v3.2
July 6, 2026
Feature Release
Refines the audio playback added in v3.1. There's now a Tone switch next to the Strum and Arpeggiate buttons that flips between Warm (the round dreadnought voice) and Bright (a crisp parlor/steel-string voice), and notes ring out about a second longer (roughly three seconds) so you can actually hear the full chord blend settle. Your tone choice is remembered between visits.
New
- Warm / Bright tone toggle — Warm is the round dreadnought sound from v3.1; Bright opens up the top end with a higher master roll-off and more harmonic content in the pluck for a parlor/steel-string character. Selection persists in local storage.
- Longer ring-out — notes now sustain for about three seconds (up from ~2.2), giving chord blends time to bloom and settle.
Improved
- Even sustain across strings — the string decay is now pitch-compensated so treble strings ring roughly as long as bass strings in real time, instead of the high notes dying out early. Previously a high E would fade well before the low E; now the whole voicing decays together.
Fixed
- Playback now follows the strings, not pitch — Strum and Arpeggiate play from the lowest string to the highest, the way you'd actually pick or strum, instead of sorting by pitch. This matters whenever a fretted lower string out-pitches a higher open string (e.g. an A-string 7th-fret E sitting above the open D string): the arpeggio now correctly starts on the A-string note rather than jumping to the open D.
v3.1
July 6, 2026
Feature Release
Adds audio playback to What Chord Is This? — you can now hear the voicing you've built, not just read its name. Two buttons sit below the fretboard: Strum plays all your notes together with a natural low-to-high stagger (like a pick crossing the strings), and Arpeggiate plays them one at a time low to high so you can hear each note in the voicing. Both use the exact pitches on the fretboard, so inversions and specific voicings sound exactly as placed, and the buttons work on any voicing — even one the tool hasn't identified yet.
New
- Strum and Arpeggiate buttons below the fretboard, always available whenever at least one string is played. No need to identify the chord first — audition any shape as you build it.
- Built-in acoustic guitar tone using Karplus-Strong plucked-string synthesis — generated live in the browser with the Web Audio API. No samples to download, works offline, tuned for a warm dreadnought-style flavor with a woody low-pass roll-off.
- Realistic strum feel — a 14ms low-to-high stagger between strings mimics a pick crossing them, rather than a robotic block chord.
- New FAQ covering the playback feature and how the browser-generated tone works.
Improved
- A soft compressor on the audio master bus keeps full six-string chords from clipping when all notes stack.
- Per-note amplitude envelopes give a natural quick attack and gentle exponential decay, with higher strings voiced slightly quieter — as on a real guitar.
v3.0
July 1, 2026
Major Tool Release
Major update to What Chord Is This? — jumps from v2.2 to v3.0 to reflect the scope of the change. The chord identifier now works in 11 tunings, not just standard: DADGAD, Drop D, Drop C, Half-Step Down, Whole-Step Down, Open D, Open G, Open E, Open C, and Double Drop D. The tuning selector sits at the top of the tool with the same optgroup structure as the Guitar Tuner for consistency, and your selection is saved between visits. This opens the tool up to fingerstyle, Celtic, and modern acoustic players who spend most of their time in alternate tunings and had no good way to identify chords they were playing.
New
- 11 tuning presets — Standard (E A D G B E), Drop D, Drop C, Half-Step Down (E♭ standard), Whole-Step Down (D standard), DADGAD, Open D, Open G, Open E, Open C, and Double Drop D. Tuning list is shared with the Guitar Tuner for consistency.
- Tuning-aware chord math — the string-to-note mapping updates when you change tuning, so the same fret positions produce the correct pitches for your chosen tuning. The chord identification engine itself needs no changes — it identifies chords from actual pitches, so any tuning works automatically.
- Persistent tuning selection — your choice is saved in localStorage under
guitarlicklab_whatchord_tuning and restored on your next visit. No account or cookies needed.
- Note clearing on tuning change — since the same fret positions play different pitches in different tunings, switching tunings clears any played notes and resets the fretboard to the muted state. Prevents confusion where a chord shape would silently start meaning something else.
- Four new FAQs covering tuning support, DADGAD-specific behavior, open-shape recognition caveats, and the general workflow. Better SEO for "what chord is this dadgad" and similar alt-tuning search queries.
Improved
- Meta description, OG description, Twitter description, and JSON-LD description all updated to reflect the expanded tuning support.
- Menu card and tool description updated to prominently feature the alt tuning support.
- Intro paragraph now explicitly lists tunings supported so users know what's covered before they engage.
v2.7
July 5, 2026
Feature Release
Adds a Fixed Root mode to the Interval Ear Trainer. By default every question picks a fresh random root — you're identifying intervals in isolation. Turn Fixed Root on and the first play locks a random root; every question after that reuses that same tonic. You're now training the interval sound relative to a specific root note, which is closer to how you'll actually use the skill when transcribing a song or improvising over a static chord. Toggle off then back on to reroll to a new random root.
New
- Fixed Root toggle in the settings panel — locks a random root on first play, reuses it for subsequent questions. Button displays the locked note (e.g. "Locked: C4") so you always know what tonic you're working from.
- Reroll workflow — toggle off then back on to pick a fresh random root when you're ready to move on to a new tonic.
- New FAQ covering the mode's pedagogical rationale and workflow.
