Why I built this site

It started with one digital saxophone

I bought a Yamaha YDS-120 digital saxophone because there was one song I really wanted to play: the famous opening line of "Careless Whisper". I found a sheet-music video on YouTube, picked up the instrument, and stopped at the very first note.

I couldn't read the notes on the staff at a glance. When I finally worked out that it was a D, I had to dig through the fingering chart in the manual to find which keys make a D. Look at the score, find the fingering, look back at the score. One bar took minutes, and by then I had lost the feel of the song.

Beginners have to do two things at once

When you start an instrument, you have to read the music and recall the fingering at the same time. Neither is familiar yet, so your hands stop, the sound breaks off, and you start to think, "I can't read music, so this isn't for me." You know exactly which song you want to play, but the road to it feels far too long.

So I built it piece by piece

First I wrote the note name under every note. Then I added a fingering picture for every bar. In one long row it meant scrolling sideways all the time, so I split it into two rows of two bars that fit on one screen. The first time I saw that page, I thought: this is exactly it.

Finally I made the fingering pictures light up in time with the music. The note to play and its fingering show large at the top, with the next note previewed beside it. You can slow down and loop only the bars that trip you up.

I didn't learn to read music first and then play the song. I followed the fingerings and played, my hands remembered first, and the notation slowly started to make sense after that.

What this site is for

To flip the order of "learn to read music before you can play a song." Play the song first, and let reading catch up. That is why every note has a fingering picture and practice comes in three steps: play along with the melody, play alone with the metronome, then play over the backing track.

I also found out that fingerings differ a little between instruments and models. So you can change any fingering in the chart to match your instrument, and the change shows up in every song right away.

What comes next

For now it starts with alto sax and public-domain songs. Soon you'll be able to upload sheet music and a backing track you own and turn them into this same practice screen; files you upload are visible only to you. After that, other instruments will follow one by one: recorder, flute, clarinet, trumpet, piano and guitar.

This site is built and run by one person. I hope it helps anyone who has ever stopped in front of a song they wanted to play, the way I did.

Copyright

The practice songs here are public-domain works transcribed by this site. If you believe something infringes your rights, email the address below and it will be checked and handled right away.

Contact

Bug reports and song requests: contact@fingernola.com