Guitar Positions

Interactive guitar fretboard for scales, arpeggios and chords in all 12 keys, with fingerings, playable chord shapes and a chord namer.

🎸 Live: fretboard.schoensgibl.com

Free, no account needed. Installable as a PWA; native apps for iOS, iPad, macOS and Android (not in the stores yet) show the same Studio.

Scales with positions and fitting chords	Chord shapes
V-System voicings	Chord Namer
Songs & exercises

Features

• Scales: modes of major, pentatonic and blues, melodic minor, harmonic minor and harmonic major families (every mode listed by degree), symmetric scales (whole tone, diminished, Messiaen modes 1–7) and Bebop scales. Every scale has numbered positions with fingerings, as boxes (five distinct CAGED-like boxes for 7-note scales) or three notes per string; position 1 is always the lowest one on the neck, in every key.
• Arpeggios for every chord type.
• Chords: playable shapes ranked by ease, filterable by bass note (inversion) and neck region, plus Ted Greene style V-System voicings (V1–V14, sorted by system, with a stepper through every inversion: ←/→ inversions, Shift+←/→ voicings) for all four-voice chords.
• Search: type a chord symbol such as Em7, F#m7b5, Maj7#11 or G7#11 and get the chord, its V-System voicings, the arpeggio and fitting scales (Em7 → Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian on E).
• Chord-scale theory after Nettles/Graf: each scale lists the chords it is the chord scale for, with available tensions and avoid notes, plus the diatonic triads and sevenths; search and the Chord Namer suggest scales for a chord the same way. One click opens the shapes.
• Chord Namer: tap a shape on the fretboard and get the chord name, alternatives and scales that fit.
• Songs & exercises: collect chord progressions for lessons (title, note, sections, chosen voicings). Type a chord such as Am7 and pick a fingering; diagrams show finger numbers, intervals or note names. Saved in the browser only, no account.
• Share & print: every view, including the chosen voicing and songs, can be shared as a link; a PDF button creates a minimalist black-and-white A4 sheet (scale positions, chord shapes or a song).
• Instruments: standard tuning, half step down, Drop D, DADGAD, open G/D, 7- and 8-string guitars, left-handed view, horizontal or vertical neck.
• Sound: play scales and strum chords; keyboard shortcuts for everything (press ?).
• Light and dark theme, mobile friendly, works offline once installed.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Django (Python 3.8+)
• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3
• Database: PostgreSQL (separate DBs for 6‑string and 8‑string)
• Data Exchange: JSON fixtures and REST APIs

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/hybridpicker/fretboard-position-finder.git
   

2. Create and activate the Conda environment:

   conda create --name fretboard
   conda activate fretboard
   

3. Install Python dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Configuration

In your settings_dev.py (or settings.py), add:

TEMPLATES[0]["DIRS"] += [BASE_DIR / "templates"]
MEDIA_ROOT = BASE_DIR / "media"
MEDIA_URL = "/media/"
STATIC_URL = "/static/"
STATICFILES_DIRS = [BASE_DIR / "static"]
STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR.parent / "fretboard" / "static_cdn"
FIXTURE_DIRS = [BASE_DIR / "fixtures"]

Loading Data

python manage.py migrate
python manage.py loaddata
# or any other fixture in /fixtures

Running the Development Server

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8080

Open http://localhost:8080 to view the app, or use the live site at https://fretboard.schoensgibl.com/.

Tests

node --test static/studio/js/theory.test.mjs   # music theory and fingering engine
make test                                      # Python tests (pytest, needs PostgreSQL)
make check                                     # lint, Django checks and coverage, as in CI

Native apps

The iOS, iPad, macOS and Android apps (Capacitor, see apps/README.md on branch claude/festive-payne-53db8c) bundle the same Studio code and must always be rebuilt together with the web version.

API Endpoints

• GET /api/scales/?name=<scale>&root=<note>
• GET /api/arpeggios/?name=<type>&root=<note>
• GET /api/chords/?name=<type>&root=<note>
• GET /api/search/?q=<query>

Deployment

• Server: AlmaLinux 9 with Nginx & Gunicorn, served only at https://fretboard.schoensgibl.com/
• Development port: 8080

Example Gunicorn command:

gunicorn fretboard.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8080

License

MIT License

Fixtures

Fretboard-Position-Finder loads all fingerings, that are stored as fixtures with the migrate-command:

python manage.py migrate