flash-lite Free Tier, accessed only from Vercel Functions. Before sending a question, the player must acknowledge the Free Tier data-use disclosure; do not enter sensitive or private material.

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The bridge worth knowing

A Hijaz = D harmonic minor starting on A (A B♭ C♯ D E F G). So the Andalusian cadence Dm – C – B♭ – A lands on a Hijaz tonic — the Piraeotikos relationship. Vamp it, and when you hit the A, play A Hijaz over it. Every minor tune you know already contains a Hijaz section.

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Controls

Key	Action
Space	Play / pause (replay prompt in Ear Trainer)
← →	Step through chords / positions / cells
R	Reveal the audiation target
1–9	Switch practice area (9 = Coach)

Instruments

Everything — grips, scale paths, overlays — redraws for the selected instrument:

Tuning	Strings
Guitar	E A D G B E
Guitar (drop D)	D A D G B E
Bouzouki tetrachordo	C F A D — the guitar's top four strings, each down a whole step
Bouzouki trichordo	D A D
Mainland laouto	A D G C

When a chord has more notes than the instrument has strings, it thins automatically — the 5th goes first, then the root, so the guide tones survive.

Picking and harmony intentionally use different reference sounds. Picking defaults to a short paired-course bouzouki model so ta–ka attacks stay separate; Harmony and scored ear work default to the self-hosted sampled piano. In Solo, target rings repeat across both fret 0–12 and fret 13–24 zones while the solid/dashed triads show the compact shape to play now and prepare next.

Also: tempo 40–200 BPM, metronome, loop, note-names vs intervals, ghost tones, neck-position cycling, and a left-handed neck.

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For developers

The header badge shows ✓ n/n theory tests passing — the music theory self-tests run on every page load, asserting generated chords against a hand-verified ground truth.

• docs/REQUIREMENTS.md — feature tracker (FR-*) and the music invariants (MI-*) that must not be broken
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — module map, data shapes, why there are two chord engines
• docs/REVIEW_2026-08-12.md — deep audit, v12 workbench decisions, verification record, deliberate limits, and the next-contributor handoff
• CONTRIBUTING.md — recipes for adding a progression or a mode
• docs/BACKLOG.md — what is next
• docs/CURRICULUM.md — product intent, practice loop and curriculum roadmap
• docs/BOUZOUKI_MASTERY.md — evidence-ranked picking, phrase, and lawful source-ingestion model
• docs/AI_COACH.md — coach product boundary and design
• docs/DEPLOYMENT.md — Vercel + Neon production setup

Licence

MIT