Chord finder question!!

[Scott McRee]

Anybody know an app for pedal steel that you can play a chord or a set of strings and it tells you the exact chord? I found one that’s for a 6 string guitar called Uberchord a which is pretty cool but didn’t know if anyone else has any ideas that work?

Thanks
Scott

[Colin Swinney]

Steel Sidekick is pretty cool. You can set it to your copedent and then "activate" the pedals/levers to see any changes. You can change the root, minor/major, etc... I've found it to be pretty useful.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/steel-sid ... d802758051

[Bobby D. Jones]

To find the chords on a E9th 10 string steel guitar, Mel Bay has a chord chart. It gives the tuning of the guitar. And shows chords, minors, augmented, 7ths and diminish chords. It shows what strings to lower or raise to get the chords and strings to pick. You can find it on the internet for about 7.00 plus postage. It is the best map of a steel guitar neck I have seen. If you can play another instrument it is easy to transpose the chords to the neck of the steel guitar. Good Luck in the adventure, Happy Steelin.

[Scott McRee]

Thanks so much. That is pretty neat. I was hoping for something along the lines where you play a chord and your phone heard it and shows you what it is. I really appreciate y’all taking the time help!!!!

[Scott McRee]

Also, if you know of any device or any ideas on how to play a chord or group of strings and be told what chord you’re playing please let me know. Doesn’t have to be an app. Thanks!

[George Biner]

In the past, a computer being able to detect separate notes in a recording was nigh impossible. I don't know if this is going to help you, but lately a company called Melodyne is marketing DAW software/plug-ins that can detect the notes of different instruments -- they are the leader in separating out notes of a composite mix, so they may have something you can use.

[Scott McRee]

Thanks for the help guys. You’d think there’d be be an app for that or something else. Maybe something to come out with

[Ian Rae]

A chord has a very complex waveform, and analyzing it is an exercise in pattern recognition - something that humans are naturally better at than machines.
There is also the question of context - a group of notes could be C6 or Am7 depending on its musical function, which would take an awful of artificial intelligence to determine.
That's not to say it can't be done, but bear in mind that humans can disagree what to call things!

[Gene Tani]

Uberchord is really interesting. What happens if you do Brumley's thing in Together again where you strum 5 strings, and start moving the bar, levers and pedals all at once? And like Ian says with 3 fingerpicks you're probably going to be playing rootless and fifthless chords

There's been threads about chord finders and dictionaries(books from Dewitt Scott, Doug Jernigan, https://steelguitaracademy.com/forsale/chorddictionary/

http://cryinsteel.com/download.html


and copedent helpers (which I honestly mostly can't understand)

viewtopic.php?t=316985

viewtopic.php?t=347464

[Pete Burak]

What chord are you trying to find?
There's really no Silver Bullet.
You could ask your instructor for some chord building lessons.
A Boss TU-2 will tell you the individual notes you are playing, then you can Google the chord name for those notes.
There's a lot of C6th and E9th chord building Instructional Material by Jeff Newman and several others.

Here's a Neil Flanz C6 Chord book:

[Ron Hogan]

Very handy site.


Click here

[Franklin]

Or you could become the only "App" that works onstage....Just memorize the intervals on the guitar pedals up and pedals down...That's it...Learn the pedals function to those intervals. (Raises the 5th to a 6th, lowers the root to a maj 7 etc)
Then memorize the chord formulas in intervals (Below) .. For Example these are some of the major and minor chords interval formulas.

C = 1 3 5
C6 = 1 3 5 6
C6/9 = 1 3 5 6 9
C Maj 7 = 1 3 5 7
C Maj 9 = 1 3 5 7 9

C dom7 = 1 3 5 b7
C dom9 = 1 3 5 b7 9
C sus = 1 4 5
C aug = 1 3 #5
C alt 7 #9 = 1 3 5 b7 #9


C min = 1 b3 5
C min 6 = 1 b3 5 6
C min 7 = 1 b3 5 b7
C min 9 = 1 b3 5 b7
C dim = 1 b3 b5

This is one short post. Take this down time to memorize these chord formulas. None of the courses from the 70's era will teach "Where" and "How" to apply chords, Why waste time?...

So once you have the interval locations pedals up and down memorized, you can then see how to add those extended intervals to the basic minor and major triads which are those major string groups on E9th. And you have a language to communicate with the other instruments that are taught this stuff right from the start of their journey.

Students can spend all the time in the world being spoon fed from those early courses and still not walk away with any understanding for what you play and no language skills for communicating musicianship....Later on in the journey, without the knowledge of intervals or actual note knowledge for what is played, how could any player communicate to "Other" musicians what to play? A form of communication known to all is needed for working situations. Interval knowledge is the universal language of musicians... The language keeps me from struggling to find anything on the fretboard.

[Ron Hogan]

Or you could become the only "App" that works onstage....Just memorize the intervals on the guitar pedals up and pedals down...That's it...Learn the pedals function to those intervals. (Raises the 5th to a 6th, lowers the root to a maj 7 etc)
Then memorize the chord formulas in intervals (Below) .. For Example these are some of the major and minor chords interval formulas.

