A Single Movable Pattern on the Guitar
This post explains a simple way to use the guitar fretboard. With this approach, you can play in any key by knowing where the root note (“1”) is on the low E string and placing the same finger pattern there. If the next song is a blues in B♭, all you need to know is the starting fret for B♭ is fret 7 on the 6th string, and use the blues pattern, which means dropping a fret for notes 3, 6, and 7 of the pattern.
The basic idea
The major scale has seven notes. The guitar has six strings. Because of this, the seven notes do not line up in a straight line even if you tuned the open strings one note apart (you’re always one note short). Instead with standard tuning, they fold across the strings. When you look at the fretboard this way, the same seven-note layout you’ll see below appears again and again.
One useful way to see this layout is in a four-fret area of the guitar neck. This four-fret pattern contains all seven notes of the major scale. It works in every key. You move it by moving the root – a ‘1’ note in guitar lingo.
The four-fret pattern (example: F major)
In this example, the key is F major. The root note (1) is on fret 13 of the low E string. The pattern covers frets 12 to 15. The numbers show scale degrees. Dots mean the note is not used.
Frets → 12 13 14 15 ----------------------- e| 7 1 . 2 B| . 5 . 6 G| 2 . 3 4 D| 6 . 7 1 A| 3 4 . 5 E| 7 1 . 2
This same pattern works for every major key. Only the fret number for the root note changes.
Changing from major to minor
To change the sound from major to minor, you lower certain notes by one fret.
- Lowering the 3 gives a basic minor sound.
- Lowering the 3, 6, and 7 gives a natural minor sound.
The shape stays the same. Only a few notes move by one fret.
Finding the key on the low E string
The table below shows common major keys and the fret where the root note (1) appears on the 6th string. Once you know this fret, you place the same four-fret pattern there.
Key → F G A B C D E Fret → 1 3 5 7 8 10 0 / 12
Example: If the song is in A major, the root note is on fret 5 of the low E string. Place the four-fret pattern starting there and play.
Using this in real situations
This approach works for songs, jams, and rehearsals. If someone calls out a key, you find the root note on the low E string and use the same pattern. Scales, chords, and blues ideas all sit inside this area.
This does not replace other ways of learning the guitar. It is just one way to organize the fretboard so that key changes do not require new shapes.
Next steps…
Obviously, sticking to just 4 frets when your stuck in one key is a bit of a waste of the possibilities, so the next natural step would be to learn the next pattern up and down from this one.
That is, if you were to move to the next four frets above the four you are currently using, for the same key, where would the notes be…
Moving beyond a single four-fret area
Sticking to just four frets when you are staying in one key limits what you can do. The next step is to learn what happens in the four frets above and below the area you are already using.
If you move to the next four frets above the current pattern, while staying in the same key, the notes do not change. Only their positions change.
The next four frets up (same key)
Continuing with the F major example, the original pattern covered frets 12 to 15. The next four frets up are frets 16 to 19. This is still F major. The scale degrees repeat in the same order.
Frets → 16 17 18 19 ----------------------- e| . 3 4 . B| . 7 1 . G| 5 . 6 . D| . 2 . 3 A| . 6 . 7 E| . 3 4 .
This pattern connects directly to the first one. Notes that were on the edge of the original four-fret area now appear again inside the new area.
How this helps
By learning how these four-fret areas connect, you can move up and down the neck without changing key or stopping to think about new note names. You are still using the same scale. You are just using more of the fretboard.
The same idea works in every key. You find the root note, place the first four-fret pattern, and then extend it up or down as needed.
F major across the full neck (to fret 19)
Some players find it useful to see the full layout of a key across the neck. The diagram below shows every note of F major from the open strings up to fret 19. The numbers are scale degrees. Dots mean the note is not part of the scale.
Frets → 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ e| 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . B| . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . G| 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 D| 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 A| 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 E| 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1 . 2 . 3 4 .
This is the same information shown earlier, just spread across the neck. The four-fret patterns are still there. They simply overlap and repeat.
Once you can place the root note, you can see where everything else sits. Different players will group these notes in different ways, but the layout itself does not change.
The fretboard compared to a piano keyboard
The diagram below shows the guitar neck up to fret 19. This time the notes are marked the same way they appear on a piano.
White piano keys (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) are shown as unfilled squares. Black piano keys (the sharps and flats) are shown as filled squares (if you’re reading this in Dark Mode, the filled squares show as white – just remember they’re black!).
Frets → 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ e| (E) □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ B| (B) □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ G| (G) □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ D| (D) □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ A| (A) □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ E| (E) □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □
Middle C is a white piano key. On the guitar it appears at the 5th fret on the G string and at the 1st fret on the B string.
On a piano, the white and black keys run in a straight line. On a guitar, the same pattern is spread across strings and frets. The notes are the same. Only the layout is different.
Ready for something even better? Read on…