Unanswered questions can be submitted to WholeNote in the feedback section. You can also post your question to the FretBuzz forum about WholeNote.

0. Most Common Questions 0.1 Who are you and why are you doing this? 0.2 I don't hear any music. What should I do? 0.3 Does it cost anything to be a member? 0.4 What does the point total next to a member's name mean? 0.5 How can I download the lessons and sound files, or look at them off-line? 0.6 Why is the page cut off when I print a lesson? 0.7 How do I put a picture in my homepage? 0.8 Why can't I see the [homepage, lesson, resource, etc.] that I just posted? 1. General 1.1 What kind of browser do I need? 1.2 Why does clicking the 'Back' button on my browser not always work? 1.3 Why do I sometimes hear music when I refresh the page? 1.4 Why does WholeNote keep requesting to set a cookie? 1.5 Why do I get the script error 'Object does not support this method or property'? 1.6 Why do I get the script error 'SubImg is not defined'? 1.7 Why does the site reload twice when I resize my browser? 1.8 Why do I get the script error 'Unspecified Error'? 1.9 What are some other resources for guitar instruction on the Web? 2. Sound 2.1 Why don't I hear any sound? 2.2 Why don't the music examples sound like a guitar 2.3 Why do I get an 'Importing Movie' dialog whenever I play a musical example? 2.4 How do I stop playback of a musical example? 2.5 Why don't I hear anything when I listen to a musical example with infinite looping? 3. Music Preferences 3.1 What are all the options at the bottom of this page? 3.2 What's a good tempo? 3.3 Why doesn't the tuner work? 3.4 Why are my preferences ignored the next time I return to the site? 4. Membership 4.1 How do I become a member? 4.2 What are the benefits of being a member? 4.3 What information do I need to provide? 4.4 What if I've forgotten my username or password? 4.5 What is the number that appears next to my name? 4.6 How do I create my homepage? 5. Lessons 5.1 Can I view the lesson directory according to certain parameters? 5.2 Can I search the lesson directory according to certain keywords? 5.3 Can I preview the music from a lesson? 5.4 How do I read the music in a lesson page? 5.5 Why does the tablature sometimes contain missing parts? 5.6 Why doesn't the tablature light up in sync with the music? 5. Lesson Authoring 6.1 How do I make lessons? 6.2 What is WholeNote's Lesson Builder? 6.3 How do I create musical examples for my lessons? 6.4 How do I change/update the musical examples or text in my lesson pages? 6.5 Why don't I hear the guitar part from my groove in my lesson page? 6.6 Why don't I hear anything when I listen to a lesson page with infinite looping? 6.7 How do I make my lessons public/private? 6.8 How can I look at my unpublished lessons? 6.9 What if my lesson doesn't match any of the listed styles? 7. Composer 7.1 What is the WholeNote Composer? 7.2 How do I get the Shockwave Plug-In or ActiveX Control? 7.3 How do I create musical examples with WholeNote's Composer? 7.4 Why do I only hear the last few measures of my sequence? 8. Groove Builder 8.1 What is the Groove Builder? 8.2 How do I enter chords? 8.3 How do I play back the groove? 8.4 Is there a way to change the arrangement of my groove? 8.5 Can I change the sound or make it faster/slower? 8.6 How can I save my grooves? 8.7 How can I use my groove in a lesson? 8.8 Is there on-line help for the Groove Builder? 8.9 Why do I get a script error upon entering the Groove Builder? 8.10 Why is my chord entered twice each time I select it? 8.11 Why is nothing updating when I click to insert a chord? 8.12 Why don't I hear anything when I create a long groove with infinite looping? 9. Resources 9.1 What is a Resource? 9.2 How do I submit a resource? 9.3 Can I search the resource directory? 10. FretBuzz 10.1 How do I post messages or respond? 10.2 Can I search the forums according to certain keywords? 10.3 Can I view the entire thread of a particular discussion? 11. Basics 11.1 How is a particular chord, scale, or arpeggio constructed? 11.2 Why are the chord, scale, and arpeggio charts oriented from left to right? 11.3 What do the icons above a chart mean? 11.4 What does an inversion of a scale or arpeggio mean? 11.5 Why do some chords, scales, or arpeggios have strange fingerings? 11.6 Why is my favorite chord, scale, or arpeggio not in the database?

