Learning By Building
Grief. Focus. Tools. Vision. Action.
Good afternoon owls,
This one’s going to be different. No breakdowns today — just a real update on where I’ve been, and why the delay has stretched longer than usual.
As some of you know, I’ve been processing the loss of a family member — and I recently took a trip that gave me space to reflect and reset. That alone could explain the pause. But it’s not the full picture.
For the past year, I’ve been relearning guitar — and I built a personal tool in Google Sheets to help me actually see the fretboard.
The tool let me select a chord and a scale, and it would automatically show the notes and steps across the fretboard — a clear visual map that helped me understand where everything lives.
During that trip, before I showed the tool to anyone else, I was talking with my father-in-law. I told him, “I bet I could figure out how to turn this into an app and sell it.”
The reality: I’ve spent a lot of time and money on learning materials — videos, courses, apps — and most of them either overload you with scattered content or try to gamify memorization. They’re built to keep you engaged, not necessarily to help you understand.
This tool I built? It’s different.
It’s not a game. It’s not about levels or badges.
It’s a map — something you can use to explore theory, your way.
A visual layout designed to give clarity, not distractions.
Later on that same trip, I showed the tool to another guitarist — just casually, on my phone. After a quick look, he asked me what I’d charge for it.
That moment stuck.
When I got home, I kept building. I registered a domain — strategicfretboard.com — and spent a few days designing the site. I built two versions of the tool, set up a paywall, and tried to make it easy for others to use.
But the more I worked on it, the more obvious it became:
If I really want to make this usable and accessible, I need to build it as an app.
That realization is what pushed me down a new path.
And this isn’t just about a fretboard — it’s about learning how to build systems.
Because the end goal has never been just a music tool.
It’s about building the foundation for the next phase of Strategic Owl — a platform, not just a publication.
That includes:
A pocket Constitution
The T.R.U. OWL credibility scoring system
A searchable state-by-state database of elected officials and their positions
And more tools that help people see clearly, think strategically, and cut through distortion
The fretboard is just the beginning.
What I’m building now is the infrastructure for what comes next.
That moment didn’t just lead to a post — it led to a build.
That conversation on the trip — first with my father-in-law, then with that guitarist — planted the seed. But building the site, launching the domain, creating two versions, setting up a paywall, and realizing it still wasn’t enough — that’s what made it real.
So I kept going.
I enrolled in the Apple Developer Program. I submitted the app under the name Strategic Fretboard. And now, I’m learning what it takes to make something truly functional — not just for me, but for anyone who plays, teaches, or wants to understand guitar through theory.
If that’s you — stay tuned. As soon as it goes live on the App Store, I’ll share the link.
This isn’t about becoming an app developer. It’s about learning how to build what needs to exist.
This app isn’t the destination. It’s the first step in learning how to build the Strategic Owl platform from the ground up.
Thanks for being here — seriously.
Whether you read every post or just check in once in a while, I appreciate your time and attention more than you probably realize.
Don’t let apathy win. Fight the good fight, America.
Taylor Irby — July 5th, 2025
Independent Analyst: Data-Driven. Reality-Focused.
