To celebrate five years of existence, here are some insights and fun facts about Chords Haven and its creator – ME!
Why did you create the website?
There was a cocktail of reasons:
1. I needed a motivation to play the guitar more often.
2. It wasn’t easy to find accurate chords on the Internet.
(Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that my versions of chords are 100% correct.)
3. I was hoping that more people could enjoy the process of music-making.
How did you come up with the name: Chords Haven?
The name was inspired by a website that I used to visit in the late 90s for English song lyrics: Hit Haven. Back then when song lyrics weren’t as readily accessible, the website was a god-sent. The website is no longer around when I checked.
What does the logo design represent?
The logo is composed of an orange background with a fret diagram of the C chord.
Orange is the colour of my guitar.
C chord represents the first alphabet of Chords Haven.
What was the first song published?
It was published on 15/05/2008. That was one song. I could never have imagined at that time that the repertoire would one day swell to 1200+ songs.
What is the biggest challenge that you face in managing the blog?
Evolving html rendering engines and blogger interfaces!
Whenever major updates are rolled out, I will need to adapt my scripting methods to ensure that the chord alignments remain correct. And that almost always cause major headaches.
Is your job related to music/ music industry? Or are you just very free?
No, and no.
I am a chemist by training; I work as a teacher. On the contrary, I am often buried under heaps of work.
But I find playing the guitar and working on posts enjoyable. It offers a reprieve from the troubles at work.
However, there are hellish periods where I really can’t find the time or energy to respond to requests. Hence, my sincerest apologies to readers whose requests were not answered.
If you really want the chords to a particular song, here are some tips to increase the chances of it being answered:
1. Post requests on the facebook wall. Do not post on blogger comments.
2. Include reasons for why you need the chords for that song (e.g. performance, audition, proposal etc.) or why the song means a lot to you.
3. Re-request if not answered after some time.
Where/ whom did you learn to play the guitar from?
I learnt to play the guitar in secondary school when I joined the Anglican High School Guitar Ensemble. I had the privilege to learn from the very patient Mr Frankie Shi (who is still the instructor at the school!)
What guitar do you use to find the chords?
Unlike many musicians, I hail from humble backgrounds; I used to own two classical (prime) guitars – a Russell ($160) and Asahi ($80). Russell started warping after 10 years and broke at the neck at few years back. So it’s only Asahi for now.
Did you really come up with the blog design and post illustrations?
Yes! Besides music and chemistry, digital design is another of my favourite past times.
To all my readers: Thank you for your support and encouragements through the years.
Many Thanks for the great job u did ! It's a joy to discover chinese songs (im french), more with possibility to sing it ^^
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