The Chord and Scale Finder (specifically for steel guitar)

New products of interest to steel guitarists
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Tom Paronis
Posts: 12
Joined: 27 Jan 2021 5:40 pm
Location: New York, USA

The Chord and Scale Finder (specifically for steel guitar)

Post by Tom Paronis »

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum but am a longtime barroom musician (I think I may have had the hardest working band in NYC until March 2020) and software developer. I started playing 6 string lap steel 4-5 years ago and just purchased an 8 string model from Morrell Guitars. For much of the last year I have been developing a cross platform app specifically for the "weird tuning" crowd, among which steel players are certainly in the front ranks. The app is currently available for Android devices in both free, ad embedded and paid ($3.99) versions on Google Play and Android and I hope to be in the Apple Store ASAP (although there are always lots of hoops to jump through with this stuff so you never know). As the main beta tester I'm very happy with the app and it has helped me move from total incompetence to marginal proficiency in record time. I'm having a gas climbing the learning curve and I'm hoping this app can be as useful to other steel players as it has been to me and my 2 other beta testers. My 17 year old nephew has temporarily shifted his musical interests from rock guitar to lap steel after I loaded a test version on his Android tablet. I have created some webcams that hopefully explain how to use it (see link) but I'm hoping I can find more users on the planet's various steel guitar sites and use their feedback to keep tweaking and improving it before I age into senescence. In fact I plan on making learning and playing steel guitar (and, of course, my Tele) the final stop in my long career. Hopefully some of you will find the product useful and I'm always open to critiques, suggestions, enhancements, etc. :)

https://www.69thstreetband.com/chord-an ... inder.html
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Larry Dering
Posts: 5076
Joined: 17 May 2013 11:20 am
Location: Missouri, USA

Post by Larry Dering »

Interesting, I gave a quick look. May give it a closer inspection on a bigger screen later.
Tom Paronis
Posts: 12
Joined: 27 Jan 2021 5:40 pm
Location: New York, USA

Post by Tom Paronis »

It was developed in a cross platform technology called Xamarin. I develop on a desktop and that's easiest to use for me but I have it on my tablet and phone as well. Desktop = optimal, tablet = good and phone = functional. If you have questions let me know. :)
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Dan Fries
Posts: 15
Joined: 16 Feb 2021 9:57 am
Location: California, USA
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Post by Dan Fries »

Hey Tom,

Looks pretty cool! too bad my kids trashed my lenovo pad, and my phone is ios!

I've been looking for something like this and the ios app I found isn't cutting it. Can I ask you about functionality?

Can I enter my copedent, and have the app tell me where to find an E7b9 chord, and it would tell me which levers to use, which pedals, and which strings on which frets?

I'm originally a flamenco guitarist, and I've been looking for ways to play flamenco harmonies (lots of #11 and b9) on the pedal steel without modding the copedent. This quest has me wondering if I need a guitar with more than the current S10 3/5 setup I'm using. I've found a way to use string 9 as a root, and with 2 pedals and 2-3 levers get something like what I want, but it'd be nice if there were an easier way. Maybe your app could help?
If so, perhaps I'll try to find an old android phone.

Thanks!
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