Chordology 4+

Minimalist MAGNIFICENCE

This App is the Cleanest, Most Concise and Easiest Interface for Guitar Chords that I have EVER seen! Some GUI suggestions (I am only reviewing the Guitar interface.)
1. Center the whole face! On my iPhone it is tagged to the Top with way too much Empty space at the Bottom.
Also make the Interface able to turn 180
degrees.
2. Add the Sound of each chord!
3. Provide Color Schemes for Users
to choose from.

This could evolve into the Absolute BEST
Chording App on the App Store!!!!!!

Developer Response ,

Thanks for this feedback, I know I am 3 years late but I finally got round to updating this one!

The app should now look a lot better on your device as it’s centred. I’ve added a light and dark colour scheme depending on how your phone is set (although adding custom colour schemes is a good idea too that I’ll look into).

I’m also planning on adding the note sounds too as soon as I get hold of some good recordings!

Let me know if you have any more feedback.

Some severe problems

Context: I’m only interested in ukulele chords.

The first chord variation shown is quite often not a common, easy fingering. I wonder if the different inversions were chosen by algorithm, and not by a uke player. Take a look at D minor, for example - there are seven variations; the very last one is the common one. This will be bewildering for the beginning player. I don’t know if this problem affects the banjo or guitar chords.

In the iPad version, I can’t get any but the first chord variation to display. The series of dots in iOS apps typically indicates that swiping left or right will show different information; in this app, swiping does nothing. In the iPhone version, I found by frustrating trial and error that tapping on the left or right of the dots works. Even setting aside this bizarre user interface choice, at least it works on the iPhone. Not so on the iPad. I tapped away like a lunatic on every square centimeter of the screen, and I can’t get the app to show any but the first uke chord variation. This bug doesn’t affect banjo or guitar chords.

I do like the appearance, but the interface is weird and un-idiomatic; in the case of the iPad, it’s unusable. It doesn’t support split screen mode, which absolutely should be fixed, but not before those other problems.

Developer Response ,

Hi, I know I’m a bit late but thanks for this feedback! I’ve finally got round to updating the app and hopefully have addressed a lot of your issues.

Swiping problem: I agree that this wasn’t the best design choice, I’ve changed it now to be much clearer.

Chord sorting: You’re right in that the chords are generated using an algorithm (since I want it to be able to support any instrument in any tuning, it wouldn’t be practical to do it manually). I’ve tried to improve the sorting part in this version, so it tries to sort them by fretboard position and then by difficulty (it’s still not perfect though, I’m going to be updating this shortly soon as I sit down with each instrument and work out the best way and algorithm can sort them!)

iPad issues: I’ve fixed the major issues it had running on an iPad so now it’s useable, I’m planning on adding a iPad specific layout shortly too.

In the latest version I’ve also added two ukulele tunings depending on how you have the 4th string tuned (the app doesn’t currently show inversions, although I’m planning on adding this as an option as soon as I work out a practical way of doing it).

If you’re still interested in using it then drop me a message if you have any feedback or requests!

Fantastic Tool

I can say confidently that this is my favorite chord app on the AppStore. It’s clean, looks good, and is super helpful for looking up stuff like jazz chords. It’s been great for when I have to look up a chord for the guitar or piano,
However,
I’m primarily a five string banjoist, and I would be overjoyed to have a five-string banjo added as one of the instruments available. I’ve been trying to get into the more modern/jazzgrass type stuff on the banjo, and having a chord catalogue like this for it would be tremendously helpful.

Overall though this is a great tool and learning aid, 5/5