0. Most Common Questions

0.1 - Who are you and why are you doing this? You can find out more about the creators of WholeNote in the About section of the site. Suffice to say that we are a group of musicians who want to provide a way for you to share your knowledge of the guitar with other aspiring virtuosos. Return to the Top 0.2 - I don't hear any music. What should I do? Please go to our interactive sound test, which will help diagnose any sound problems you may be experiencing. Return to the Top 0.3 - Does it cost anything to be a member? No. All services at WholeNote are free. Return to the Top 0.4 - What does the point total next to a member's name mean? WholeNote uses a point system to help identify those members who contribute to our community. The higher the number, the more prominent the member. For more information on how this total is calculated, look at our point system page. Return to the Top 0.5 - How can I download the lessons and sound files, or look at them off-line? Unfortunately, the interactive lessons at WholeNote are designed to be viewed and heard on-line. This is what allows us to provide customizable music playback for you, which we feel to be of the upmost importance when trying to learn a musical concept. For sound files, they basically do not exist until you hit the "Play" button. Thus, there is no way for us to provide the capability to download the tab or sound files or to look at them off-line. For this same reason, we are unable to provide "printer-friendly" versions of the lessons. Return to the Top 0.6 - Why is the page cut off when I print a lesson? Try changing the layout to "landscape' in Print Properties or Page Setup for your browser, or change the page layout to be wider. Return to the Top 0.7 - How do I put a picture in my homepage? If you'd like to show your picture in your homepage, you must first find some free web space on the Internet, upload your picture to their server, and then link to it using our homepage form. Click here for step-by-step instructions on how to do this. Return to the Top 0.8 - Why can't I see the [homepage, lesson, resource, etc.] that I just posted? If you're having problems seeing new content that you've just posted, the reason is because of the current settings for your browser's cache. Web browsers often store pages on your hard drive to avoid having to download the same information over and over again. Thus, some of the pages of this site may have been "cached" by your browser, such that you weren't looking at the most current version. Every browser has a setting under Preferences or Options that asks how often to check for newer versions of web pages. Common options are: 'Never', 'Once a Session', and 'Every Time'. On a site like WholeNote where the content changes pretty dynamically, you can get versions of pages that have been 'saved' by your computer instead of the most current one if your computer hasn't checked to see if there is a newer version. Thus, the most optimal setting for this site is to check for newer versions 'Every Time'. Note: If you're on a PC, you can often force a 'refresh' of a page by right-clicking in the main frame (i.e. not the one with the sound controls at the bottom), and selecting 'Refresh" from the menu. This should provide you with the up-to-date content. Return to the Top

