Music tools
William Flynn
Small practice tools for jazz guitar, built for my students. Each one is a single page with no setup required, made to open on a phone in the practice room.
Jazz Guitar Technique Handbook3rd edition
The tools on this line are drawn from the handbook — same fingerings, same order, same terminology. Each one assumes you have the chapter open.
- Scales
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Movable scale fingerings · pp. 6–23
Fretboardfretboard/
The book's movable fingerings cover eleven scales in all twelve keys, and the neck is drawn in the book's orientation so the shape on screen matches the shape on the page.
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Scale Practice 101 · pp. 61–64
Scale practicescales-deck/
Pick a key, a concept and a tier, and the deck turns the chapter's instructions into cards you step through one exercise at a time.
- Arpeggios
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Arpeggio Practice · pp. 76–78
Arpeggio practicearpeggios-deck/
Browse the full shape library by root finger or from any root you click, then work through the book's three practice approaches.
- Chord voicings
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Shell Voicings 101 · pp. 45–51
Shell voicing buildershell-builder/
Build shell voicings by rule and mobilize the top strings, then comp them through the book's progressions and tunes with nearest-position voice leading.
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Drop-2 and Drop-3 · pp. 52–59 · key study p. 82
Inversion drillinversion-drill/
Drill drop-2 and drop-3 inversions on every string set: up the neck, through the key studies, and through the leadsheet changes.
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Nearest-inversion voice leading · p. 79
Voice-leading trainervoice-leading/
Resolve each chord to the nearest inversion instead of jumping back to root position. The trainer shows you the path, reveals it beat by beat, or makes you choose it chord by chord.
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Quartal Harmony · retroactive chapter
Quartal voicingsquartal-voicings/
Stack fourths on every degree of the key and one shape serves many chords. The tool covers the catalogue, the modal labels, the chord-symbol method of Ex. 5–14, ii–V–I sets with half-step planing, and two tunes.
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Triads · pp. 39–43 · Exploring Triads p. 81
Triad voicingstriad-voicings/
The closed and open triads on every string set match the diagrams in the book, and the Ex. 8 key study and a tiered drill run from those same shapes.
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Rhythmic Considerations · pp. 83–84
Charlestoncomping-rhythms/
The rhythms are sorted into five families, and you either read them from notation and play along with the click or hear one and name it.
Stand-alone tools
These aren't tied to the book.
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Enclosuresenclosures/
The engine builds each enclosure from a key, a chord tone and a family rather than showing you a page of finished ones. It covers goal notes, the three types and the five families, access points through the 13th, scale exercises in twelve keys, and the composed lines.
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Line ladderline-ladder/
This generates improvisation lines for any instrument: you name the concepts, it runs them through a progression, smooths them rung by rung and engraves transposed parts.
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2 & 4two-and-four/
The click lands on beats 2 and 4, then fades out bar by bar so your inner clock does the work.
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Chartwrightchartwright/
Type lyrics with the changes above them and the spacing adjusts itself, so each chord sits over the syllable it belongs to. Charts save on your device.
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Composition assignmentscomposition-assignments/
These are the prompts I give composition students, and a few carry a small tool that generates seed material: tone rows, invented pentatonics, alphabet melodies and displaced rhythms.