Voice commands in the practice player

In the practice player you can run the lesson with your voice while both hands stay on the guitar. Say Maestro, then what you want: “Maestro, slower”, “Maestro, repeat the chorus”, “Maestro, play first part”. The player shows the words it hears as you speak, and says what it did.

Your voice is recognised on your own device: what you say never leaves it and is never kept. Only which command you used is counted.

Before you start

• Voice works in a browser that can recognise speech on the device itself — today, a browser on a computer. Where it can’t, the microphone in the player’s bar is struck through, and pressing it says why. See Check that your browser works with FlowChord.
• The first time, the browser asks to use the microphone. Allow it.
• The first time in a language, the browser may take a moment to get that language’s speech pack.
• The player listens in the site’s language — English, Portuguese or Spanish. Say the commands in that language.

Steps

Turn voice on

1. Press the microphone in the bar under the video. Listening · “Maestro, …” appears on the video while the player listens.
2. Say Maestro. A short chime plays, the video pauses so the player hears you clearly, and a card above the bar says Listening….
3. Say the command. The card writes the words as it hears them, then says what was done, with a second chime, and the video goes on — unless you asked it to pause.
4. To stop, press the microphone again, or say “Maestro, stop listening”.

You can say it all at once — “Maestro, slower” — or say Maestro, wait for the chime, then the command: after the wake word, the player waits a few seconds for it. If you say nothing, it lets the command go and the video goes on. FlowChord works as the wake word too.

Speak without the wake word

On a computer, hold V while you speak: what you say is taken as a command, without Maestro. Let go when you’re done.

Options

Each command, with what to say. Other ways of saying it work too.

Playing

Command	Say
Play	“Maestro, play” — or continue, resume
Pause	“Maestro, pause” — or stop, wait
Again from the start of the part	“Maestro, again”
Back or forward	“Maestro, back ten seconds”, or forward. Without a number, a few seconds

Speed and key

Command	Say
Slower	“Maestro, slower” — or slow it down. One step of 5% each time
Faster	“Maestro, faster” — or speed up
A speed	“Maestro, seventy five percent”: any speed from 50% up to the teacher’s
Normal speed	“Maestro, normal speed” — or full speed
Key up or down	“Maestro, key up” moves a half step; “up a whole step”, “down a half step”
Original key	“Maestro, original key”

Parts and repeats

Command	Say
Repeat a part	“Maestro, repeat the chorus”: a part’s name as the sheet writes it (“verse two”), or its kind — chorus, verse, bridge, intro, solo, ending. “Maestro, repeat” alone repeats the part playing
Go to a part	“Maestro, go to the bridge”
Repeat the last bars	“Maestro, last bars”
Stop repeating	“Maestro, stop looping”

Clips

Command	Say
Save a clip	“Maestro, save this”, or “save this as slow chorus” to name it
Play a clip by its name	“Maestro, play first part”: the clip’s name as you wrote it, with or without the word clip. Its card in Clips shows what to say
Next or previous clip	“Maestro, next clip”, “previous clip”

What you see, and the voice itself

Command	Say
Show or hide the neck	“Maestro, show the fretboard”, “hide the fretboard”
Show or hide the hand	“Maestro, show the hand”, “hide the hand”
Stop listening	“Maestro, stop listening”

Tips

• Press ? in the player to see the commands at any time.
• Give clips names that are easy to say, like “first part” or “slow chorus”: you call them by name.
• Headphones help: the microphone hears you, not the song.
• Speak a little louder than the guitar, facing the device.

Common problems

The microphone is struck through. This browser can’t recognise speech on your device, and the player never sends your voice anywhere else to be recognised. Open the teacher’s site in a browser on a computer; see Check that your browser works with FlowChord. Every command also has a button and a key.

The player asks to install voice. The first time, your browser may need to download speech recognition for the site’s language. When the player sits inside another page, the browser installs it only in a FlowChord window: press Install voice, then Install voice in the window that opens. The window closes and the player starts listening. You do this once per language in each browser.

The player says the microphone is off. You or the browser refused it for this site. Allow the microphone from the browser’s address bar, then press the microphone in the player again.

Nothing happens when I say Maestro. Check that Listening · “Maestro, …” is on the video: the player is listening only then. Say Maestro on its own and wait for the chime and the card.

It says it didn’t understand. The message shows the words it heard. Say the command closer to the ones on this page, in the site’s language. Nothing changes until a command is understood.

A clip doesn’t play by its name. Say the name as it is written on the clip’s card. If the name sounds like a command (“slower”), say “play the clip” before it.

To learn the rest of the player, see Practice a song from a teacher’s video.