The Guitar Palette

---

PAGE INDEX

The Fretboard Note Dots Blinking Dots Fret Cursor String Tones

Flip Guitar Reverse Strings Hand Gadget Bracket Switch Next Scale Tone Red Notes Switch Fret Bracket

 

---

The Guitar Palette gives you a quick and convenient way to enter chords straight onto the fretboard. This is especially useful when you've got a chord on the guitar but you don't know what to call it or how it fits into a key. Simply put the dots on the neck where your fingers are and - voila! - you now have 12 possible names for your chord and access to lots of information about the notes within it.

The Fretboard

All the really good stuff in FretPet happens on the Fretboard. Be sure to have your guitar in your lap when you start playing with this palette. The default display mode uses a vertical orientation to save on screen real estate. You can switch to a horizontal display mode if you prefer.

The fretboard is displayed so that the head - or "nut end" - of the guitar is at the top of the window. Notes ascend in pitch from the "nut end" of the window to the "bridge end" (bottom shown here).

• Fret 0 is referred to as the Open String.
• There are 14 total numbered frets after the open string.
• There are always 6 strings visible. For bass guitar ignore the 2 highest strings.
• Conventionally the string with the lowest pitch is called the Bottom String and the string with the highest pitch the Top String. This has nothing to do with the orientation of the guitar itself !
• Use the FretStuff >> Guitar Image sub-menu to choose an axe to suit your mood.

Note Dots

The notes in your chords appear on the fretboard as color-coded dots in the same colors that they appear in the Current Chord Palette:

• Double-click on the fretboard to toggle a note.
• Pressing the spacebar will also toggle a note.
• Triple-click to add a triad to the chord.
• Option-triple-click to remove a triad.

Blinking Dots

Blinking dots correspond to the Current Tone highlighted by the Scale Cursor.

Fret Cursor

The Fret Cursor is indicated by a rotating box. The note at the Fret Cursor is displayed in the Info Palette. You can press the spacebar to toggle the note at the Fret Cursor.

• Click and drag in the fretboard to move the Fret Cursor.
• You can also use option-arrows move the Fret Cursor.

String Tones

The notes that correspond to each open string are displayed at the "bridge" end of the window. These will change depending on the tuning.

Select tunings from the FretStuff >> Guitar Tuning menu.

Guitar Palette Gadgets

Flip Guitar

Click on the cornerpiece of the Guitar Palette to change its orientation. There are two display modes, top-to-bottom and left-to-right. There is an additional gadget in the Horizontal View, the Hand Gadget (See below).

• You may also use the FretStuff >> Horizontal Fretboard menu item.

Reverse Strings

Click here to reverse the stringing of the guitar. The arrow indicates the direction of stringing from low string to high string. Clicking the Hand Gadget affects this setting.

• You can also use FretStuff >> Guitar Tuning >> Reverse Strung menu item.

 Hand Gadget (Horizontal View Only)

Click on the Hand to flip the direction of the whole neck in Horizontal View. This allows left-handed players to work more easily with the fretboard. Clicking the Hand is like switching the guitar position and re-stringing the guitar. Most left-handed players prefer to re-string the guitar. If this is not your preference click the Reverse Stringing Gadget.

Bracket Switch <B>

Turn the Fret Bracket on or off (See The Fret Bracket below).

• You can also use the FretStuff >> Fret Bracket menu item.
• Clicking in the leftmost region of the Guitar Palette will also turn on the Fret Bracket.

Next Scale Tone

Click this gadget to move the Fret Cursor to the next position that corresponds to the Scale Tone.

Red Notes Switch

Click this gadget to show or hide unplayed notes. (Unplayed notes appear in red while the bracket is turned on.) When you hide them you see an isolated view of your fingering.

The Fret Bracket

Dots appear over the whole neck, showing you the many possible positions where you can play your new chord. But of course you can't play them all at once. The Fret Bracket allows you to choose a region of the neck in which to play your chord. FretPet finds the most complete set of notes - one note per string - to play. Not too shabby.

• Click outside of the bracket to jump it to a new position.
• Click and drag in the middle of the bracket to move it.
• Click and drag either end of the bracket to resize it.
• The [ and ] keys also move the bracket.