I , wrote in alt.music.bluegrass:
> Hi All,
>
> I've been playing around with JavaScript and made this mandolin chord
> page.  Let me know if you find any bugs, bad chords, or irritations:

I added a new feature... It now shows the notes of the chords on a musical
staff:

http://howardk.moonfall.com/mandolin/

I hope this is of some use to somebody.

Howard

On Jun 15, 9:39 pm, "Howard Knight" 
wrote:
> I , wrote in alt.music.bluegrass:
>
> > Hi All,
>
> > I've been playing around with JavaScript and made this mandolin chord
> > page.  Let me know if you find any bugs, bad chords, or irritations:
>
> I added a new feature... It now shows the notes of the chords on a musical> staff:
>
> http://howardk.moonfall.com/mandolin/
>
> I hope this is of some use to somebody.
>
> Howard

fwiw, i like the page.  have you considered making it a google widget?

Howard Knight wrote:
> I , wrote in alt.music.bluegrass:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I've been playing around with JavaScript and made this mandolin chord
>> page.  Let me know if you find any bugs, bad chords, or irritations:
> 
> I added a new feature... It now shows the notes of the chords on a musical
> staff:
> 
> http://howardk.moonfall.com/mandolin/
> 
> I hope this is of some use to somebody.

I'm not much of a mandolin player yet, but...

It suggests an E chord on a mandolin would be helpfully fingered 1224,
and calls the notes Ab, E, B and Ab. The C7 suggestion contains no C.

The F chord suggestion marks the A string as unsounded, for no obvious
reason.

It doesn't inspire me with confidence ...

"Mark Bluemel"  wrote in message
news:g35r4u$95l$1@aioe.org...
> I'm not much of a mandolin player yet, but...
>
> It suggests an E chord on a mandolin would be helpfully fingered 1224,
> and calls the notes Ab, E, B and Ab. The C7 suggestion contains no C.
>
> The F chord suggestion marks the A string as unsounded, for no obvious
> reason.
>
> It doesn't inspire me with confidence ...

I'm a beginner and most of the chords I found in other chord charts.  I
would appreciate suggestions you may have.

Howard

Howard Knight wrote:
> "Mark Bluemel"  wrote in message
> news:g35r4u$95l$1@aioe.org...
>> I'm not much of a mandolin player yet, but...
>>
>> It suggests an E chord on a mandolin would be helpfully fingered 1224,
>> and calls the notes Ab, E, B and Ab. The C7 suggestion contains no C.
>>
>> The F chord suggestion marks the A string as unsounded, for no obvious
>> reason.
>>
>> It doesn't inspire me with confidence ...
> 
> I'm a beginner and most of the chords I found in other chord charts.  I
> would appreciate suggestions you may have.

I'm also a beginner, but with a lot of previous form for musical
crimes :-)

I'm not well placed to give detailed suggestions. Frankly, if I want a
chord shape for a mandolin, or an open-tuned guitar, or a bouzouki, I'll
generally work one or more out from first principles - it's not
difficult for someone with a working knowledge of music theory...

It's a little foolhardy, IMHO, for a beginner to put up something like 
this on the web - someone has probably done it before, from a position 
of greater knowledge.

For example, a quick Google finds me 
http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl which looks more 
helpful than your set, I'm afraid...

"Mark Bluemel"  wrote in message
news:g35v3l$np6$1@aioe.org...
> It's a little foolhardy, IMHO, for a beginner to put up something like
> this on the web - someone has probably done it before, from a position
> of greater knowledge.
>
> For example, a quick Google finds me
> http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl which looks more
> helpful than your set, I'm afraid...

Foolhardy, perhaps.  But I had fun doing it.  One of the reasons I did this
was because of the user _unfriendly_ online chord charts, like the one you
mentioned above (which btw, also shows the same F chord as mine).  The other
reason was to brush up on my Javascript skills.

