Hey there, my friends! I’ve been very busy the last two weeks with a ton of helpful updates to FretMonster, my interactive fretboard tool, which are finally ready to share.

Let's start with a brand new video tour of FretMonster, which shows off all the new features:

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I also put together a free PDF handbook to give you a proper print-friendly introduction to the tool. This started as one page, then became two, and each of the last few mornings I woke up with additional content I wanted to add. It took me far longer than expected, but it’s ready!

​Click to Download the FretMonster Handbook​
​5 pages, print-friendly

A quick summary of the new FretMonster features:

• Any changes you make to key, scale, highlights, labels, etc are now preserved in the tool – so if you refresh the page, they persist. This also means you can bookmark specific setups in your browser, or send any setup you create to a friend via web link (URL).
• Added many new keyboard shortcuts. These are included on the tool webpage, and also in the PDF handbook.
• Fixed the sound so it works properly on all instruments... before it was wrong for everything except for the default guitar (in standard tuning).
• Added banjo instrument support, with four different tunings.

Again, check out FretMonster at https://songnotes.net/fretmonster — it's web-based (no download) and totally free to use!

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🇺🇸 Fourth of July Lesson Picks!

In the spirit of Independence Day here in the USA, here's a few lessons from my catalog I'd like to showcase!

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🎸 Soulful Lead Guitar & "America the Beautiful"

In one of my favorite lessons featuring electric guitar, I teach you how to play an soulful melodic lead over America the Beautiful:

This one includes a print-friendly guide, play-along video, and a video backing track! Makes for great practice, whether you want to strum or play lead.

View my lesson & additional resources at https://songnotes.net/lessons/540/​

🎸 "Star Spangled Banner" Melody, in Five Different Keys

When I decided to get serious about learning my major scales in open position, I challenged myself to learn a familiar melody (The Star Spangled Banner) in the keys of C, G, D, A, and E. This was a great way to really use each scale in a melodic context. Here's the lesson I made:

And again, I have a 7 page PDF guide to accompany my tutorial — which shows the complete tabs in all five keys (along with some major scale tabs for reference). Slow playthroughs in each key are also available:

View my lesson & additional resources at https://songnotes.net/lessons/480/​

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Once more, to those in the USA I wish you a happy Independence Day weekend! It's uncharacteristically rainy here in Austin, giving us a more quiet-but-dozy day. I'm quite happy to settle into watching Wimbledon, Tour de France, and the British GP at Silverstone this weekend.

Happy strumming, my friends!

David

Browse all my lessons at songnotes.net​