Guitar Lessons Software Features
Guitar Lesson Library Features
As you will see, Guitar Mentor is loaded with powerful features, but without any doubt, the most powerful feature of all is the revolutionary teaching method that is present in every guitar lesson. Guitar concepts that have been traditionally difficult to grasp are now presented in a crystal clear format that makes learning to play the guitar easy and fun. The first edition of Guitar Mentor's "Lesson Library" contains 102 guitar lessons which can take you from a raw novice guitar player to the elite professional level. But it doesn't end there. At regular intervals you will see new guitar lessons appear on this website. Your one-time payment entitles you to download all these new guitar lessons and add them to your Guitar Lesson Library.
And for you aspiring song writer's out there, please stay tuned! For a small additional charge this website will soon be offering a very special song writer's package, which will become the perfect complement to the Guitar Mentor Guitar Lesson Library.
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User Interface Features
The Scale Grid is located at the top half of the User Interface. It is the main teaching platform used to present the guitar lessons in a frame-by-frame format. The Scale Grid or just "Grid" displays music theory concepts directly on a graphical fingerboard which is oriented to match the student's natural viewing perspective.
The usefulness of the Grid is enhanced by the Grid "Overlay", which provides additional graphics support to further accelerate the learning process. Directly underneath the Grid is the text window which Bill uses to explain the contents of each Grid and Grid Overlay image using his clear and personable writing style.
The Grid also has an integrated Sequencer that plays animated melodies and chords on the Grid. When Bill is teaching you the theory behind a scale structure or a solo, he will often use the Sequencer to break up the playback over several guitar lesson frames. This makes learning the guitar much easier. Watching the Sequencer in action is like having Bill's "invisible fingers" light up notes on the fingerboard. You can see and hear melodies in progress, play them back as often as you want, loop them and even adjust the playback speed. You'll have to experience it to see why the Sequencer is the perfect delivery system for revealing Bill's 21st century approach to music education.
The Control Console is located in the lower right hand corner of the User Interface. It provides basic program control operations and also has several features that enhance the guitar lesson content. The top section of the Control Console contains various control options for adjusting the Sequencer playback - such as volume, playback speed, looping, and isolating a small playback portion anywhere within the total note sequence.
The Chord 1 and Chord 2 buttons operate the chord comparison feature. This feature is great for learning how chords are built. It displays the note patterns of related chord types and also lets you hear how shifting one or more notes in a chord can greatly alter its emotional texture. These buttons are linked with a volume slider as well as a strum duration slider.
The Media 1 and Media 2 Buttons – have two main functions:
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To display additional pictures and charts that help to give you a complete perspective on what is being taught. |
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To play MP3 jam tracks which are invaluable for turning theory into actual playing skill. |
The Overlay Button – controls whether or not the Overlay window will be visible in frames that are using the Overlay feature.
The Font - and Font + Buttons – let you rapidly select the most comfortable text size.
The < and > Buttons – are used to move forward and backward through the frames of a lesson.
The Load Lesson Button – connects Guitar Mentor directly to the guitar Lesson Library and allows the user to make fast and easy guitar lesson selections.
The Database Button – opens the Database window presenting you with all the guitar lessons. Please read below to see the many powerful features within the Database.
The Website Button – provides a direct link to the Guitar Mentor website.
The Close Button – Shuts Down Guitar Mentor.
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The Guitar Mentor Database
The Guitar Mentor Database contains so many valuable features that it's practically an application in its own right. When you are ready to create your own music compositions, the Database becomes your personal "super-assistant" for music theory. The best way to look at the Database is to see it as a condensed resource that backs up everything you learn in Bill's guitar lessons. It provides answers to thousands of key, chord and scale combinations.
