Solo - Fretboard Visualization

GOT TO SAY that the fact that I know in a second where and what I’m doing on which notes feels incredible, and it’s NOT TRIVIAL AT ALL. I recall a few months ago when I was frustrated, and I didn’t know how to memorize the fretboard, let alone understand why triads appear the way they do or how to form one on the fly. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that obviously others know it, and that I’m not an idiot, but I couldn’t figure out how to train myself. SOLO totally paid out for that. Add to that the real power of solo understanding intervals, and WOW, I think this was the single most powerful and breakthrough improvement I had. One thing I hope they add is statistics to see how fast you find whatever notes the app asks you to. THat would help visualize the improvement.

Our vision, as guitarists, is typically related around large scale shapes that run up and down the neck and large arpeggios that run up and down the fretboard. This can help take us to a certain point, where we tend to plateau. Sølo offers a different way of seeing the fretboard. It offers a zoomed in view of the fretboard that is built on a deeper knowledge of the fretboard that focuses on note recognition, i.e. knowing the exact note of every fret in every position, and then all the corresponding chord tones, arpeggios and scalar shapes around any given note. I have been using it for a few days now and it forces me to slow down and it forces me to see the fretboard in a more active way that uses up more mental resources which seems harder. Sølo forces us to use or develop different muscles, and it is a mental workout. For me, it’s even more of a mental workout because I usually keep my guitar tuned down to Eb standard, so I have to play everything one fret sharper than it would otherwise appear on my fretboard. I am thinking about returning my guitar to E standard as that makes sense but I wanted to get started right away. Now I am getting used to the app, and I definitely don’t recommend using non standard tunings because it is unnecessary complications for the learning process. This app works well for bass players and different stringed instruments as you can adjust the settings of the app to match your instrument. Overall, it is an excellent app and a unique tool for developing a deeper understanding and knowledge about your fretboard.

Tom is a great guitarist and instructor. I have several of his courses from his website. I saw he had came out with this app. And just knew if he had anything in putting it together it would be awesome. Firstly this is the way to learn guitar, sadly it took 12 years of playing for this stuff to start showing up in my playing. Will definitely hit a wall in progress with playing if not thinking of target notes and the intervallic structure of chords/scales. It’s crazy I’ve been thinking of a way to practice this stuff in this way like flash cards or something! Guess that’s why I’m writing the review and Tom made the app! But extremely grateful for this contribution to the art and if a lot of young guys start using and learning this way it will change music!