1. General

1.1 - What kind of browser do I need? WholeNote currently supports Netscape Navigator 3.x/4.x and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x on the PC and the Macintosh. WholeNote has not been tested with AOL's browser, nor with any browser in the UNIX environment. For a more comprehensive description, check out our browser requirements page. Return to the Top 1.2 - Why does clicking the 'Back' button on my browser not always work? When a musical example is played or stopped, a new page with the music is loaded into a frame in your browser. Thus, when you click the "Back" button on your browser, those frames will be referenced first, and not the main page of the site. Thus, moving to a previous page may require a few extra clicks on the "Back" button. Return to the Top 1.3 - Why do I sometimes hear music when I refresh the page? When a musical example is played, a new page with the music is loaded into a frame in your browser. Thus, if the music has stopped playing, but the page is re-loaded when the "Refresh" button on your browser is clicked, the music will play once again. You can stop music from playing at any time by hitting the "Stop The Music" button in the bottom frame of this page. Return to the Top 1.4 - Why does WholeNote keep requesting to set a cookie? WholeNote uses cookies to remember your music playback preferences located at the bottom of this page, such that the next time you return to the site, your preferences will automatically be restored to their values from your last visit. If you repeatedly get a dialog asking if it is OK for WholeNote to set a cookie, you can disable this dialog by setting your browser preferences to accept all cookies. In Netscape, this is set in Edit:Preferences:Advanced:Cookies, while in Internet Explorer, it is located in View:Internet Options:Advanced:Security:Cookies. Return to the Top 1.5 - Why do I get the script error 'Object does not support this method or property'? Occasionally, scripting errors will occur at the WholeNote site due to differences in how certain browsers deal with Javascript. If this occurs, simply choose the option of "Continue to Run Scripts in this Page". If this should happen repeatedly, try holding the Shift key while clicking your browser "Reload" button. If all else fails, simply quit your browser, and relaunch it. Return to the Top 1.6 - Why do I get the script error 'SubImg is not defined'? Netscape users who have resized their browser may encounter a complete reloading of the frameset with the home page, regardless of what page you were looking at. If this happens, JavaScript errors may occur. To fix this, simply hit the "Reload" button on your browser. Return to the Top 1.7 - Why does the site reload twice when I resize my browser? Due to a bug in Netscape, Netscape users who have resized their browser will experience a double re-loading of the site, and the current page may or may not reload. If this occurs, we suggest that you determine the optimal viewing size for your browser, and then not resize again. Return to the Top 1.8 - Why do I get the script error 'Unspecified Error'? This error will occur when you click to play a musical example, and you click again before it has had time to download. Some examples (especially longer ones with a high loop count) may take a few seconds to download, so please be patient when playing musical examples. Return to the Top 1.9 - What are some other resources for guitar instruction on the Web? You can find an extensive list of instructional sites, books, and other information in our resources section. In addition, any member of WholeNote can suggest their own favorite on-line instructional resources. Return to the Top

2. Sound

2.1 - Why don't I hear any sound? All sound examples use MIDI in order to be heard. This requires your computer to have a soundcard on a PC or Quicktime Musical Instruments on the Macintosh. Our browser requirements page provides a more detailed list of requirements in order to hear sound. Also, check out our interactive sound test which can help you determine the potential fix for most sound problems. Return to the Top 2.2 - Why don't the music examples sound like a guitar? The musical examples use the sounds in your soundcard, so they will only sound as realistic as the MIDI synthesizer in your computer. WholeNote has provided a selection of six instrument sounds from which to choose (Acoustic Nylon, Acoustic Steel-String, Electric Jazz, Electric Clean, Overdriven, and Distortion). This option allows you to choose the instrument which sounds best for your computer setup. Return to the Top 2.3 - Why do I get an 'Importing Movie' dialog whenever I play a musical example? Netscape Navigator on a Macintosh using the LiveAudio plug-in needs to convert its MIDI data for use with Apple's Quicktime Musical Instruments in order to play MIDI music. Thus, whenever a musical example is played, this conversion needs to occur, and thus the 'Importing Movie' dialog box appears. This dialog can be avoided if you opt to use a MIDI plug-in that has its own software synthesizer, such as Beatnik. We do NOT recommend Apple's Quicktime 3.0 Plug-In for Netscape on a Macintosh, as there is a bug in the way it handles embedded MIDI files. However, the Quicktime 2.0 Plug-In is fine. Return to the Top 2.4 - How do I stop playback of a musical example? You can stop playback of any musical example at any time by simply clicking on the "Stop the Music" button , which is the right-most icon in the lower left-hand corner of this page. Return to the Top 2.5 - Why don't I hear anything when I listen to a musical example with infinite looping? Long musical examples (especially those with grooves) with looping set to "4 times" or "infinite" can generate a lot of MIDI data, and some browsers will not play MIDI files that are above a certain size (100-200K). If this occurs, simply choose a low loop count in your playback preferences and re-play the musical example. Return to the Top

