Guitar Scales on the Fretboard
Pick a key and a scale and see every note on the neck — as note names or as intervals. Hear it, isolate one position at a time, and improvise over a drone.
A minor pentatonic
Tap any fret to hear it. Gold dots are the root. Positions start at each scale note on the low string, so position 1 is the lowest box.
Notes
Five notes, no semitones, nothing that clashes. The first scale most rock and blues players learn, and the one most solos are built on.
Play it over
Try it over Am or A7, a progression in A minor, or a 12-bar blues in A. Or turn the drone on and improvise over that.
Want a backing track instead of a drone? Loop a progression in the same key.
How to Use the Scale Explorer
- Choose a root note from the row of keys, and a scale from the menu. The fretboard fills in every note of that scale from the open strings to the 15th fret.
- Gold dots are the root. Use Intervals to replace the note names with scale degrees, which shows you the job each note does.
- Click a position to dim everything outside one five-fret window. That is the shape to practise; the rest of the neck is the same notes, repeated.
- Press Play scale to hear it up and back down from the lowest root (or from the root inside the selected position). Tap any fret to hear just that note.
- Turn on the drone and improvise. Start and end phrases on a gold dot.
The URL updates as you go, so a link like /scales?root=e&scale=blues opens straight to the E blues scale. Bookmark the ones you are working on.
The Twelve Scales, Side by Side
Here is every scale in the explorer spelled from A, so you can compare them directly. Read across a row and see which notes change. Each scale differs from its neighbours by one or two notes, and those notes give it its character.
| Scale | Formula | From A |
|---|---|---|
| Minor pentatonic | 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7 | A C D E G |
| Major pentatonic | 1 2 3 5 6 | A B C♯ E F♯ |
| Blues scale | 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7 | A C D E♭ E G |
| Major (Ionian) | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | A B C♯ D E F♯ G♯ |
| Natural minor (Aeolian) | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | A B C D E F G |
| Harmonic minor | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7 | A B C D E F G♯ |
| Melodic minor | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 7 | A B C D E F♯ G♯ |
| Dorian | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7 | A B C D E F♯ G |
| Phrygian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | A B♭ C D E F G |
| Lydian | 1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 7 | A B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ |
| Mixolydian | 1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7 | A B C♯ D E F♯ G |
| Locrian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7 | A B♭ C D E♭ F G |
Start With the Pentatonic
Almost everyone starts with the minor pentatonic, and for good reason. It has five notes instead of seven, and the two it leaves out (the 2nd and the ♭6) are the ones most likely to clash with the chords underneath. With those gone, it is hard to hit a wrong note. Position 1 fits under four fingers with two notes per string. It is the first lead-guitar shape most players learn.
The major pentatonic uses exactly the same five shapes as the minor pentatonic three frets lower. G major pentatonic and E minor pentatonic are the same notes. What changes is which note you treat as home. Play the shape over a G chord and land on G, and it sounds bright. Play it over E minor and land on E, and it sounds dark. Try it: select each scale in the explorer and switch the drone root between them.
The blues scale adds a single note to the minor pentatonic, the ♭5. It is a passing note. Slide or bend through it on the way to the 4th or the 5th rather than resting on it. Resting on it sounds like a mistake; moving through it sounds like the blues.
The Major Scale and Its Modes
The major scale is the reference point for everything else. Its formula, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, is the yardstick the interval labels measure against. That is why a minor scale shows a ♭3 and a Lydian scale shows a ♯4: they are being compared with major.
The modes are the major scale started from a different note, and on the guitar that is a useful way to see them. A Dorian uses the same notes as G major, but A is home. Seen against A major, though, each mode is one or two changed notes, and those notes are what you hear:
- Dorian is natural minor with a raised 6th. Brighter, and good over a minor chord that lasts a while.
- Phrygian is natural minor with a ♭2. That half step above the root is the whole sound.
- Lydian is major with a ♯4. Avoid the plain 4 and the scale floats.
- Mixolydian is major with a ♭7, the scale of a dominant 7th chord.
- Locrian has a ♭5, so its root chord is diminished and never sounds settled.
The quickest way to hear a mode is to keep the drone on one root and switch between modes. The notes that change are the ones to emphasise when you play it.
Chords From a Scale
For seven-note scales, the explorer lists the chord built on each degree by stacking every other note. In a major key that gives the familiar pattern of major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished: in G, that is G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, and F♯dim. These are the chords that sound like they belong together. They are why so many songs in G use G, C, D, and Em, and why a solo over those chords can use the G major scale throughout. The chord names link to diagrams in the chord library. To hear the scale over real chords rather than a drone, loop a progression in the same key with the progression builder.
How to Practise a Scale So It Sticks
Playing a scale up and down is necessary but not enough. Muscle memory for the shape comes quickly; knowing what the notes sound like takes longer. A routine that works:
- Play one position up and down with the metronome at a tempo where every note is clean. Speed comes later.
- Play it again in groups of three: 1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5, and so on. This breaks the habit of running the scale only in order.
- Turn on the drone and play four-note phrases that end on the root. Then end them on the 5th, then the 3rd. Each landing note has a different feel.
- Find the same notes in the next position up, and practise the shift between the two.
Do this for five minutes a day rather than an hour once a week. The daily practice routine picks a different scale for you each day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which guitar scale should I learn first?
The minor pentatonic, in position 1. It has five notes, no awkward stretches, and it works over most rock, blues, and pop. Once position 1 is automatic, learn position 2 and practise joining the two. Then the major scale, because every other scale on this page is described as a change to it.
What is the difference between note names and intervals?
Note names tell you what a fret is (C, E♭). Intervals tell you what it does in the scale: R is the root, ♭3 the minor third, 5 the fifth, and so on. Intervals are the more useful view once you start improvising, because a ♭3 sounds like a ♭3 in any key. Switch between the two views until the shapes make sense both ways.
Why does the explorer write E♯ instead of F in F♯ major?
Because every scale here uses each letter once. F♯ major needs a seventh note one letter above D♯, which is E, raised to E♯. Writing F would give the scale two F-letter notes and no E, which is wrong on paper and confusing when you read chord charts. The sound is the same; the spelling is what makes the theory readable.
What are positions?
A position is a five-fret window you can play without shifting your hand. The explorer starts one at each scale note on the low E string, so a pentatonic scale has five positions and a seven-note scale has seven. Position 1 is the lowest. Learn them one at a time, then practise sliding between neighbours.
What is the drone for?
A drone holds the root and fifth underneath you, so you can hear how each scale note sits against the key. The ♭3 sounds dark, the 4 wants to move, the 7 pulls up to the root. Improvising over a drone is the fastest way to learn what each note sounds like rather than just where it is.
Does it work in alternate tunings?
Yes. Choose drop D, DADGAD, open G or any other six-string tuning from the tuning menu and the whole fretboard is recalculated. Patterns you know from standard tuning move on the strings that changed, which is a good way to see why alternate tunings feel different.