Improved
- Settings panel widened from 3 to 4 columns on desktop to accommodate the new toggle. Responsive breakpoints tuned so the layout collapses cleanly to 2 columns on tablets and 1 column on phones.
- Menu card copy updated to highlight the new mode.
v3.1
June 30, 2026
Feature Release
Adds combo mode to the Drone & Backing Track Player: drum patterns and custom time signatures can now both be active at the same time. The drum pattern truncates at the custom bar boundary and restarts on the downbeat of every new bar. Basic Rock looped to 13/8 plays through its natural pattern, cuts off partway through, and restarts on beat 1 — kick-snare-cut, kick-snare-cut. Useful for practicing solos over odd-meter grooves while still having a familiar drum-pattern foundation to feel the pulse.
New
- Combo mode — pick any drum pattern AND engage a custom time signature. The pattern truncates at each custom bar boundary and restarts on the downbeat. Interpretation A of the "drums in odd time" problem: the pattern gets cut short rather than stretched, so the natural feel of the pattern is preserved.
- Time-based drum step scheduling —
scheduleDrumHitsForBeat() rewritten to use ceil-based math over a fixed time window. Handles non-integer steps-per-click-tick (e.g. Shuffle's triplet grid over 7/8 eighth-note clicks = 1.5 steps/tick), producing polyrhythmic feels that were mathematically impossible in the v3.0 architecture.
- Combo-mode settings strip — shows "Basic Rock looped to 13/8 · 120 BPM" when both drums and custom time sig are active.
- Two new FAQs covering combo mode setup and the odd-meter practice workflow.
Improved
beatsPerChord() priority swap — custom time sig now takes priority over drum pattern when both are active, so chord changes lock to the custom bar downbeat.- Engage button works regardless of drum state (previously it was disabled when a drum pattern was selected).
- Time signature row no longer dims when drums are active. The hint text explains what's happening: "Drums truncate to this bar" in combo mode.
- Drum-select change handler no longer auto-disengages custom time sig, and click-variant change handler updates the custom option's label without disengaging.
v3.0
June 29, 2026
Major Tool Release
Major update to the Drone & Backing Track Player — version jumps from v2.9.1 to v3.0 reflecting the significance of the changes rather than a strict per-tool patch. The tool is now a full practice rig: sampled drum patterns, custom time signatures including odd meters like 7/8, 9/8, and 13/8, plus a settings status strip below the play button showing what's currently selected. The combination makes this likely the only free browser-based guitar tool that supports practicing solos over chord progressions in any time signature with matched drums. Other tools in the toolkit remain at v2.8 — this is a single-tool major bump, not a site-wide overhaul. The site-wide v3.0 designation is reserved for the future when multiple tools see substantial revisions.
New
- 13 hand-built drum patterns across six time signatures: 4/4 (Basic Rock, Half-Time, Four-on-the-Floor, Shuffle, Straight Eighths, Funk Groove), 3/4 (Waltz, Jazz Waltz), 6/8 (Slow Ballad, Celtic Jig), 12/8 (Slow Blues), 5/4 (Take Five Brubeck-style), 7/8 (Prog 3+2+2 grouping). Each pattern is hand-coded with kick, snare, closed hi-hat, and open hi-hat hits at sixteenth-note (or triplet) resolution, looped indefinitely. Drums and click are mutually exclusive — selecting a drum pattern replaces the click.
- CC0-licensed drum samples from the freesound.org PO-12 drum machine pack by Janne Leimola. Four samples (kick, snare, closed hi-hat, open hi-hat) total under 200 KB. Loaded lazily on first drum-pattern selection — no upfront page-load cost for users who don't use drums. Sample loading and decoding handled via the Web Audio API's
decodeAudioData.
- Custom time signature selector in the Click time sig row: numerator 2-15, denominator /4, /8, or /16. Click the Engage button to activate — adds a "Custom · 5/4 · Sine tick" option at the top of the Beat/Click dropdown. Engage button flips to Disengage when active. Click accents beat 1 of each bar. Picking any non-custom dropdown option implicitly disengages.
- BPM = quarter notes per minute, always. The denominator scales the click rate so the math works out musically: in 9/8 at 120 BPM, the click fires at eighth-note rate (240 per minute), so a full bar takes 2.25 seconds — exactly what 9 eighths should take at 120 quarter-note BPM. Matches standard metronome convention.
- Chord progressions sync to active time signature. In Progression mode, the chord change interval automatically follows whatever time signature is active — drum pattern's
beatsPerBar, custom time sig numerator, or default 4/4. Set 13/8 + 1 bar per chord and chord changes land exactly on the downbeat of each 13/8 bar. Visual fill bar timing also matches, so audio and visual stay locked together.
- Settings status strip below the big play button shows current configuration in a compact mono-font strip: progression preset + key (in Progression mode), beat name + time signature, tempo. Updates live on any state change. Examples: "Sine tick · 120 BPM", "Custom 13/8 (Cowbell) · 120 BPM", "Andalusian Cadence in A minor · Take Five · 5/4 · 170 BPM".
- Accent on beat 1 of each bar when custom time sig is engaged. 2.0× gain boost routed through an intermediate Web Audio gain node so it works with all 6 click variants without modifying their individual envelopes.
