How StringScales Presets and Backing Band Controls Work

Updated

StringScales lets you skip the blank timeline: load a preset chord progression — either a popular classic or one browsed by scale — then shape the backing band with style, per-instrument mixing, tempo, and concert pitch controls. Press play and the fretboard lights up the right notes for each chord as the band plays. It's free and needs no account to start, so you can try presets and playback controls immediately.

Loading a preset progression

Instead of building changes from scratch, you start from a progression that already fits what you want to practice. StringScales offers two routes:

  • Popular classics — well-known progressions you can load and play along with right away.
  • Browsed by scale — pick a scale and load changes that actually fit it. The site's own example is a Hungarian minor progression matched to that scale, so the chords and the scale agree instead of fighting each other.

This matters because a preset matched to your scale means you don't have to guess which chords belong together before you can start practicing. You load it, and the fretboard already knows which notes to light.

Tagging chords with scales

Once a progression is loaded, each chord can carry its own scale tag. The site describes tagging "dorian here, altered there, harmonic minor on the turnaround" — so a single progression can move through different scales chord by chord rather than forcing one scale across the whole thing.

The workflow is three steps:

  1. Drop in the chords you want to practice.
  2. Tag each one with a scale.
  3. Press play and follow the lit notes, chord by chord.

The fretboard follows your progression, lighting the right notes in time for every chord, in any key.

Shaping the band in the playback controls

The playback controls are where you turn a preset into something that matches how you want to practice. According to the site, you can adjust:

Control What it changes
Style The feel of the backing band, from blues shuffle to bossa
Per-instrument mixing The balance of individual instruments in the band
Tempo How fast the progression plays
Concert pitch The pitch reference the band plays at

So the same preset can be a slow blues shuffle at one tempo or a bossa feel at another, with the instruments mixed to taste. You're not locked into one sound per progression.

Why this suits playing along rather than planning

The combination of preset progressions and live band controls is aimed at practice, not composition. You don't need to build a timeline before you can play — you load changes that fit your scale, set the style and tempo you want, and follow the lit notes. The band plays live in any key, tempo, and style, and the fretboard tracks every chord.

There are no chord limits, loop limits, or locked features, and no ads. A free account only adds saving — keeping your progressions and picking them up on any device — so you can use presets and playback controls without signing up at all.