Fretlab

Put your fingers on the fretboard below

Dots show

1 index2 middle3 ring4 pinky(fretting hand)

Click where your fingers go (one note per string). Click the O / ✕ markers on the left to switch a string between open and muted. Click a dot again to remove it. High e is at the top, the same way tab is written. Numbers on the dots show which finger to use. All 24 frets of your S621 are here, with the offset dot inlays.

Look up a chord shape

⚡ Power chords (the "5" chords)

A power chord is just two notes: the root (the note it's named after) and the note a fifth above it. That's where the "5" in F5 or G5 comes from. Often the root is doubled an octave higher too.

There's no third, so a power chord is neither major nor minor. That means it fits over almost anything. It also stays tight and punchy with lots of distortion, where full chords turn to mush. That's why rock, punk and metal use them everywhere.

The best bit is that it's one shape you move around. The fret your first finger is on tells you the chord.

Find any power chord

Root on

Tips

Only let 2–3 strings ring. Let your first finger lightly touch the strings it isn't pressing so they stay quiet, and keep your strum small.
Palm muting: rest the edge of your picking hand on the strings right by the bridge for that tight "chug" sound.
Moving between chords: keep your hand in the same shape and slide it. Relax your grip between chords.
Your sound: use the bridge pickup (switch position 5) and some gain.
Drop D trick: tune your low E down to D (pick Drop D at the top) and power chords on the bottom three strings become one finger laid flat.

Songs made of power chords

⚡ Power chord challenge

Plug in, press Start, and play the power chord shown. Fretlab listens and moves on when it hears it. How fast can you get?

Show fret hint

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Tuner

Play one string at a time

Press a string name to hear its note.

Chord detector

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Strum a chord and let it ring

Where your fingers probably are

waiting for sound

For a chord, it takes the notes it hears plus the lowest note and works out the most natural shape. For a single note (riffs, solos), every place that note can be played glows, and the one nearest where your hand already is gets highlighted. A pickup can't tell which string a note came from, so this is a best guess.

Scope

FRETLAB 50

AMP i

MY SOUNDS i

Looper

empty

Press Record, play a few bars, then press again to close the loop. It starts repeating straight away. Press again to overdub a new layer on top. Tip: count yourself in with the metronome.

Metronome

Click Tap in time with a song to match its speed. Practise new chord changes slowly, then nudge the BPM up.

🎧 Use headphones plugged into your laptop. Laptop speakers sound thin and the browser adds a little delay (shown in the input bar). Good starting points for your Quantum humbuckers: bridge pickup with the Lead or Metal channel, neck pickup with Clean, chorus and reverb.

Ibanez S621QM

S Series · Dragon Eye Burst · two Quantum humbuckers · fixed bridge · 24 frets

A thin, light S Series body made of meranti with a quilted maple top, and a fast, slim Wizard III neck. Two passive humbuckers and a 5-way switch give you everything from glassy cleans to heavy rock. The fixed bridge (no whammy bar) keeps tuning stable and makes drop tunings and string changes easy.

🌐 Product page 📄 S Series wiring 📄 Maintenance manual 📄 Fixed bridge guide

Body: Meranti, quilted maple top
Neck: Wizard III maple
Fretboard: Rosewood, offset white dots
Frets: 24 jumbo
Scale length: 648 mm (25.5")
Radius: 400 mm
Neck width: 43 mm nut · 58 mm 24th fret
Neck thickness: 19 mm 1st · 21 mm 12th fret
Pickups: Quantum (H) neck + bridge, passive
Controls: Volume, tone, 5-way switch
Bridge: F106 fixed, 10.5 mm spacing
Hardware: Black
Strings: D'Addario EXL110 (10–46)
Factory tuning: Standard E A D G B E

Your pickup switch

Position 1 is with the switch pushed toward the neck.

Volume is the knob nearest the strings and tone is the one below it. Rolling the tone knob back makes the sound darker and smoother, which is lovely on the neck pickup. Rolling the volume back a little cleans up a distorted sound without touching the amp.

Strings & tuning

String	6th	5th	4th	3rd	2nd	1st
Note	E	A	D	G	B	E
Gauge	.046	.036	.026	.017	.013	.010

Changing strings (fixed bridge)

Change one string at a time. That keeps tension on the neck even.
Unwind the old string and pull it out through the back of the body.
Feed the new string in from the back through its hole (ferrule), so the ball end sits at the back. Then bring it up over the saddle.
Pull it to the tuner and leave about 5–7 cm of slack past the post. Wind 2–3 wraps, top to bottom, without the string winding over itself.
Tune up to the note. If you go too high, drop below it and come back up, which helps it stay in tune. Gently stretch the new string and retune a few times.
Snip off the spare end.

Replace strings when they look rusty or dull, sound dead or buzzy, or won't stay in tune. Bent or kinked strings won't sound right, so don't reuse them.

String tracker

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Setup: what "good" looks like

String height (action) at the 14th fret

1.5–1.7 mmhigh E (1st)

2.0–2.2 mmlow E (6th)

Measure from the top of the 14th fret to the bottom of the string, with the guitar in tune. The strings in between should step up gradually. Each saddle on your F106 bridge has two small hex screws that raise and lower it. Too high and it's hard to play. Too low and you get buzzing and notes that die quickly.

Neck bow (relief)

0.3–0.5 mmgap at the 8th fret

Press the string at the 1st fret and at the fret where the neck meets the body, then check the gap at the 8th fret. Do this on both E strings. The truss rod sets the bow. Turn it a quarter turn at most each time, retune and recheck. Loosening adds bow and tightening flattens the neck.

Intonation

Tune up, then compare the 12th-fret harmonic with the fretted 12th-fret note on the tuner. If the fretted note is flat, move that saddle toward the neck. If it's sharp, move it away. Use a Phillips (+) screwdriver on the screw at the back of the bridge. Recheck this after changing string gauge or switching to drop tunings.

Never force anything on the neck, because that can damage it. If you're not sure, a guitar shop "setup" is quick and cheap. Very low tunings, or strings not made for electric guitar, can break parts.

Care & cleaning

After every session: wipe sweat off the strings (including underneath), frets, bridge and nut with a dry cloth. That's the best way to stop rust.
Stubborn grime on metal parts: use a soft cloth with a tiny drop of oil.
Body (gloss finish): use guitar polish on a soft cloth. Never use household sprays, solvents or anything abrasive.
Rosewood fretboard: it's unfinished wood, so a couple of times a year (handy when changing strings) wipe on a little fretboard or lemon oil and work it to the edge of the frets.
Batteries: none. Your Quantum pickups are passive, so there's nothing to charge or replace.
Big temperature and humidity changes move the neck slightly. If it suddenly starts buzzing, check the neck bow (above).

Summarised from Ibanez's S Series wiring sheet, Maintenance Manual and Fixed Bridge guide. The full documents are linked at the top of this page.

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Click any song to see its chord diagrams and links to the full chords, lyrics, recording and lessons. Chords are from common simplified versions of each song, and the diagrams are for standard tuning.