- Six new FAQs covering odd-meter practice, drum pattern selection, sample licensing transparency, BPM convention, and progression-to-time-sig sync.
Improved
- Unified Beat/Click dropdown — click sound variants and drum patterns now live in one selector with optgroups, replacing the previous click-sound-only dropdown. Cleaner mental model for users: "what plays on each beat" rather than "what kind of metronome."
- Labels renamed for clarity: "Click track" → "Beat/Click", "Click volume" → "Beat/Click volume". Reflects that the controls now manage both click sounds and drum patterns.
- Engage button reads input values directly at click time, bypassing the HTML number-input blur event quirk that previously caused stale state when users typed a time signature and immediately hit Play.
- Default click variant returns to unaccented (pre-v2.9.1-hotfix behavior). Accent is now opt-in via the Engage button, preserving the "flat metronome stream" use case while making odd-meter practice clearly audible when desired.
- Architecture refactor: single
clickInterval() helper is now the source of truth for "how long is one scheduler tick." Used by both the tier 1 click scheduler and tier 2 progression scheduler — they stay in lockstep automatically. chordDurationMs() also derives from it, so the visual fill bar matches the audio.
v2.9.1
June 28, 2026
Hotfix
Patch release for the Drone & Backing Track Player based on real-use feedback. Adds six click sound variants (Sine, Wood block, Cowbell, Rim shot, 808 kick, Hi-hat) for more rhythmic flavor underneath the progressions, fixes the Pad and Strings voicings being unusable in Progression mode by auto-clamping attack and release to lock chord changes to beat 1, and switches the default voicing for new users from Pad to Organ (instant attack). Returning users keep whichever voicing they had saved.
New
- Six click sound variants selectable from a dropdown next to the click toggle: Sine tick (the v2.9 default), Wood block (triangle wave with fast pitch drop), Cowbell (two non-harmonic square waves through a bandpass filter), Rim shot (bandpass-filtered noise burst), 808 kick (sine with fast pitch drop from 150 Hz to 45 Hz), and Hi-hat (highpass-filtered noise burst). All synthesized with pure Web Audio — no samples, no extra payload. Per-variant gain tuned by ear for roughly equal perceived loudness at the same master click volume.
- Selected click sound persists across visits via localStorage.
Improved
- Pad and Strings voicings now work in Progression mode — the engine auto-clamps attack to 80ms and release to 150ms when in Progression mode, so chord changes lock to beat 1 instead of swelling slowly through the bar boundary. In Chord / Single Note modes, the full slow-swell attack and release are preserved (which is what makes those voicings musical for sustained drones).
- Default voicing for new users changed from Pad to Organ — instant attack means a more usable first-load experience. Returning users with a saved voicing preference are unaffected.
v2.9
June 28, 2026
Tool Iteration
First per-tool version bump under the v2.8 baseline rule — the Drone & Backing Track Player moves to v2.9 with a full chord progression sequencer layered on the tier 1 drone engine. Pick from 14 preset progressions across pop, blues, jazz, and modal families, transpose to any key, choose 1-8 bars per chord, build custom 1-8 slot progressions, and let it loop while you solo. The Web Audio scheduler drives both chord changes and the optional click track on a single timeline so they stay locked together. Each slot fills with an amber progress bar as it plays. Also brings a new spotlight-card menu treatment — the most recently launched tool now occupies a full-width row at the bottom of the grid, solving the visual asymmetry that 13 tools in a 3-column grid had created. Other tools remain at v2.8.
New
- Chord progression sequencer in the Drone & Backing Track Player — third option added to the existing Chord / Single Note mode toggle (Progression). When playing in Progression mode, the tool walks through a sequence of chords at a specified tempo, looping indefinitely until stopped.
- 14 preset progressions organized by family: Pop / Rock (Four Chords, Sensitive Female, Doo-Wop, Pop Punk, Power Vamp), Blues (Quick Blues 8-bar, Minor Blues 8-bar, Slow Blues Vamp), Jazz (ii-V-I major, ii-V-i minor, Rhythm Changes A), and Modal / Soloing (Andalusian Cadence, Aeolian Vamp, Dorian Vamp). Each preset defined in Roman numerals so it transposes to any key.
- Roman-numeral-to-chord engine — diatonic scale degrees for major and natural minor keys with default chord qualities, plus accidental support for borrowed chords. Picking a different key while a preset is loaded transposes the whole progression. Picking a key after you've customized just updates the Roman numeral overlay.
- Slot editor — visual 1-8 slot strip showing each chord's Roman numeral plus its concrete chord name. Click a slot to make it the active editing target, then use the existing chord picker (root + quality) to change it. Add Slot / Clear buttons. Hover any slot to reveal an inline ✕ remove button.
- Per-slot Single Note (bass) mode — toggle any individual slot between Chord and Single Note. Useful for building bassline progressions where some slots are single sustained notes underneath a soloing scale.
- Visual fill animation — the slot currently being played by the sequencer fills with an amber progress bar from left to right over the chord's duration. Resets cleanly when the chord changes and on each loop iteration.
- Now Playing display extended — during progression playback shows the current chord large with "Next: [chord] · Oct N · [voicing]" underneath. When stopped, shows the editing slot indicator instead.