3. Music Preferences

3.1 - What are all the options at the bottom of this page? An in-depth explanation of all these attribiutes can be found in our Preferences page. In general, WholeNote has provided several utilities that are available to you at all times. They include the ability to "bookmark" any page (available to members only), to e-mail any page on the site to a friend, a virtual guitar tuner, a metronome, and a global "Stop the Music" button, which will stop any musical example that is currently playing. In addition, WholeNote has provided a way for you to customize the playback of all musical examples on the site. 'Tempo' allows you to change the speed at which an example plays back. 'Sound' lets you change the MIDI instrument sound used to play back the example. 'Click' is used to add a click track to any musical example, where 'None' means no click track, 'Start' means count off one measure before the example starts playing but don't click during the music, and 'Always' means count off a measure and click throughout the example. 'Loop' allows you to loop the example the specified number of times. Return to the Top 3.2 - What's a good tempo? WholeNote allows tempos in the range of 20 beats per minute to 360 beats per minute. Most examples will range from 100-200 bpm. In addition, each musical example from a lesson page or groove has a suggested tempo listed at the top of the page, which acts as a guide to how the example is best heard. Return to the Top 3.3 - Why doesn't the tuner work? In some cases, launching the tuner causes certain scripting errors to occur. This is an unfortunate side effect of our method of playing MIDI in your browser. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Return to the Top 3.4 - Why are my preferences ignored the next time I return to the site? WholeNote uses cookies to remember your music playback preferences located at the bottom of this page, such that the next time you return to the site, your preferences will automatically be restored to their values from your last visit. If you have disabled cookies in your browser, or you have deleted your cookies since your last WholeNote visit, your preferences will be lost, and will be set to the default values upon you next visit. You can inspect how your browser deals with cookies in Netscape by going to Edit:Preferences:Advanced:Cookies, while in Internet Explorer, cookie preferences are located in View:Internet Options:Advanced:Security:Cookies. Return to the Top

4. Membership

4.1 - How do I become a member? You can become a member by simply registering. WholeNote's member services are free. The only reason we require registration is to help you keep track of all your creations on the site. Return to the Top 4.2 - What are the benefits of being a member? WholeNote members can create lessons, grooves, resources, their own home page, post forum messages, along with a variety of other benefits. Return to the Top 4.3 - What information do I need to provide? To register, WholeNote requires you to choose a login name and password, and to supply your name, e-mail, and zip code. You can provide more information if you like and can modify this information at any time. Return to the Top 4.4 - What if I've forgotten my login name or password? You can obtain your login name and password simply by filling in your e-mail address in the text field in our forgotten member info page and clicking the "Send Info" button. Your login name and password will be automatically e-mailed to you. Return to the Top 4.5 - What is the number that appears next to my name? WholeNote uses a point system to help identify those members who contribute to our community. The higher the number, the more prominent the member. For more information on how this total is calculated, look at our point system page. Return to the Top 4.6 - How do I create my homepage? Our homepage builder prompts you for any relevant information you'd like to include: a title, an opening paragraph, a picture you've posted on the Web, your musical influences, etc., and automatically generates your homepage for you, including links to anything you've created at WholeNote. You can also include HTML in your homepage to customize it to your liking. Return to the Top

5. Lessons

5.1 - Can I view the complete lesson directory according to certain parameters? The lesson directory can be sorted by lesson name, author, style, skill level, date, or popularity simply by selecting the parameter by which to sort in the select box located at the top of the complete lesson directory page. The parameter of interest will then be highlighted in each lesson entry. Return to the Top 5.2 - Can I search the lesson directory according to certain keywords? The lesson directory can be searched by simply entering your keywords in the text field at the top of the lesson search page and clicking the search button. Search results consist of matches of keywords with a lesson's name, author, description, or lesson text. Return to the Top 5.3 - Can I preview the music from a lesson? Yes, you can hear the sound example from the first page of a lesson by clicking the speaker icon associated with any lesson entry on the site. Return to the Top 5.4 - How do I read the music in a lesson page? An explanation of tablature on the WholeNote site can be found here. In general, all musical examples from a lesson are visually represented by tablature, which shows the string and fret position for each note that is played in the example. In addition, the notes are spaced in accordance with their location in the measure, and their duration. Return to the Top 5.5 - Why does the tablature sometimes contain missing parts? Occasionally, there may be missing parts in the tablature due to inconsistent loading of tablature images by your browser. If this causes a problem, simply reload the lesson page. Return to the Top 5.6 - Why doesn't the tablature light up in sync with the music? This type of display is not possible without the use of a special plug-in. However, future versions of the site may include this type of functionality. Return to the Top