C = 1 3 5
C6 = 1 3 5 6
C6/9 = 1 3 5 6 9
C Maj 7 = 1 3 5 7
C Maj 9 = 1 3 5 7 9

C dom7 = 1 3 5 b7
C dom9 = 1 3 5 b7 9
C sus = 1 4 5
C aug = 1 3 #5
C alt 7 #9 = 1 3 5 b7 #9


C min = 1 b3 5
C min 6 = 1 b3 5 6
C min 7 = 1 b3 5 b7
C min 9 = 1 b3 5 b7
C dim = 1 b3 b5

This is one short post. Take this down time to memorize these chord formulas. None of the courses from the 70's era will teach "Where" and "How" to apply chords, Why waste time?...

So once you have the interval locations pedals up and down memorized, you can then see how to add those extended intervals to the basic minor and major triads which are those major string groups on E9th. And you have a language to communicate with the other instruments that are taught this stuff right from the start of their journey.

Students can spend all the time in the world being spoon fed from those early courses and still not walk away with any understanding for what you play and no language skills for communicating musicianship....Later on in the journey, without the knowledge of intervals or actual note knowledge for what is played, how could any player communicate to "Other" musicians what to play? A form of communication known to all is needed for working situations. Interval knowledge is the universal language of musicians... The language keeps me from struggling to find anything on the fretboard.

So right Paul. When it comes down to it, it's your memory that will best serve you or you'll never learn it.

[Fred Treece]

Another for Steel Sidekick. Guitar Map by forumite Karlis Abonis is another fine app. Send Karlis a PM, I think his website is down. Both programs are copedent-interactive. Steel Sidekick can display note names or intervals. For some reason Guitar Map won’t do flats, only sharps.

As Paul says, there is no substitute for memorization. Having good tools helps.

[Scott McRee]

I’m actually signed up for your full course and am about to dig hard into it but I can’t find how to join the Facebook group. I’ve sent y’all an email and didn’t hear back. Can you help me with this? I can’t wait to truly learn by intervals. Thank you for all you do!
Scott

[Ron Hogan]

C6 essay

[Doug Hall]

Typo mebbe?

"C min 7 = 1 b3 5 b7
C min 9 = 1 b3 5 b7" (9?)


Thanks, sounds like a great learning strategy!

[Allan Revich]

If you know what notes you are playing, use this online tool. It’s great for finding tuning names too. (P to 6 notes, they don’t need to be in order)

https://www.scales-chords.com/chordid.php

[James Sission]

I just started the E9 Foundations course by Paul Franklin about a week ago and you are going to be really glad you made that decision Scott. In that time, my understanding of the instrument has increased an incredible amount as well as my understanding of how/why we do things to get certain chords. He makes it very easy to understand, but like anything else, you have to put in the time in the seat to be able to apply
it. If nothing else, the lessons on intervals and how they are laid out on the fret board are well worth the money of the Foundations course. It has expanded not only my understanding of where to find the chords, but also why the guitar is laid out like it is. The course is exactly what a player needs to be able to improvise and get along on the bandstand. I think in 3 or 4 weeks I will be purchasing more in depth Paul Franklin Method course.

[Rodrigo de la Mora]

Hello to everyone, Some years later after original post, but I am in the last process of the development of such an app, the Pedal Steel Chord Finder, would love to show it to whoever is interested, details here

viewtopic.php?t=409922

[Ron Funk]

The Buddy Emmons E9th Vocabulary chart would be very helpful on your journey.

[Alan L. Berg]

Or you could become the only "App" that works onstage....Just memorize the intervals on the guitar pedals up and pedals down...That's it...Learn the pedals function to those intervals. (Raises the 5th to a 6th, lowers the root to a maj 7 etc)
Then memorize the chord formulas in intervals (Below) .. For Example these are some of the major and minor chords interval formulas.

C = 1 3 5
C6 = 1 3 5 6
C6/9 = 1 3 5 6 9
C Maj 7 = 1 3 5 7
C Maj 9 = 1 3 5 7 9

C dom7 = 1 3 5 b7
C dom9 = 1 3 5 b7 9
C sus = 1 4 5
C aug = 1 3 #5
C alt 7 #9 = 1 3 5 b7 #9


C min = 1 b3 5
C min 6 = 1 b3 5 6
C min 7 = 1 b3 5 b7
C min 9 = 1 b3 5 b7
C dim = 1 b3 b5

This is one short post. Take this down time to memorize these chord formulas. None of the courses from the 70's era will teach "Where" and "How" to apply chords, Why waste time?...

So once you have the interval locations pedals up and down memorized, you can then see how to add those extended intervals to the basic minor and major triads which are those major string groups on E9th. And you have a language to communicate with the other instruments that are taught this stuff right from the start of their journey.

Students can spend all the time in the world being spoon fed from those early courses and still not walk away with any understanding for what you play and no language skills for communicating musicianship....Later on in the journey, without the knowledge of intervals or actual note knowledge for what is played, how could any player communicate to "Other" musicians what to play? A form of communication known to all is needed for working situations. Interval knowledge is the universal language of musicians... The language keeps me from struggling to find anything on the fretboard.

So right Paul. When it comes down to it, it's your memory that will best serve you or you'll never learn it.