Howard

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:38:38 -0700, "Howard Knight"
 wrote:

>"Mark Bluemel"  wrote in message
>news:g35v3l$np6$1@aioe.org...
>> It's a little foolhardy, IMHO, for a beginner to put up something like
>> this on the web - someone has probably done it before, from a position
>> of greater knowledge.
>>
>> For example, a quick Google finds me
>> http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl which looks more
>> helpful than your set, I'm afraid...
>
>Foolhardy, perhaps.  But I had fun doing it.  One of the reasons I did this
>was because of the user _unfriendly_ online chord charts, like the one you
>mentioned above (which btw, also shows the same F chord as mine).  The other
>reason was to brush up on my Javascript skills.
>
>Howard
>

The great thing about the Internet is that you can try this kind of
stuff. If there's any doubt as to whether the chords are perfect, then
just label the thing a beta and live to fix it up another day. :-)

Actually - this makes me think - is there any algorithm for rating the
"fingerability" of different chord shapes? If not, why not?

-- 

Dominic Cronin
Amsterdam

Howard Knight wrote:
> I , wrote in alt.music.bluegrass:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I've been playing around with JavaScript and made this mandolin chord
>> page.  Let me know if you find any bugs, bad chords, or irritations:
> 
> I added a new feature... It now shows the notes of the chords on a musical
> staff:
> 
> http://howardk.moonfall.com/mandolin/
> 
> I hope this is of some use to somebody.
> 
> Howard
> 
> 


Excellent Howard,

Great idea and very useful. Easy to read layout.

-- 

www.myspace.com/peakfiddler
www.peakfiddler.co.uk
www.peakfolk.co.uk

"pcnky"  wrote:

> fwiw, i like the page.  have you considered making
> it a google widget?

Thanks.  To be honest, I hadn't considered making it a widget until you
mentioned it :-)  I'll post something here if I do.

Howard

Howard Knight wrote:
> "Mark Bluemel"  wrote in message
> news:g35v3l$np6$1@aioe.org...
>> It's a little foolhardy, IMHO, for a beginner to put up something like
>> this on the web - someone has probably done it before, from a position
>> of greater knowledge.
>>
>> For example, a quick Google finds me
>> http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch.pl which looks more
>> helpful than your set, I'm afraid...
> 
> Foolhardy, perhaps.  But I had fun doing it.  One of the reasons I did this
> was because of the user _unfriendly_ online chord charts, like the one you
> mentioned above (which btw, also shows the same F chord as mine). 

Not actually the same F chord. Yours specifies damping the A string, the 
other lets it sound...

I'm out of this discussion.

"Howard Knight"  wrote in message 
news:6bm22dF3ca0o8U1@mid.individual.net...
>
> I , wrote in alt.music.bluegrass:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I've been playing around with JavaScript and made this mandolin chord
>> page.  Let me know if you find any bugs, bad chords, or irritations:
>
> I added a new feature... It now shows the notes of the chords on a musical
> staff:
>
> http://howardk.moonfall.com/mandolin/
>
> I hope this is of some use to somebody.
>
Nice little thing, but can't you get it to describe Ab as G#, or Db as C#, 
etc, in those keys that contain sharps? It's weird having all the 'black' 
notes described as flats, even when they're not occurring in flat keys.

Keep up the good work.

ally

"a l l y"  wrote:

> Nice little thing, but can't you get it to describe Ab as G#, or Db as C#,
> etc, in those keys that contain sharps? It's weird having all the 'black'
> notes described as flats, even when they're not occurring in flat keys.

Click the "Sharps" checkbox.  That should convert everything over to sharps.

Howard

"Howard Knight"  wrote in message 
news:6btp7tF3diu4mU1@mid.individual.net...
> "a l l y"  wrote:
>
>> Nice little thing, but can't you get it to describe Ab as G#, or Db as 
>> C#,
>> etc, in those keys that contain sharps? It's weird having all the 'black'
>> notes described as flats, even when they're not occurring in flat keys.
>
> Click the "Sharps" checkbox.  That should convert everything over to 
> sharps.
>
Now why didn't I notice that? Thank you!

ally