The Steel Guitar Forum

I have permission to distribute Karlis Abolins' Guitar Map program. It's a great program for finding scales and chords. You program your copedent into it, and select what chord or scale you want, and click on a pedal, lever and combinations of pedals and levers, and it will find the chord or scale you are looking. It does require trying out different pedals and levers to find what you want. For someone who knows the standard combinations, it gives you a view of where else on the fret board where you can find 2 string partial chord which we use a lot. You'd be surprised how many places other than the standard locations where partials can be found.

I have been getting so many emails to request the file. I now have the download on my webpage, and would like you to use that. You can click on my website link in my signature to get to my home page..

I still want you to email or PM me with any questions. I will try to answer them. It's also a good idea to post your questions on the this post so others who might have the same question can see the answer. I'm also working on downloads for the installation and setup. And will probably have a separate webpage for this program and frequently asked questions. Hopefully it won't take me long (see following paragraph).

It looks like I suffered a mild stroke and am having a lot of issues with that. I have had 2 MRI's but haven't had the doctor and Neurologist's appointment yet to confirm. I had 2 EMG tests on my right arm/hand to see why my left arm and hand are weak and losing control. That doctor found nothing wrong, and also thinks it could be a stroke. That's 3 doctors now that think it could be a mild stroke. I am also having other symptoms of a stroke. This week I have been getting all the info on Medicare. Since I am on Social Security disability, and have been for over 2 years, the Social Security Administration is forcing me to go on Medicare, even though I am covered by our states medical insurance for low income people. I can sill keep that as a secondary insurance, but they are stopping my prescription drug benefit because I am eligible to buy drug coverage from Medicare. I can't afford what I have to pay Medicare, so I don't know what I am going to do.

This is a great, free program. I have been using it for years. I even set up dobro tunings.

Karlis Abolins has a program he wrote called "Guitar Map" that was free and did everything (I think) that Glissando does, for much less. I have lost the link.

I use it and it works great. You program in your copedent, with pedals and levers. Then you can select Chord mode, the chord and variation of it, and it will display a fretboard with the groups of strings necessary. It will display in note or numbers. Then you can select any pedal lever or combination and see if you get other ways, or easier ways to play the chord. I have the computer I use this program turned off right now, but I believe there is also a scale mode where it will show where to find the scale to the chords.


Quote:
By the way, don't forget us universal players (its only two extra strings!)

It supports 14 strings, and like 22 pedals and levers.

Screen Shots:

Scale Mode:



Chord Mode:

Eric Dalhoff. If you see this, I tried to email the file to you but it won't go through. Is there a different email address I can use?

Something has just come to my attention. Some of you that are using .edu, and possibly .gov email addresses may not get the attachment. It is 2.2mb. Send me a workable email address. I promise not to sell them to telemarketers, or porn sites.

I've also had a couple of emails about how to re-name the file.

On Windows, go into Widows Explorer (not internet explorer). Find the guitarmap.frm file. Right click on it and select RENAME. Just change the .frm to .exe. Left click somewhere off of the file name to make the change stick.

On a Mac, there must be a similar operation.

Thanks Richard (and Karlis Abolins!). I downloaded it from your website today. The program is useful, I've been looking for something like this for a while.
Tom

The program is available to download from my home page now. But, don't use Chrome. They don't like having executable files for download. Firefox, Safari, Opera, and yes - even IE works great. I may have to change the exe extension to something else to fool Chrome like I did for emailing the file.

There is a post in Steel Players about where to find a Bbdim7 chord. 1 flaw I have found in the program is with the diminished 7 chord. The bb7 shows up as just a dim with a b7. There is a way to change this in a file that has all the chord definitions, but I am having memory problems and haven't been able to change it. I was able to fix it in an older version, so I'll have to see if I can find the file in a backup of my computers.

Hi Richard,

Look in the Steel folder of Program Files (x86) for a file called default.scl. Change the line for -7 from
"C","1;3b;5b;7b;","-7"
to
"C","1;3b;5b;6;","-7"

My bad. it's a bb7 which is the same as 6.

Karlis

I tried that but it's not working for me. I'll keep trying. It worked great on an older version, and it should work now. Also, there is a button on the chords layout that say "Find All Combinations" which really doesn't doesn't find more that one inversion at one fret. I never used it before, but I'm sure I am going to be asked about it.

Thanks for answering questions about the program. I plan on having a download with instructions on downloading, renaming the file because Chrome has trouble with it. Chrome just doesn't like it. IE, Opera, Firefox, and Safari have no problem with the exe file.

I had no problem downloading it with Google Chrome & installing it.
The first install locked up my computer. I deleted it and installed it
again. Every time I start it, it tries to open "Sonic Record Now" and
I have to cancel that operation before it opens. It looks like a good
program, but this old man can't figure it out. I need Instructions.

Thanks for sharing Richard. Looks like a great tool!

Thank you Richard & Karlis!
It's helping me visualize a few things.
Cool tool.
Happy Holidays!

