Giancarlo “Gianca” Facoetti

Hi - I'm Giancarlo Facoetti, the guitarist behind FaChords most people know as Gianca. I'm a software engineer and AI expert based in Bergamo, Italy, and I've been teaching guitar since 2000. I built FaChords originally as study support for my own students; today it's free and used by guitar players worldwide.

Here's the part that makes FaChords different from every other guitar site: I'm also a published researcher in human-computer interaction and interactive learning systems, affiliated with the University of Bergamo, with 30+ peer-reviewed publications (~360 citations). I've spent my research career studying how people actually learn through interactive software - especially serious games and interactive systems for rehabilitation and training. FaChords' tools are that research applied to the guitar fretboard.

To be clear and honest about it: my papers are not about music theory. What they are about is the thing FaChords is built on - designing interactive software that helps people learn. That's a background no one else in this niche has, and it's the principle behind every chord finder, scale diagram and fretboard tool on this site.

Credentials at a glance

• Artificial Intelligence Consultant - AI system design and building, trainer and consultant.
• Software engineer - builder of FaChords and its interactive guitar-learning tools.
• Researcher (University of Bergamo) - human-computer interaction, interactive learning systems, serious games.
• Guitar educator since 2000 - FaChords grew out of teaching real students.

Selected publications

A few peer-reviewed papers most relevant to interactive learning and HCI. The full list lives on my Google Scholar profile.

• Vitali A., Facoetti G., Gargantini A. - “An environment for contrast-based treatment of amblyopia using 3D technology”, International Conference on Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR), 2013.
• Gargantini A., Facoetti G., Vitali A. - “Measuring Stereoacuity by 3D Technology”, Workshop on ICTs for Improving Patients Rehabilitation Research Techniques, 2014.
• Colombo G., Facoetti G., Regazzoni D., Rizzi C. - “Virtual patient to assess prosthetic devices”, 2017.
• Russo D., Montecchi T., Facoetti G., Mariani M. - “Method and tool for the automatic reformulation of search keyword strings in document search systems”, 2017.

Find me elsewhere

• Google Scholar
• LinkedIn
• ResearchGate
• dblp
• AISBERG (University of Bergamo)
• Academia.edu
• MTNA Find a Teacher

Want to know more about the site itself and how it started? Read the story of FaChords.