简体中文
EnglishWhat Is StringScales?
Updated
StringScales is a free browser-based practice tool that shows any scale on your fretboard while a generated backing band plays your chord progression. You drop in chords, tag each one with a scale, press play, and the fretboard lights up the right notes for every chord in time. It works for guitar, bass, banjo, and ukulele, needs no account, and has no chord, loop, or feature limits.
How the core workflow works
The tool is built around three steps, in this order:
- Drop in the chords you want to practice. You build a progression on a timeline rather than playing over a static jam track.
- Tag each chord with a scale. For example, dorian on one chord, altered on another, harmonic minor on the turnaround. This is what makes the fretboard display meaningful instead of generic.
- Press play and follow the lit notes. The band plays live in any key, tempo, and style, and the fretboard highlights the correct notes chord by chord.
The practical result: you practice hearing a chord change and seeing where the matching scale sits on the neck at the same time, rather than guessing which shape fits which change.
What you can control
| Dimension | What's available |
|---|---|
| Scales | Major, minor, modes, harmonic and melodic minor, plus exotic scales |
| Positions | Pentatonic boxes, blues notes, single position or whole neck |
| Shapes | 3-notes-per-string or CAGED, one shape at a time or all positions |
| Orientation | Vertical or horizontal, left- or right-handed |
| Instruments | Guitar, bass, banjo, ukulele — diagrams follow the instrument |
| Tuning | Change the tuning and shapes redraw |
| Band | Styles from blues shuffle to bossa, per-instrument mixing, tempo, concert pitch |
| Presets | Popular progressions, or progressions matched to a specific scale |
Presets are worth knowing about if you don't want to start from a blank timeline. You can load a classic progression, or browse by scale so that, for example, a Hungarian minor gets chord changes that actually fit it.
Free vs. account
The site states the whole thing is free — not a trial and not a tier. All scales, all keys, every standard fretboard and tuning, the progression builder, scale annotations, backing band, styles, and tempos are included, with no ads.
A free account adds one thing: saving. Without an account you can open the fretboard and use everything, but your progressions aren't kept. With an account you save progressions and pick them up on any device.
Who it's for
- Guitarists learning to connect scales to chords. The chord-by-chord lighting makes the relationship visible instead of theoretical.
- Players working on exotic or rarely diagrammed scales. Harmonic minor, melodic minor, and scales you seldom see drawn out are all included.
- Bass, banjo, and ukulele players. The diagram follows your instrument rather than showing a generic guitar chart.
- Anyone who wants to practice in a specific style or key. Tempo, style, mixing, and concert pitch are all adjustable.
If you only need a static scale chart, a printable diagram is simpler. StringScales is worth using when you want the scale tied to actual chord changes and a band playing them back.