Carl Kilmer wrote:I had no problem downloading it with Google Chrome & installing it.
The first install locked up my computer. I deleted it and installed it
again. Every time I start it, it tries to open "Sonic Record Now" and
I have to cancel that operation before it opens. It looks like a good
program, but this old man can't figure it out. I need Instructions.

If you downloaded it today, it's probably the file with .frm extension. Did you have to rename it?

Don't know what say about starting the other program. That has to be something else wrong.

Yes I downloaded it last night and it was "guitarmap.exe"

I edited/added my Universal configuration.
((I noticed that as I added the lower strings (with the heavier gage number), it would keep the name of the note but seem to default back to the lower gage number (the higher octave). This doesn't seem to make a difference with regards to the chords and scales since the note name was the same)

Question:
What I am trying to do is get the old blues scale 1, 3b, 4,5, 7b.

The Blues scale listed in the program has the note intervals of 1,2, 3b, 4,5b,6,7b.

How can I get rid of some of these extra notes.

I didn't see any instructions and was wondering if there was a way to do it.

Thanks
K

Kristen Bruno wrote:I edited/added my Universal configuration.
((I noticed that as I added the lower strings (with the heavier gage number), it would keep the name of the note but seem to default back to the lower gage number (the higher octave). This doesn't seem to make a difference with regards to the chords and scales since the note name was the same)

Question:
What I am trying to do is get the old blues scale 1, 3b, 4,5, 7b.

The Blues scale listed in the program has the note intervals of 1,2, 3b, 4,5b,6,7b.

How can I get rid of some of these extra notes.

I didn't see any instructions and was wondering if there was a way to do it.

Thanks
K

There is a file called default.scl. That file won't open in Word, but might in Wordpad or Notepad. I haven't tried them. I use a program for computer programmers, called Notepad++. In this file, this is where the chord and scale definitions are. You can change the numbers anyway you want. I haven't tried it yet, but you should be able to define a new chord or scale. I'll try that.

I'm going to write a little "manual" that will show how to download the program, how to rename from the .frm file to an exe file. Then explain how to enter copedents and save the into a layout file so you can open and have your setup already entered. I will also explain other things in the program. That should be done by tomorrow, depending on if the football games are no good.

EDIT: Editing this file doesn't seem to be able to be saved in Windows 10. I get that I don't have permission to save in that folder. I tried different text editors, I've given myself administrator privileges, tried using the administrator account on my PC, Allow all users all access to that folder, and it won't save. It has no problem in Win7. I have no idea why.

Kristen Bruno wrote:
I edited/added my Universal configuration.
((I noticed that as I added the lower strings (with the heavier gage number), it would keep the name of the note but seem to default back to the lower gage number (the higher octave). This doesn't seem to make a difference with regards to the chords and scales since the note name was the same)

I don't understand. Where are you entering the string gauges? The program doesn't have a place to enter the gauges.

I don't enter string gages. When I add a string 11 in the blank box under string 10, I get a pop up to choose a string. I use low E string for string 11 so I choose the low E from the drop down menu. I do the same for the 12th string low B.
Now if I click in the box where I just added the low E string, you will see the drop down with the higher gage E hilighted. Same for the B. As I mentioned it doesn't seem to make a difference since the note is the same....was just wondering why it would default to a different gage string than that which was selected.

K

I'll try entering a 12 string setup and see.

Kristen Bruno wrote:I don't enter string gages. When I add a string 11 in the blank box under string 10, I get a pop up to choose a string. I use low E string for string 11 so I choose the low E from the drop down menu. I do the same for the 12th string low B.
Now if I click in the box where I just added the low E string, you will see the drop down with the higher gage E hilighted. Same for the B. As I mentioned it doesn't seem to make a difference since the note is the same....was just wondering why it would default to a different gage string than that which was selected.

K

My guess would be that it will allow you to change that note selection. I don't think it matters. I tried a copedent where I chose only the higher pitches for each string, and it doesn't seem to affect the chord or scale lookups.

Anyway, back to other question..

Can you delete or change the notes listed for the "Blues" scale to just include the 5 notes:
1, 3b (2#), 4,5 and 7b (6#)


K

Kristen,

copy the file default.scl from c:\program files (x86)\steel\ to a temporary location (like downloads).

Edit the file with your choice of programs (I use notepad).
Change the line that says:.

"S","1;2;3b;4;5b;6;7b;","Blues"

to

"S","1;3b;4;5b;7b;","Blues"

save the file and copy it back to c:\program files (x86)\steel\

You may get a security warning but you should be able to override the warning. If not, you will have to change the windows permissions to allow yourself the ability to change files in that directory.

Author's note: this program was written at a time when Microsoft allowed the user to change things as it suited the user. Alas, this is no longer the case. You now have to take extraordinary action to make modifications to your pc.

Karlis

Does the program recognize the difference between both b's and #'s (flats and sharps)...


Thanks
K

Tried to download 'guitarmap' from your website, and got '404 errors'. any thoughts? Thanks! dave