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Guitar Scale Posters


Bytrix

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I've been thinking for a while about creating some sort of posters (mainly for my brother as he does not seem to be interested at all in learning theory), but I never had time to get into it.

I have alot of theory books, and a few posters. The posters I prefer because I can relax and play while looking at them (instead of trying to find a position hunched over a book). So over the past few days I've put together a little script (I'm a web developer) to create a few posters I can print out here at work (we have inhouse Digital Printing equipment for A3). My brother now has 4 on his wall, and I'm starting to think I should upgrade this script to add as many features as I can and possibly release it on it's on website for any other aspiring guitarists who want a few reference charts.

Here's a link to the script, use the 3 part form to create a poster (A3 size @ 300DPI with 150pixels bleed):

http://bytrix.org/music/resources/guitar-posters/

I do plan on adding alot more to it, so far I've only added the tunings and scales I use most often. Please feel free to leave feedback (or use the email link on the page) and suggestions. Or maybe you have ideas for improvements or other posters I could produce?

I look forward to reading any comments you may have. (and if there are any errors feel free to point them out and give me a slap)

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I've been thinking for a while about creating some sort of posters (mainly for my brother as he does not seem to be interested at all in learning theory), but I never had time to get into it.

I have alot of theory books, and a few posters. The posters I prefer because I can relax and play while looking at them (instead of trying to find a position hunched over a book). So over the past few days I've put together a little script (I'm a web developer) to create a few posters I can print out here at work (we have inhouse Digital Printing equipment for A3). My brother now has 4 on his wall, and I'm starting to think I should upgrade this script to add as many features as I can and possibly release it on it's on website for any other aspiring guitarists who want a few reference charts.

Here's a link to the script, use the 3 part form to create a poster (A3 size @ 300DPI with 150pixels bleed):

http://www.bytrix.org/poster/poster.php

I do plan on adding alot more to it, so far I've only added the tunings and scales I use most often. Please feel free to leave feedback (or use the email link on the page) and suggestions. Or maybe you have ideas for improvements or other posters I could produce?

I look forward to reading any comments you may have. (and if there are any errors feel free to point them out and give me a slap)

you can add simple dot 'inlay' so it's easier to know "where you are"

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you can add simple dot 'inlay' so it's easier to know "where you are"

Yeah I probably will add that. The only problem is I primarily play 7 strings, and the 3, 5, 7, 9 dots can sometimes be covered up by the notes on the D string... I guess I'll do it anyway. What I actually have done is a little subtle though, the fret lines where you would usually see markers are slightly thicker than the others.

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you can add simple dot 'inlay' so it's easier to know "where you are"

Yeah I probably will add that. The only problem is I primarily play 7 strings, and the 3, 5, 7, 9 dots can sometimes be covered up by the notes on the D string... I guess I'll do it anyway. What I actually have done is a little subtle though, the fret lines where you would usually see markers are slightly thicker than the others.

Whatever you do, don't stop, this thing is awesome!!

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hehe. Just be careful for now though, PHP does not have a function for changing the DPI flag in the files, so if you open them in photoshop or any image editor that uses the DPI it'll say they're a few metres wide (while the actual pixel dimensions should work out correct at 300dpi).

I'm working on that though and looking at adding options for people with 'standard' printers like 150dpi.

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That's fine, I only put the bubbles around the notes within the scale (including those at the nut). The other notes in the tuning are displayed only for reference and don't show bubles because those notes are not in the selected scales.

[edit]

I've added more tunings and string options (I know there are still alot more to add). I also fixed the problem with it not saving the dpi in the header of the created image.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little update; I'm working on adding more configuration options and features so people can further customize the posters created, here's a list of recent additions:

  • Select the scales and modes to display - I've added boxes from which you can select the scales to display (the format of the posters is still limited to 6 per page but I'm working on automatic resizing if 7, or 8 scales are selected, or if less strings are displayed and there is more space).
  • Customize the colours used - I've added options for changing the colours displayed on the notes and also the background and fretboard areas. Took me a while to write the javascript colour chooser which I'm quite proud of.
  • Re-organised the page to be a little easier to use. I'm still working on more changes to make the user experience even better.
  • Here's the link again: http://bytrix.org/music/resources/guitar-posters/, after creating a poster you will be given the options to customize.

Please leave feedback and comments, I'm going to be working on this more over the weekend and appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

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You're doing great man! I'll give you my quick see.

1. KEYS: There is no key of D#, The key is Eb. As well as F#, it's Gb, And G#, it's Ab, and A#, it's Bb. This is standard music stuff! And there is such a thing as Cb, it's not often used, but it does exist.

2. POSITION MARKERS: The one's you've added help a lot! Adding them on the board would help more.

3. MELODIC MINOR: You use the reference of #, the technically should be b.

Enough for now. :D

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Thanks for the suggestions, I know about using flats but they caused positioning problems at the start so I ended up using all sharps. I will work on getting the correct notes on them this weekend and a few other little upgrades I have in mind.

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