Music Theory Games | Learn Notes on Guitar

Tab Warrior: Journey to Fretopia is now available for the iPhone. Go to iTunes and get started mastering the fretboard the fun way!

Tab Warrior on iPhone

About 8 years ago I wrote my first video game for flash. It was a space invaders style game called Tab Warrior. Really I wrote it just to learn how to write a game, but rather than the usual spaceship I decided to use a guitar shaped ship (since I was planning on writing guitar games, why not?) The enemies I made shaped like picks and I added the evil Tab Monster!

Fast forward to 2012 and I’ve written about 20 games both for the web and iPhone. When thinking about creating a new fretboard game I decided to write my first sequel: Tab Warrior: Journey to Fretopia. Unlike the original, Journey to Fretopia truly is a journey. It teaches you as you play. Many of the games on this site quiz you, but Tab Warrior: Journey to Fretopia teaches. It assumes you know nothing about music theory, and  takes you on a journey to learn all the notes on the guitar neck. Hope its as fun as the original, and infinitely more educational! Boldly go where no guitar player has gone before…read music!

Woody's Music Theory Adventure

GuitarGames.net is proud to announce the release of our newest music theory game: Woody’s Music Theory Adventure! It is the first game that not only quizzes, but teaches you music theory as you play. We tested it on non-musicians, and by the end they knew the musical alphabet, sharps, flats, whole-steps, half-steps, the formula for major scales, and how to construct them. It’s a great game for kids or adults new to music. More info here or play it now!

Upcoming Webinar: Ear Training – How to Learn Guitar Faster  Oct 22, 2011 1pm EST (Sign Up)

A Startling Discovery

I’ve been teaching guitar to children for many years. They were the original inspiration for the games on this site. The challenge was, how do I get kids excited about music theory and ear training? Fast forward five years. I’m beginning to see some startling results. Namely this: Students who work on theory and ear training learn to play the guitar faster.

This was an amazing discovery for me. Yes, I always knew that learning music theory and ear training was important, but I was told that reading music and traditional methods of learning were slower than the tab approach to learning guitar.

I have had several amazing experiences recently that have turned this idea on its head. What I found was that students who played Woody Says (an ear training game) frequently, have the ability to hum a note and instantly find it on the guitar. Like most students they would get to a point in a song where they played a wrong note or forgot the next note. But, unlike the average student hunting for the next note, they would hum the missing note and wham! They were able to play it immediately.

Because of this connection between sound and fingers these students learned faster than the students who didn’t play the games. I came to this realization: Students who have connected the sound of music to the locations on the guitar learn music faster.

I have a student who can sing a melody and name the finger numbers needed on the spot. How? Woody Says and Ear Training!

It Can Work For You Too

Ear training and music theory can have the same effect on your guitar (or bass) playing. You can learn to play guitar with less struggle. Sound and the fretboard can become one reality instead of two separate worlds. The games on this site can have this effect on your playing.

To jump start your journey into ear training I’m putting together a series of online webinars (classes) on ear training.

• The first webinar will focus on interval ear training. Even if you’ve no idea what an interval is, you’ll do just fine. I’ll also introduce Woody Says and get you started on it.
• The second webinar will focus on the musical alphabet, half and whole-steps, scales, and intervals. These are the essentials of music theory, and what you use 90% of the time. I will also cover playing intervals on the guitar.
• The third webinar will tie the ear training and the music theory together. This is where amazing things start to happen, and you’ll start to see your abilities take flight! I’ll finish up with how to play Woody Says in blind fold mode, the ultimate challenge.

If you are interested in learning the guitar faster sign up for the webinar today! Click here to register. The first webinar will take place October 22, 2011, at 1 pm (EST). The webinar is free to GuitarGames.net members, but limited to 25 students.

