Fretter Takes The Guesswork Out Of Chords
Fretter - Chordfinder ($2.99) by Umito has finally arrived at the iTunes app store after much success among Android users. It is a no-nonsense tool for musicians looking to learn new chords, or trying to find the name of a chord they discovered while playing but don't know its classification.
I wish this app existed when I was picking up every stringed instrument I could get my hands on several years ago. Now that I'm a mom, I don't have much time to play around, but when I have the time to pick up instruments again, this app will be at my side.
Fretter isn't just for guitarists. You can select from: guitar, 4-string banjo, 5-string banjo, ukulele or mandolin. After choosing your instrument, you'll select what tuning you have it set to and/or if you are using a capo.
After applying those settings, you can head over to one of two chord reference sections: normal or reverse. "Normal" mode gives you the option to easily scroll through chord names (covers easy and advanced chords) or you can simply type in the name of a chord and the app will pull up several variations of ways that chord can be played.
Where this app stands out though, is not in its vast reference of chords; it is in it's reverse look up option. I played banjo for several years and there were many times I would stumble on a chord while playing that sounded good, but I had no idea what chord it was. Fretter sure would have come in handy! Simply select the number fret of each string you are "pushing down" and the app will calculate the name of that chord. Simply genius!
Fretter isn't a pretty looking app, that's my one complaint. It's a no-nonsense chord reference tool that gets the job done well. If you have not yet mastered every chord group (and I venture to say that even experienced musicians have not), this is worth checking into.
