DG Cuatro Patterns - How to

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The DG Cuatro Chord Patterns Android application is very easy to use.

The screen is divided into 4 regions, as shown in the following figure:

There are four regions: 3 button grids, and one central graphics frame:

• The blue button grid contains the 12 keys, or roots, on which you want to create a chord pattern;
• these are labelled C, C#, D, etc. Notice that B is placed next to E, for space considerations.
• The red button grid contains 3 x 6=18 chords that apply to any chosen key;
• the list includes the main chords used in modern classical, folk, and jazz music styles.
• The green button grid is for navigating to particular frets along the fretboard;
• the central frame (in yellow) displays the fretboard, and, when tapped, switches between note names and interval names.

When you are operating the application, all you have to do is to choose one button from each of these button grids.

Immediately after, the chosen chord pattern is displayed on the central frame, the yellow area on the figure shown above.

The central frame displays the chosen Cuatro chord pattern graphically, and also by name (on the right).

The graphical image displays only four frets at a time, which is sufficient to display all fingering positions of any chord.

When the chord pattern is close to the head, or nut of the instrument, it shows a double vertical line, as in the figure above.

When the chord pattern is on higher frets, it shows a number on top of the first fret; all subsequent fret and number positions are relative to this fret number. This is the standard way of representing Cuatro chord patterns.

When you tap on the fretboard, it switches between displaying the notes of the chord pattern, or the intervals.

The intervals are particularly important, because, when you are playing solo notes, you might want to land chord notes on a beat.

Pressing the 1, 5, or 9 buttons will take you straight to the pattern as seen on those frets, respectively;

alternatively, press the ">>" or "<<" buttons to see the pattern starting from different frets (such as 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, etc).

The strings are positioned from the viewpoint of a Cuatro player, with the instrument on its lap, (head on the left, body on the right) looking down at the fretboard, with first string on top of the image (bottom of the Cuatro, further away from you), and fourth string at the bottom of the image (top of the instrument, closer to you). Other books and charts represent the chords in different orientation, but we find this way very intuitive.

On the left of the nut, white circles represent the strings that are played open ("o") on that particular chord pattern.

On the example shown above, there is an "o" on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings, because they are part of the D major chord.

The circles in pink color represent the possible finger positions, showing the notes of the chord pattern, as they are placed on the fretboard.

The key point to remember is that this application does not show you static chord fingerings, but chord notes and intervals along the fretboard, in such a way that it helps you to deduce your own chord fingerings.