Sep. 24, 2011 6PM (EST) – Improve your rhythm and understand musical notation, attend this month’s webinar at GuitarGames.net. Whether you don’t know your quarter notes from your eighths or can’t tap along to a polka, I am here to help. We’ll cover the following:

• Reading Rhythm Notation
• Common Counting Pitfalls
• How a Metronome can Make You a Rhythm Master
• Simple & Compound Meter
• Advanced Rhythms – Sixteenths, Triplets, Super-Triplets, and more

The webinar will take place this Saturday September 24th at 6 PM EST (3PM PST). The webinar is free, To attend, please contact William Wilson and include the words “Rhythm Webinar” in your subject line.

Update! Thanks to all of you who attended the webinar, if you missed it there is a recording at: http://www.instantpresenter.com/guitargames

photo by DVIDSHUBS

This Saturday, September 10, 2011, GuitarGames.net will host a one day competition for its game Birds of Fretopia. Starting at 12AM (PST) the scores for Birds of Fretopia will be erased. The competition will last until 8PM (PST) the same day. The person with the high score at the end of the competition will win a $40 gift certificate to Amazon.com! The competition is open to everyone.

Over the next week, tips will be sent out via Twitter and Facebook to help contestants prepare for the competition. Stay tuned and may the smartest guitarist win!

This Friday, September 2nd, 2011 at 6pm EST (3pm PST) William Wilson will be hosting a free webinar on the notes of the guitar fretboard. In it William will discuss the three fretboard landmarks, the logic behind the fretboard, and resources that will help students learn to read music on the guitar. The webinar is open to the public, but limited to 25 attendees. To attend, please contact William and include the words “Fretboard Webinar” in your subject line.

William Wilson is the creator of GuitarGames.net and author of Guitar Games: Learn Guitar. Read Music. Fight Space Monsters. He teaches guitar and performs throughout Southern California.

The New Fret Tester!

The first game I created was Tab Warrior, probably the worst game ever created. Second I wrote Note Fish, which is still a valuable and fun game (My oldest two sons love it!). Then I created Fret Tester, some 5 years ago! After releasing Fret Tester for iPhone just this last June, I thought it was about time I redid it.

I think you’ll find the new improvements will help you master the fretboard faster than ever. I made the following changes:

• Audio playback of the notes
• Custom Tuning
• Left Hand mode
• Show your speed at finding notes as beats per minute (like a metronome)
• Added five-string bass and Mandolin
• Combined Guitar Flash Cards, Fret Tester, and Fret Tester Bass into one game.
• Added new “Find Notes” mode
• Added new “Notes on the Staff” mode
• Made game larger and easier to use
• Added Timed mode of play
• Added fretboard charts for all four instruments

I’m sure there are one or two more, but you get the idea.

For those of you who may miss our old friends Guitar Flash Cards, Fret Tester Bass, and the original Fret Tester they’ll still be available. Have fun!

Fret Tester for iPhone

GuitarGames.net is proud to announce the release of Fret Tester for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Fret Tester for iOS combines the original Fret Tester with Guitar Flash Cards, as well as many new features. These include:

• 2 new modes of play: Find Notes and Notes on the Staff
• Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, and Five-String Bass (All with playback).
• Custom Tuning
• Left-Hand Mode
• HD Graphics
• Track speed as well as fretboard progress
• and more!

For more info check out our Fret Tester for iPhone page.

Rhythm Trainer in Progress

Even though it’s not quite finished, I wanted to introduce the new Rhythm Game. Two reasons for the early introduction.

1. Illicit feedback as it is developed as well as find bugs earlier in development.
2. Even though it’s not done, it already is useful and should benefit students!

The game can be played here:

Rhythm Game

Here is a list of things still in progress:

• Presets
• User presets
• Option for two lines simultaneously
• Support for microphone input (I’ve done the initial testing on this and so far so good).
• Option to click / tap (for touchscreen devices)
• More rhythmic choices
• Varying degrees of difficulty
• Instruction page
• Navigation and replay controls for redoing an exercise

Is there anything I missed? If you have a suggestion on features or a bug to report please do so in the comments below. Thanks!