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.