- Featured-wide-card menu treatment — new
.tool-card-spotlight class on the menu page gives the most recently launched tool a full-width row at the bottom of the grid. Solves the visual gap that 13 tools in a 3-column grid created. The Drone & Backing Track Player takes that spot for v2.9; future new-tool launches will inherit the slot.
Improved
- Per-tool versioning rule formalized in production — only the Drone Player bumps to v2.9. All other tools remain at v2.8. Site-wide overhauls are reserved for v3.0.
- Click track integration is unified — in Progression mode, a single Web Audio scheduler fires both the click and the chord changes from the same audio clock, so they stay locked together rather than drifting independently. In Chord / Single Note mode, the tier 1 click scheduler from Tap Tempo handles it as before.
- localStorage state model migrated from chunk-1 Roman-numeral slots to absolute chord slots for cleaner UI editing and forward compatibility.
- Sitemap updated with the new lastmod for the drone tool URL and menu.
v2.8
June 27, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Drone & Backing Track Player — sustained drone tones for soloing practice, shred lick repetition, and ear training. Pick a single note or full chord (264 chord options across 22 qualities including jazz extensions like Maj 7♯11 and altered dominants), choose your octave from C1 sub-bass through C5 high, select from five hand-tuned synth voicings (Pad, Organ, Strings, Sine, Sawtooth), and optionally add a click track at any tempo from 40-240 BPM. Independent volume controls for drone and click. All settings persist across visits via localStorage. Also marks a strategic pivot — focus is now shifting to deepening existing tools rather than racing to add new ones.
New
- Drone & Backing Track Player tool at /tools/drone-backing-track/ — full sustained drone engine with Chord and Single Note modes, twelve-button root picker (full chromatic), and a chord-quality picker with 10 common qualities visible by default plus 12 advanced qualities behind an Advanced expand toggle.
- Five synth voicings, each with hand-tuned ADSR envelopes and optional filtering. Pad uses a triangle wave with a 400ms slow attack and +7-cent detune for chorus richness. Organ uses a sawtooth with instant attack and full sustain. Strings uses a sawtooth with a 550ms bowed attack and +9-cent detune. Sine is pure tone with no filter for ear-training clarity. Sawtooth is bright and harmonically rich for cutting through loud playing.
- Octave range C1 through C5 via scientific pitch notation — 5-octave span covers everything from sub-bass anchoring to high pitch reference. Whole chord voicing shifts together when octave changes.
- Polyphonic chord playback — every chord renders as multiple simultaneous voices through a master drone gain node. Detune-equipped voicings (Pad, Strings) actually spawn two oscillators per voice for natural chorus thickness without an LFO.
- Optional click track at 40-240 BPM driven by a ported Tap Tempo Web Audio scheduler with 100ms lookahead. Tempo can be changed while playing — scheduler picks up the new value on the next beat.
- Independent drone & click volume sliders, each riding its own master gain node, so you can balance loud drone + quiet click or vice versa for video work.
- localStorage persistence of every setting (mode, root, quality, octave, voicing, both volumes, click on/off, tempo, advanced-expanded state) under key
glDrone_v1. Restores on next visit; private/incognito mode resets to defaults.
- Real-time sound retriggering — change any setting while playing and the audio engine seamlessly releases the old voices and starts new ones with the new parameters using the voicing's release envelope.
- 11-item FAQ with full FAQPage JSON-LD covering drone-vs-backing-track distinction, voicing selection guidance, octave choice for soloing, settings persistence, mobile support, and pricing.
Improved
- Strategic pivot formalized — site has 13 tools live, Search Console showing ~37 clicks / 1.1K impressions over the last 90 days. New tool sprint is paused. Going forward, the focus is on deepening the existing toolkit (better FAQ depth, internal linking, email capture, affiliate placements where they fit) rather than racing to add more tools. New tools will be added on genuine need or student request.
- Related-tool strips on all twelve existing tools now feature the Drone & Backing Track Player for cross-discovery.
- Menu page now lists the Drone Player as a live tool. The Coming Soon placeholder is removed for the first time since v2.0 — the menu now shows 13 in-toolkit tools with no upcoming slot, reflecting the new "deepen instead of expand" posture.
- Menu "Tools Live" stat bumped from 12 to 13.
- Menu FAQ entry about what tool launches next now reflects the strategic shift toward deepening existing tools rather than promising specific new ones.
- Sitemap updated to include the new drone tool URL.
v2.8
June 24, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Tap Tempo & BPM Finder — tap along with any song (or press Space) and the tool calculates BPM from a rolling average of your tap intervals, with a visual metronome and optional audio click. Also rolls out a site-wide favicon based on the Music With Marky logo, plus fixes the stale "Tools Live" count on the menu (now correctly showing 12) and bumps the Lefty Mode spotlight count from six to seven (World Music Scales added Lefty support last release).
New
- Tap Tempo & BPM Finder tool at /tools/tap-tempo/ — tap a big button or press
Space to register beats, BPM displays huge in italic Fraunces, stability percentage tells you whether your tap was reliable, half/double tempo card protects against wrong-note-value mistakes.
- Rolling-average BPM math — last 8 taps in a rolling window, auto-clears after 2.5 seconds of inactivity (pick up a new tempo without hitting Reset), clamped to 30–300 BPM, accurate to within ~0.5 BPM after four steady taps.