Here's a list of the main Database features:
Fingerboard:
loads up with note patterns that correspond to the selections that you make in the Database list boxes. If you click on any note box that is displayed on the fingerboard, the note will turn red and you will hear what it sounds like. |
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Composer:
establishes the basic framework for your composition. Just choose the scale that you want to compose with and Composer will generate a broad selection of chords that will work with your chosen scale. Explore the most popular fingering patterns for each chord type and listen to the subtle sound variations available to you. |
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Auto Scale:
is an almost magical feature that calculates the correct relationship between the three fundamental components of music, Key, Chord and Scale. Just use the Auto Scale list boxes to select the key and chord you want to work with – and Auto Scale will display the correct scale that you need for soloing! |
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Power:
Unleashes enormous "Guitar God" soloing potential when playing guitar over power chords. Select any power chord that you want to work with and the Power feature will calculate a huge range of scale types that can be used to launch your hard-rock soundscapes into overdrive! |
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Chord Builder:
Lets you construct a chosen chord at any possible location on the fingerboard. Click on the "Chords" radio button in order to select multiple red notes for manual chord building. The Chord Builder feature shows you the complete arpeggio of any selected chord for even more incredible guitar soloing options! |
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Reset:
After selecting a scale from the Database list boxes, you will often proceed to explore the chord options that exist for your selected scale. This will cause the selected chord pattern to replace the scale on the fingerboard. To return back to your selected scale, just click on the Reset button. |
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Chromatic:
Clicking the Chromatic button will display every note on the fingerboard. |
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Chord Search:
To use the Chord Search feature, first click on the "Chords" radio button and then build a pattern of red notes on the Database fingerboard. Complete the process by clicking on the Chord Search button. If your red note pattern is an actual chord type that exists within the Guitar Mentor database, Chord Search will reveal its identity to you. |
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Strum Duration (SD):
Gives you a huge range of selectable strum rates for the chord sounds. You can go from a fast and aggressive chop across the strings to a slow and mellow arpeggio, where each note of the chord can be clearly heard in sequence. Find the perfect Strum Duration to suit the mood of your song compositions. |
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Letters\Numbers Buttons:
Gives you two different perspectives for working out your solutions in the Database. You can instantly switch between the "letter" and the "numerical" identities of notes, whether it be a single note, a chord, or a complete scale pattern. Having this "dual" identity of every note at your fingertips will greatly increase your ability to create the compositions and songs that you always dreamed of. |
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Play:
Clicking the Play button will play the sound of any single red note or any group of multiple red notes. Multiple red notes play as a chord. |
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Melody/Chords Buttons:
Selecting "Melody" allows only the last note box that is clicked to become red. This can be useful if you are working on a melody. Selecting "Chords" allows multiple notes to turn red. This is useful when building chord patterns on the Database fingerboard. |
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The Database Control Console
Like Guitar Mentor's main user interface, the Database window also has a Control Console that is located in the lower right hand corner. The following is a list of the control options that it has:
Delete Red:
This button returns all red notes back to the default grey color. |
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Pattern 1, 2 & 3 Buttons:
Give you the option of breaking any scale down into three sub-patterns. These smaller sub-patterns are easier to remember and are great for creating efficient solos. |
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Sharps/Flats:
Lets you switch the note lettering on the fingerboard between sharp (#) and flat (b) identities. |
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Chord 1, 2, 3, 4 & Basic Chord 5 Buttons:
Give you different note pattern options for any chord that has been selected from the list boxes within the various feature modes. |
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Copy 1 Copy 2 and Project Notes
The Fingerboard Copy (Copy 1 and Copy 2) buttons let you make a copy of any scale or chord that is displayed on the main Database fingerboard. The fingerboard copy feature is useful as a kind of "memory" that stores some piece of information that you looked up earlier. This frees up the main Database fingerboard, allowing you to explore additional aspects of your composition.
You can also use the "Fingerboard Copy" buttons together with the "Project Notes" button (opens Microsoft WordPad) to paste your fingerboard copy windows into WordPad.
Example:
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In the Database, click the "Copy 1" or "Copy 2" button to make a fingerboard copy window appear. |
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In the Database, Click the "Project Notes" button. The Guitar Mentor user interface will minimize, leaving only the fingerboard copy window and WordPad visible on your screen. |
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In the upper right hand corner of the fingerboard copy window, click on the "Copy" label. |
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Inside WordPad, position the cursor where you want to place the fingerboard copy image. Right mouse click inside the WordPad text window and select "paste". |
NOTE: Clicking the "CopyX" label will cause the fingerboard copy window to close. However, it's image data will still persist on the clipboard, allowing it to be copied into WordPad in the same manner as the standard "Copy" label.
This powerful feature lets you create graphics and text based files for all your composition and song ideas. You can then use WordPad to print out the exact composition material needed by each band member.
CLICK HERE for a FREE 15-Day Trial of Guitar Mentor v.3.0
FULLY FUNCTIONAL VERSION! – Nothing is held back!
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