6. Lesson Authoring

6.1 - How do I make lessons? You can make lessons and become an author by registering. This will allow us to help you keep track of your lessons and allow us to publish what you'd like to be public, and keep your other works private. You can then use the WholeNote Composer and Groove Builder to create musical examples, and our Lesson Builder authoring tool to assemble your lesson pages. There are also other numerous benefits to membership. Return to the Top 6.2 - What is WholeNote's Lesson Builder? The WholeNote Lesson Builder is a Web-based wizard that allows you to easily specify the music examples and accompanying text of your lesson pages. Inside of the Lesson Builder (and Page Builder), you can create, edit, preview, and delete your lesson pages. For more information, check out our Visual Overview of the Lesson Builder. Return to the Top 6.3 - How do I create musical examples for my lessons? There are two kinds of music that you can include in your lessons: sequences and grooves. Sequences are created with the the WholeNote Composer and appear as tablature in your lessons. Grooves are created with the WholeNote Groove Builder and appear as chord charts in your lessons. A lesson can contain 1 or 2 sequences, and 1 groove. You create your sequences and grooves separately, and then associate them with a particular lesson page using the WholeNote Lesson Builder authoring tool. Return to the Top 6.4 - How do I change/update the musical examples or text in my lesson pages? Each lesson that you create can be modified at any time. When you click on the name of any lesson in your My Music, that lesson loads into the Lesson Builder authoring tool, allowing you to change any of the text or music associated with any page of that lesson. In addition, if you click on the 'Edit' link that is provided for each lesson in your lesson list in My Music, you can edit the name, description, keywords, skill level, style, and published status of that particular lesson, or delete that lesson, if you prefer. Return to the Top 6.5 - Why don't I hear the guitar part from my groove in my lesson page? If your lesson page contains two sequences and a groove, due to the lack of MIDI channels available to play three simultaneous guitar parts, the guitar part from the groove is dropped. Return to the Top 6.6 - Why don't I hear anything when I listen to a lesson page with infinite looping? Lesson pages that contain long musical examples (especially those with grooves) with looping set to "4 times" or "infinite" can generate a lot of MIDI data, and some browsers will not play MIDI files that are above a certain size (100-200K). If this occurs, simply choose a low loop count in your playback preferences and re-play the lesson page. Return to the Top 6.7 - How do I make my lessons public/private? Each lesson has a published/private flag that can be changed at any time. This flag can be changed by going to My Music, and clicking on the 'Edit' link that is provided for each lesson that you've created. Any lesson that is published will be listed in the lesson directory and will be available to any visitors to the site. Lessons that are private are viewable only by you. Return to the Top 6.8 - How can I look at my unpublished lessons? Each lesson that you create, whether public or private, can be previewed by you at any time. You can look at any of your lessons by clicking on the () link associated with each lesson in My Music. Your lesson will then appear exactly as if it were published. Return to the Top 6.9 - What if my lesson doesn't match any of the listed styles? Unfortunately, some editorial decisions had to be made concerning how lessons are categorized, and sometimes, certain music is not so easy to classify. If this occurs, please choose the style which seems the most appropriate, or when all else fails, simply choose "Other". Return to the Top

7. Composer

7.1 - What is the WholeNote Composer? The WholeNote Composer is a Web-based music sequencer created with Macromedia's Shockwave technology that is specially geared toward the creation of guitar music. It allows you to easily create licks, lessons, songs, and exercises. Anything you create with Composer can be viewed as tablature and heard as MIDI. In addition, you can include your Composer sequences in an on-line lesson using our Lesson Builder authoring tool. Return to the Top 7.2 - How do I get the Shockwave Plug-In or ActiveX Control? If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer on a PC, the Shockwave ActiveX Control will automatically download and install into your browser if you have your security for the Internet Zone set to Medium. Your security settings can be viewed and changed under View:Internet Options:Security. Please allow approximately 5 minutes for the control to download and install with a 28.8 Kbps modem. For Netscape users, you can obtain the Shockwave Plug-In at Macromedia's web site. Return to the Top 7.3 - How do I create musical sequences with WholeNote's Composer? The WholeNote Composer essentially operates the same way as any MIDI sequencer, allowing you to define what events happen at certain times in your musical example. Using Composer, you can easily put picks, mutes, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and vibrato into your music. You just decide where and when you want it to occur. For more in-depth information, check out our on-line guide to using the WholeNote Composer or take the Composer tutorial. Return to the Top 7.4 - Why do I only hear the last few measures of my sequence? Playback starts from your current editing point and continues until the end of the sequence is reached. Thus, if your sequence is 8 measures long, and you are currently editing measure 5, then playback will include measures 5-8. If you want to hear the entire sequence, go to the first measure of your sequence, and then hit 'Play'. Return to the Top