- Web Audio scheduler with 100ms lookahead drives both the optional audio click (sharp 1500 Hz sine burst, 35ms with exponential envelope) and the visual metronome flash — they stay locked together rather than drifting independently like a CSS-loop visual would against an audio clock.
- Common BPMs reference card — eight rows mapping BPM ranges to feel labels (Largo / Adagio / Andante / Moderato / Allegro / Vivace / Presto / Prestissimo) and example genres, useful for sanity-checking whether your detected tempo matches the style of music you're tapping.
- REAPER JSFX plugin cross-promotion — amber-bordered callout linking to Mark's free plugins (Muter Gate, Vox Leveler, Multiband Saturation) for users working in a DAW.
- Site-wide favicon deployed at the site root — italic amber M letter mark for small browser-tab sizes (16/32/48 px), full MWM logo composite on dark rounded-square background for larger contexts (96/180/192/512 px). Multi-resolution
favicon.ico with native renders at all three small sizes. apple-touch-icon.png for iOS home-screen bookmarks. Link tags added to every tool, the menu, and the changelog.
Improved
- Menu page stats fix — the "Tools Live" count was stale since several deployments back (still said 6). Updated to 12, which correctly reflects all browser-based toolkit tools.
- Lefty Mode spotlight count bumped from "six tools as of v2.8" to "seven tools" — World Music Scales added Lefty support in the v2.8 release, but the spotlight text wasn't updated at the time.
- Related-tool strips on all eleven existing tools now feature Tap Tempo for cross-discovery.
- Menu page Coming Soon placeholder for Tap Tempo converted to a live tool card. A new Coming Soon placeholder for Classic Rock Tone Matcher takes its place.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL.
v2.8
June 20, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: World Music Scales — an interactive guide to 32 scales from 7 world music traditions, with fretboard diagrams in any key, three-notes-per-string audio playback, and a free downloadable companion poster (designed for World Music Day on June 21). Also formalizes the new v2.8 baseline versioning rule: every tool shares the v2.8 label until iterated past its first version, at which point the individual tool bumps (e.g. v2.9). Site-wide overhauls go to v3.0.
New
- World Music Scales tool at /tools/world-music-scales/ — pick a root note, switch between 7 category tabs (Middle Eastern, Indian, East Asian, African, Spanish, Eastern European, Southeast Asian), see all 32 scales as fretboard diagrams in that key, click Play Scale on any card to hear the three-notes-per-string ascending pattern.
- 32 scales covered including Phrygian Dominant, Double Harmonic Major, Hungarian Minor, Persian, Hirajoshi, In Sen, Yo Scale, Blues Scale, Spanish 8-Tone, Lydian Dominant, Hungarian Major, Pelog Approximation, six Indian raga approximations (Yaman, Kafi, Bhairavi, Marwa, Todi, Charukeshi), the Andalusian Cadence chord progression, and more. Cross-reference cards in multi-cultural cases (Phrygian Dominant in Spanish section, Freygish in Eastern European) acknowledge shared pitch sets without duplicating fretboards.
- Lefty Mode mirrors every fretboard horizontally for left-handed players. Text labels counter-flip so they still read normally.
- Marky Mode color-codes scale-degree dots — root, 2nd, 3rd, etc. each get their own color across every diagram, with the formula degree (1, ♭2, 3, ♯4) printed inside each dot and a color legend below each fretboard.
- Enharmonic spelling engine — notes in each scale display with correct accidentals based on the formula, so D Phrygian Dominant shows
D · E♭ · F♯ · G · A · B♭ · C rather than the awkward D · D♯ · F♯ .... Handles extreme keys like F♯ Hungarian Major (G𝄪, B♯, etc.) and D♭ Phrygian (double-flats).
- Audio playback engine — pure sine tones via the same OscillatorNode + ADSR pattern used in the Tuner and Ear Trainer. Pentatonic scales automatically use 2-notes-per-string, 6-to-8-note scales use 3-notes-per-string. Each note highlights on the diagram as it sounds.
- Andalusian Cadence progression plays as four block triads transposed to the chosen root (i – ♭VII – ♭VI – V) — useful for vamping under Phrygian Dominant.
- Free companion poster — "World Music Day · Scales From Around The World" PNG, print-ready, free to download from the top of the page. Designed to coincide with International World Music Day on June 21.
- Eight-item FAQ + FAQPage JSON-LD, plus WebApplication and BreadcrumbList structured data for SEO.
Improved
- Related-tool strips on all eleven existing tools now feature the World Music Scales tool for cross-discovery.
- Menu page updated: World Music Scales card added after the top-3 popular tools as the newest entry, with the v2.8 baseline badge.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL.
v2.6
June 19, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Interval Ear Trainer — daily ear-training drills with clean reference tones. Six difficulty presets covering beginner through advanced (all 13 intervals from unison to octave), three playback directions (ascending, descending, harmonic, plus a mixed mode), streak tracking that persists across visits via local storage, and shareable URL parameters so video creators can link viewers straight into a configured drill.
New
- Interval Ear Trainer tool at /tools/interval-ear-trainer/ — tap the big play button to hear an interval, then pick which interval it was from the answer grid. Correct answers light green and add to your streak; wrong answers reveal the right one so you learn it.
