Fretboard patterns you can move up and down the neck without changing shape — only the fret you start on changes the key.
Five notes, no half‑steps between adjacent scale tones on the same string, which makes it almost impossible to hit a "wrong" note. Shown here as A minor pentatonic (root on the 6th string, 5th fret) — slide the whole shape to any fret to get a different key.
Notes: A · C · D · E · G. Move this exact shape to fret 8 and it becomes C minor pentatonic; to fret 3, G minor pentatonic.
Add the 2nd and 6th degrees to the pentatonic box and you get the full seven‑note natural minor scale — same root, same position, more color and more places to land a phrase.
Notes: A · B · C · D · E · F · G — A natural minor, the relative minor of C major.
The minor pentatonic plus one extra note — the flat 5th, the "blue note" — landing right between the 4th and 5th for the scale's signature tension.
Notes: A · C · D · D♯/E♭ (blue note) · E · G. The green dots mark the flat 5 — use it as a passing tone, not a landing note.
Any major chord can be played using the shape of an open C, A, G, E, or D chord, moved up the neck and barred where the open strings used to be. The five shapes overlap and connect, covering the entire fretboard with chords you already know.
Once C‑A‑G‑E‑D shapes are barred and movable, they also map directly onto scale patterns — each shape has a matching scale box built around the same fingers, which is how players connect scale positions across the whole neck instead of staying stuck in one box.
Same notes as the major scale, different starting point — each mode has its own character.
| Mode | Starts on degree | In C major | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ionian | 1 | C–D–E–F–G–A–B | major, resolved |
| Dorian | 2 | D–E–F–G–A–B–C | minor, bright 6th |
| Phrygian | 3 | E–F–G–A–B–C–D | minor, dark ♭2 |
| Lydian | 4 | F–G–A–B–C–D–E | major, dreamy ♯4 |
| Mixolydian | 5 | G–A–B–C–D–E–F | major, bluesy ♭7 |
| Aeolian | 6 | A–B–C–D–E–F–G | natural minor |
| Locrian | 7 | B–C–D–E–F–G–A | diminished, unstable |