8. Groove Builder

8.1 - What is the Groove Builder? The Groove Builder lets you create simple arrangements of chord progressions quickly. You can then play along with these progressions to easily practice what you've learned on the site. You can also use it to quickly compose new ideas for your own tunes with a few simple clicks. You can also include them as backing tracks or the main music in an on-line lesson using our Lesson Builder authoring tool. Return to the Top 8.2 - How do I enter chords? You can enter chords into your groove by selected the radio button pertaining to the root of your chord and its quality (i.e. "D" and "Major"). This selection will be automatically inserted into the groove, and the current slot to be edited will be advanced. If your desired chord is not a "Major" or "Minor", find it in the drop-down menu, and select the root of your desired chord in that row of radio buttons. Return to the Top 8.3 - How do I play back the groove? There is a Play button and a Stop button, which you can use to control groove playback. In addition, you can select a subset of measures to be played. Simply use the drop-down menus located next to these buttons to select the start measure and end measure to use for playback. Return to the Top 8.4 - Is there a way to change the arrangement of my groove? WholeNote has provided a set of pre-determined arrangement formats. You can apply any format to any chord progession you've entered by simply choosing a different format in the format drop-down menu, and hitting the play button. For more information, check out our Visual Overview of the Groove Builder. Return to the Top 8.5 - Can I change the sound or make it faster/slower? The Groove Builder uses the playback preferences located in the bottom of your browser window (i.e. tempo, sound, click, and loop), so you can speed up or slow down your groove, use a different guitar sound, add a click track, or loop it. Return to the Top 8.6 - How can I save my grooves? Members can save their grooves by using the Member Groove Builder. You specify a title and at the same time, create it. If you decide to use it in one of your lessons, then your groove will appear in the lesson in its published form. For non-members, the only way to save your groove is to e-mail it to yourself or to your friends. In the upper-right hand corner of the Public Groove Builder page, there is a link to the "Email this to a friend" page. This page allows you to email the URL for this groove to yourself or anyone else who might be interested. By clicking on the emailed link, you or your friends will automatically be taken to the Public Groove Builder, pre-loaded with your groove, and ready to go. Return to the Top 8.7 - How can I use my groove in a lesson? Members can include their grooves as backing tracks or as the main music in their lessons. Refer to our Visual Overview of Lesson Authoring to learn how easy this is. Return to the Top 8.8 - Is there on-line help for the Groove Builder? Yes. In the upper-left hand corner of the Groove Builder, there is a button to launch a popup help window that you can use for reference when creating grooves with the Groove Builder. Return to the Top 8.9 - Why do I get a script error upon entering the Groove Builder? Occasionally, scripting errors will occur at the WholeNote site due to differences in how certain browsers deal with Javascript. If this occurs, simply choose the option of "Continue to Run Scripts in this Page". Return to the Top 8.10 - Why is my chord entered twice each time I select it? With certain older browsers, selected chords may be entered twice into the groove. This is an unfortunate side-effect of how the Groove Builder functions. If this occurs, you should download the latest browser from either Microsoft or Netscape. Return to the Top 8.11 - Why is nothing updating when I click to insert a chord? Make sure that you can see the frame below the input section of the Groove Builder. This section is where the chords for the groove are displayed, and should appear as you start to insert chords or rests. If you are having problems viewing this section (and this may occur with low-resolution monitors), simply grab the frame handle above the groove display, and drag it upwards. You should now see the chord progression that comprises your groove. Note: IE4.0 users on a Mac will not be able to drag this frame, due to a bug in the browser. For more information on this bug, consult our known bugs & issues page. Return to the Top 8.12 - Why don't I hear anything when I create a long groove with infinite looping? Long grooves with looping set to "4 times" or "infinite" can generate a lot of MIDI data, and some browsers will not play MIDI files that are above a certain size (100-200K). If this occurs, simply choose a low loop count in your playback preferences and re-play the groove. Return to the Top