- Six difficulty presets — Beginner (P4, M3, P5, Octave), Intermediate (adds m2, M2, m3, M6, m6 for 9 total), Advanced (all 13 intervals from unison to octave), plus three focused sets: Perfect Only (P1, P4, P5, P8), Thirds Only (m3, M3), and Thirds & Sixths.
- Four playback modes — Ascending (low note first), Descending (high note first), Harmonic (both at once — hardest), and Mix (randomized per question, closest to real-world ear training).
- Streak tracking — current streak, best-ever streak, and session score (X correct out of Y) all displayed in a dedicated score panel. Best streak persists across visits via local storage; session resets when you change preset or direction so the count stays meaningful.
- Shareable preset URLs — drop links like
?set=beginner&dir=ascending or ?set=thirds-only into a YouTube description, Instagram caption, or text message to send viewers straight into the configured drill. Useful for ear-training video lessons and viewer challenges.
- Audio engine reuses the OscillatorNode + exponential ADSR pattern from the Guitar Tuner — pure sine tones with soft attack and release so there's no click or pop. Unison in harmonic mode is special-cased to play one tone instead of two identical ones overlapping.
- A4 reference toggle (440 ↔ 432 Hz) carried over from the Tuner conventions. Interval relationships are identical in both modes; only the absolute pitch shifts.
Improved
- Related-tool strips on all nine existing tools now feature the Interval Ear Trainer for cross-discovery.
- Menu page Coming Soon placeholder for the Ear Trainer converted to a live tool card with a coral v2.6 — Brand New badge. A new Coming Soon placeholder for the next tool (Tap Tempo & BPM Finder) has been added.
- Roadmap callout at the bottom of this page updated to reflect the new sequence — Tap Tempo is next, then Classic Rock Tone Matcher.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL.
v2.5
June 13, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Capo Key Converter — two-way capo math for guitarists. Forward mode: pick a capo fret and an open-chord shape, see the sounding chord. Reverse mode: pick a target key, see every capo position that gets you there with a familiar CAGED shape, sorted by playability. Includes SVG chord-diagram thumbnails for all eight open shapes (C, A, G, E, D + Am, Em, Dm). Also rolls in the post-launch tuner refinements.
New
- Capo Key Converter tool at /tools/capo-key-converter/ — pure capo math, two-way lookup, eight CAGED open-shape coverage with chord-diagram thumbnails.
- Forward Mode — pick a capo fret (0–12) and any open-chord shape from the CAGED + minor family. The tool shows a large chord diagram of the shape you're fingering, the sounding chord name in big italic, a plain-English explanation ("Fingering a G shape with the capo on fret 2 raises every note by 2 semitones, so the chord sounds as A"), and a tile grid of alternate capo positions that produce the same sounding chord with different shapes.
- Reverse Mode — pick any target chord/key (12 chromatic × major or minor) and the tool returns every valid (capo + shape) combination, sorted ascending by capo fret with the lowest position tagged Most Playable. Each row includes a chord-diagram thumbnail so you can immediately see the fingering required for that option.
- SVG chord-diagram renderer — standards-compliant guitar chord diagrams generated inline, two sizes (sm for thumbnails, md for the forward result). Shows nut, fret lines, string lines, X marks for muted strings, open-circle marks for open strings, and amber dots on fretted positions.
- Bidirectional jump-to — clicking any reverse-mode result row jumps to Forward Mode pre-configured with that exact shape + capo combination, letting you toggle between "explore options" and "explain this option" views without losing context.
- Mode tabs with proper ARIA roles, full keyboard support, and GA4 event tracking on every meaningful interaction (capo_fret_changed, capo_shape_changed, capo_target_key_changed, capo_mode_changed, capo_reverse_row_jump, capo_alt_jump).
Improved
- Browser-Based Guitar Tuner — Lefty Mode removed. The tuner has no fretboard view, so mirroring the string-row cards didn't actually help left-handed players. Cleaned up the toggle, CSS, state, event handler, and every Lefty mention from metadata, How-It-Works, and FAQ. Settings panel now has a single full-width A4 toggle (440 ↔ 432 Hz).
- Browser-Based Guitar Tuner — 4 new extended-range tunings: 7-string Standard (BEADGBE), 7-string Drop A (AEADGBE), 8-string Standard (F♯BEADGBE), and 8-string Drop E (EBEADGBE). The tuning dropdown is now grouped via
<optgroup> into 6-String and Extended Range categories for easier scanning.
- Browser-Based Guitar Tuner — adaptive fftSize. When an extended-range tuning is active (lowest string below C2 / MIDI 36), the analyser's FFT size automatically bumps from 2048 to 4096 samples. The longer window gives the autocorrelation engine enough cycles of low F♯1 and E1 to find the pitch period reliably.
- Related-tool strips on all eight existing tools (including the Tuner) now feature the Capo Key Converter for cross-discovery.
- Menu page Coming Soon placeholder for the Capo Converter converted to a live tool card with a coral v2.5 — Brand New badge. A new Coming Soon placeholder for the next tool (Interval Ear Trainer) has been added.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL.
v2.4
June 10, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Browser-Based Guitar Tuner — the first audio-based tool in the toolkit. Real-time pitch detection through your device's mic, 11 tuning presets covering every common alternate tuning, a native Lefty Mode for the headstock view, and reference-tone playback for tuning by ear. No app install required; audio never leaves your browser.
