Meet Dave

Hi, I’m Dave — the heart (and code) behind Guitar Training Tools.

Nearly 40 years of playing, decades on stage with bands you might actually know, 25 years of teaching in-person, and another 25 years (on-and-off) as a developer.

Every week I see the same thing: talented players walk in frustrated. They’ve spent years (and hundreds of pounds) on the big-name apps and sites — only to realise they’ve been spoon-fed licks and still can’t create a single bar of their own music.

That’s when I started building the exact tools I use in my private lessons. Tools that don’t hold your hand. Tools that force you to discover the answers yourself — because that’s the only way anything truly sticks.

No Spoon-Feeding. Ever.

Spoon-feeding creates copy-cats. Finding your own way creates players.

This site is deliberately the opposite of Yousician and Fender Play. No arrows. No stars. No “good job” pop-ups (wellm very few :p ). Just clean, full-neck visualisers, real backing tracks, and the freedom to explore — exactly how real musicians learn.

How to use these tools
(the exact roadmap I give my private students)

1. Fretboard Notes → Start with B–E–A–D on the low E only. One minute a day = 16 notes in a week.
2. Triad Explorer → Learn the three movable shapes. Turn on “Show Note Degrees” and find the roots yourself.
3. Scale Patterns / Arpeggios → Hunt for those triads inside each of the 7 positions.
4. Fretboard Jam → Light up a zone and force yourself to land on chord tones on beat 1 — no help.
5. Audio Split (Premium) → Upload any song, isolate parts, figure it out by ear.

My students called me crazy for charging so little.
I call it keeping the guitar alive — one real player at a time.

Happy strumming,
Dave