9. Resources

9.1 - What is a Resource? A resource is a website, a book, a recording, a video, or any other media that you find to be valuable in your pursuit of musical excellence. You can recommend these resources to the site so that others can check out what you find to be interesting. Return to the Top 9.2 - How do I submit a resource? Only registered members can submit resources to the Resource Directory. To create a resource, use our New Resource page and provide a title, a URL (if applicable), a category to which it belongs, and a short description. Your resource will instantly appear in our directory. You can also modify its information at any time. Return to the Top 9.3 - Can I search the resource directory? The resource directory can be searched by simply entering your keywords in the text field at the top of the resources search page and clicking the search button. Search results consist of matches of keywords with a resource's name, author, or description. Return to the Top

10. FretBuzz

10.1 - How do I post messages or respond? Everyone can view the FretBuzz discussion forums, but only registered members can post or respond. Members can use the New Message link inside a particular forum to post a new message. When viewing a particular message, members can use the Respond link to post a response. Return to the Top 10.2 - Can I search the forums according to certain keywords? All FretBuzz forums can be searched by simply entering your keywords in the text field at the top of the FretBuzz search page and clicking the search button. Search results consist of matches of keywords with a message's subject, author, or text. Return to the Top 10.3 - Can I view the entire thread of a particular discussion? Yes. Every FretBuzz message has several links associated with it, including the ability to respond, to look at the previous or next message in the thread, to look at the entire thread, and to e-mail it to a friend who might be interested in that particular forum posting. Return to the Top

11. Basics

11.1 - How is a particular chord, scale, or arpeggio constructed? All of these musical devices are constructed from scale degrees. For example, a major chord is constructed using a root (R), a major third (3), and a perfect fifth (5). You can examine the construction of any of these devices in more detail in the Theory Charts section of the site. Return to the Top 11.2 - Why are the chord, scale, and arpeggio charts oriented from left to right? Traditionally, chord charts have been drawn with strings moving higher in pitch from left to right, and frets moving higher in pitch from top to bottom, with the nut at the top. WholeNote disagrees with this orientation, since this is not how you look at the fingerboard while you are playing. The way a guitarist sees the fingerboard during performance is with frets moving higher in pitch from left to right, and strings moving higher in pitch from bottom to top. This orientation is also consistent with tablature. Of course, this also assumes that you are right-handed, so for those left-handed players, we apologize. Return to the Top 11.3 - What do the icons above a chart mean? Each chart contains three icons above it. The left-hand speaker icon allows you to hear the chart according to your playback preferences (tempo,sound,click,loop). The other two icons allow you to cross-reference this chart against the other two remaining devices. For example, if you are checking out a particular voicing for a C Major 6 chord, you can find out which scales and arpeggios sound good over this chord, and which inversions of these scales and arpeggios overlap this particular chord voicing. Return to the Top 11.4 - What does an inversion of a scale or arpeggio mean? An inversion simply means that the scale or arpeggio is not started from the root, but from some other note in the collection. Thus, if you play a C Major scale, but start from the 'D', we call this 'first' inversion. If you start from the 'E', this is 'second' inversion, and so on. Return to the Top 11.5 - Why do some chords, scales, or arpeggios have strange fingerings? Fingering is definitely a matter of taste, and all guitarists finger things differently. In this case, we've tried to include the most common fingering for each entry, but please do not regard this as the only way to play a particular entry. Return to the Top 11.6 - Why is my favorite chord, scale, or arpeggio not in the database? WholeNote has tried to include as many chords, scales, and arpeggios as possible, but it's very difficult to cover all conceivable possibilities. If there's something that you feel is missing, please submit it to WholeNote on the feedback page. Return to the Top

© 1999-2010 eTonal Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.  WholeNote is a registered trademark of eTonal Media, Inc. Please read our Privacy Statement and the Terms and Conditions under which this service is provided to you. Thanks for spending time with us at WholeNote.com. Check out ActiveMusician.com, FunkyKids.com and guitareffects.net as well.