New
- Browser-Based Guitar Tuner tool at /tools/guitar-tuner/ — tap to enable the mic and start tuning. Time-domain autocorrelation with sub-sample parabolic interpolation gives accuracy within ±1–2 cents under normal conditions. Built entirely on the Web Audio API — pitch detection runs locally in your browser, never uploaded.
- 11 tuning presets — Standard EADGBE, Drop D, Drop C, Half-Step Down (E♭ standard), Whole-Step Down (D standard), DADGAD, Open D, Open G, Open E, Open C, and Double Drop D. Switching presets instantly retargets every string and updates the headstock card row.
- Cents dial with directional guidance — a precise needle showing ±50¢ range, a ±5¢ green in-tune zone, color-coded threshold buckets (tuned ≤5¢, close ≤15¢, off >15¢), and an arrow chip below the dial telling you exactly which way to turn the peg ("Tune Up — Flat" / "Tune Down — Sharp" / "In Tune ✓"). The big note display pulses softly when locked.
- Headstock-style string row — six tappable cards (String 6 → String 1) showing each string's target note, octave, and frequency. The active string lights up amber when detected; turns green and glows when locked in tune. Lefty Mode mirrors the row layout via CSS without affecting the underlying detection.
- Reference tone playback — tap any string card to hear a 1.5-second sine tone at that string's target frequency. Useful for tuning by ear. Uses a clean exponential attack/release envelope to avoid clicks. Reference tones work even before granting mic permission (lazy AudioContext creation).
- A4 reference toggle — switch between 440 Hz (standard) and 432 Hz reference pitch. Every string target rescales automatically, regardless of which tuning preset is active.
- Chromatic fallback — when the detected pitch isn't close to any string in the active tuning, the readout switches to chromatic mode and shows cents from the nearest semitone instead. Means the tuner is useful for bass, ukulele, mandolin, and other stringed instruments too.
- Privacy by design — getUserMedia is called with echoCancellation, autoGainControl, and noiseSuppression all explicitly disabled (these mangle pitch). The analyser is never connected to the destination output, so there's no chance of a monitor loop into the speakers. No recording, no upload — all detection happens in the page.
Improved
- Pentatonic Box Finder — Box 3 fix — Box 3 now extends one extra fret on the B string for all 12 keys, correcting for the G→B major-3rd tuning interval that causes scale tones to shift up one fret on that string. Previously the upper B-string pentatonic note was clipped from the visualization.
- Pentatonic Box Finder — open-string mini-tiles — triad gallery tiles can now correctly render open-string notes (fret 0) by reserving display space left of the nut. Each tile is also labeled with its fret range so multi-octave duplicates (e.g. "B-G-D · frets 0–2" vs "B-G-D · frets 12–14") are obviously distinct positions, not duplicate triads.
- Pentatonic Box Finder — multi-octave display — boxes that fit on the neck in multiple positions now show both ranges simultaneously, with both fret ranges visible in the box selector and stats panel.
- Related-tool strips on all 7 existing tools now feature the Guitar Tuner, making the new tool discoverable from anywhere in the ecosystem.
- Menu page Coming Soon placeholder for the Tuner converted to a live tool card with a coral v2.4 — Brand New badge. A new Coming Soon placeholder for the next tool (Capo Key Converter) has been added.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL.
v2.3
June 1, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: Pentatonic Box Finder & Triad Mapper — visualize all 5 box positions of any minor or major pentatonic scale, with a Show Triads mode that color-codes the chord shapes hidden inside every box and a full gallery of playable 3-note triad voicings with inversions.
New
- Pentatonic Box Finder tool at /tools/pentatonic-box-finder/ — pick any of 12 chromatic keys, choose minor or major pentatonic interpretation, browse all 5 box positions on a glowing rosewood fretboard.
- Show Triads mode — color-codes every note in the active box by triad membership: coral for the i (minor) triad, blue for the ♭III (relative major) triad, purple for shared notes that belong to both, and dimmed amber for passing tones in neither triad. Reveals the chord-tone structure hidden inside the pentatonic shape.
- Triad Shape Gallery — below the fretboard, every playable 3-note triad shape in the box is rendered as its own mini-fretboard tile (3 chord tones on 3 adjacent strings, max 4-fret span). Organized by triad and inversion (root position, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion), with the bass note distinguished by a thicker ring on each shape.
- Dual interpretation — every minor pentatonic is also its relative major pentatonic (Am pentatonic = C major pentatonic, same 5 notes). Toggle between interpretations to flip the displayed root, the section ordering in the gallery, and the functional labels (i / ♭III for minor mode, I / vi for major mode).
- Multi-octave display — for boxes that have valid positions in both halves of the neck (e.g. E♭ minor box 4 appears at frets 6–9 AND 18–21), both octave positions are shown on the fretboard simultaneously, with both fret ranges visible in the box selector and stats panel.
- Send-To buttons — open the chosen scale in the Scale Over Chord Finder, or drill either triad in the Arpeggio Finder, all via the same
?chord= URL parameter system as the rest of the ecosystem.
- Lefty Mode, Marky Mode (12-color rainbow keyed to pitch class), and Sharp / Flat / Auto note spelling preferences — all consistent with the rest of the toolkit.
Improved
- Related-tool strips on all 6 existing tools now feature the Pentatonic Box Finder, making the new tool discoverable from anywhere in the ecosystem.
- Menu page placeholder card converted to a live tool card with a coral v2.3 — Brand New badge.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL for search engine discovery.
- Contact page reference updated across the sitemap (now at
/tools/contact/ rather than the legacy /contact.html).
v2.2
May 25, 2026
New Tool
Brand new tool: What Chord Is This? — a free interactive chord identifier. Tap one note per string, hit Submit, and get the chord name with inversion notation, alternate interpretations, and standard open shape recognition.
New
- What Chord Is This? tool at /tools/what-chord-is-this/ — six strings start muted (X above the nut). Tap any fret to play that string. Tap the played note to mute it again. Hit Submit to identify the chord.
- Inversion detection — when the chord root is not your lowest played note, the tool detects the inversion (e.g. C/E for first inversion C major) using the bass note position in the chord's interval stack.
- Multiple interpretations — ambiguous pitch sets like {A, C, E, G} are shown as both Am7 (root A) AND C6 (root C), ranked with the bass-as-root reading first.
- Dyad analysis — only two notes? The tool names the dyad: minor 3rd implies a minor chord, major 3rd implies a major chord, perfect 5th is a power chord, perfect 4th is an inverted power chord, other intervals are named for what they are.
- Open shape recognition — 24 standard open chord shapes (C, A, G, E, D majors + minors + 7ths + maj7s + power chords) are identified by name when matched, on top of the chord ID.
- Send-To buttons — identified chords deep-link directly into the Arpeggio Finder and Scale Over Chord Finder via the same
?chord= URL parameter system.
- 17 chord types covered — major, minor, sus2, sus4, dim, aug, maj6, min6, dom7, maj7, min7, m7♭5, dim7, add9, m(add9), dom9, dom13. (Added maj6 and min6 over the previous 15-type set to support better inversion-aware interpretation.)
Improved
- Related-tool strips on all 5 existing tools now feature What Chord Is This? as the first link, making the chord identifier discoverable from anywhere in the ecosystem.
- Menu page updated with a new tool card for the chord identifier, marked with a coral v2.2 — Brand New badge to highlight the launch.
- Sitemap updated to include the new tool URL for search engine discovery.
v2.1
May 24, 2026
Feature Update
Fretboard Note Finder gets an Identify Fret mode — tap any fret on the diagram to reveal the note. Multiple tapped notes detect chords and deep-link into the Arpeggio and Scale tools.
New
- Identify Fret Mode on the Fretboard Note Finder — tap any fret on the neck to reveal the note. Tap multiple frets to build up a chord shape.
- Live chord detection — tapped notes are matched against 15 chord types (major, minor, dom7, maj7, min7, m7♭5, dim7, dim, aug, sus2, sus4, add9, m(add9), dom9, dom13). When a match is found, the chord name appears below the fretboard.
- Send-To buttons — open the detected chord directly in the Arpeggio Finder or Scale Over Chord Finder with one click. Both receiving tools now read a
?chord= URL parameter.
Improved
- Updated FAQ schema on the Fretboard Note Finder with three new questions covering the Identify mode and chord detection workflow.
- Refreshed meta description, Open Graph, and Twitter card tags to mention the new interactive mode for better social previews.
- Tool card on the menu page now shows a v2.1 — Now Interactive badge to highlight the upgrade.
v2.0
May 24, 2026
Major Release
Complete rebuild of the Guitar Lick Lab tool ecosystem with a unified design system, full SEO + analytics stack, and Lefty Mode on every fretboard tool.
New
- Unified design system — Fraunces serif + IBM Plex Sans/Mono, warm dark palette, consistent header, breadcrumb, hero, control panel, and brand-box patterns across every tool.
- Lefty Mode on every fretboard tool — full horizontal mirror of the neck for left-handed players.
- Marky Mode on every tool — rainbow color treatment for the note dots, because why not.
- Cross-tool deep linking — each tool links to its 4 sibling tools via contextual related-strips and inline copy. The Chords in Key Finder common progressions open directly in the Chord Progression Scale Finder via a
?p= URL parameter.
- Full SEO stack on every tool: canonical URLs, Open Graph, Twitter cards, JSON-LD (WebApplication + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList).
- GA4 analytics wired throughout — every search, toggle, position change, FAQ open, and cross-tool click is tracked with parameters for filtering.
Improved
- Fretboard Note Finder — rebuilt with rule-of-18 fret spacing, rosewood gradient, pearl inlays, brass frets, position filters, and sharp/flat preference.
- Scale Over Chord Finder — 9 chord type overrides, scale suggestions with primary + alternatives, dynamic "Why this works" and "Try this immediately" copy per chord type.
- Chord Progression Scale Finder — diatonic key detection algorithm with confidence scoring, per-chord roman numeral breakdown, dynamic soloing strategy copy.
- Chords in Key Finder — diatonic chord chart with triads, 7ths, and jazz extensions for major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor.
- Arpeggio Finder — 15 chord types, chord tones with interval labels, "What this means" theory blurbs and practice ideas, interval-to-note legend below the fretboard.
Behind the scenes
- Shared brand asset (logo) extracted from inline base64 — saves ~170KB per page load.
- Mobile fretboard scroll fix — proper
min-width: 0 on flex/grid children plus span-swap labels at narrow widths.
- All tool pages mobile-tested down to 320px viewport.
