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Scales#

Scales tab: fretboard with CAGED boxes and suggested scales

A fretboard (frets 0โ€“15, string 1 on top as in tablature) with the notes of the chosen scale, in any key:

Group Scales
๐ŸŽท Pentatonics and blues minor and major pentatonic, minor blues (1 b3 4 b5 5 b7), major blues (1 2 b3 3 5 6)
๐ŸŽผ Major and minors major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor
๐ŸŒˆ Modes Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian
๐ŸŽธ Blues boxes B.B. King box (1 2 b3 4 5 6, root on the 2nd string; in A at the 10th fret) and Albert King box (1 b3 4 5 b7, at the top of the 2nd minor pentatonic box), each one also a string lower

Notes are spelled by scale degree (A Dorian = A B C D E F# G; the b5 of A is Eb, the #4 is D#) and have four levels of emphasis:

Note Looks like
root purple, bigger, with a halo
blue note (in the modes: the characteristic note) pink
third and fifth (the chord tones) filled light blue
other notes hollow circle
  • CAGED system: the neck is split into the 5 boxes of the C, A, G, E, D shapes (minor in minor scales), each in its own color. Click a box (or its band on the fretboard) to see it alone, then the boxes next to it to join them (e.g. Em + Dm = frets 5โ€“10); click the one at the edge to remove it.
  • Labels: note names or degrees (1, b3, 5โ€ฆ), which are the same in every key.
  • โœจ Suggested for "section": the box at the top reads the chords of the open section and proposes the right scales; one click sets key and scale. The key is the first chord; then it recognizes the typical progressions:
Chords Suggestion
I, IV, V with at least one seventh (A7 D7 E7, A D7 E7) minor and major blues, Mixolydian, B.B. King and Albert King boxes
minor i + IV7 (Am7 D7) Dorian
I + bVII (A G D) Mixolydian
minor i + bII (Am Bb) Phrygian
I + major II (D E) Lydian
minor i + V7 (Am Dm E7) harmonic minor
anything else the key that contains most chords (at least 2/3; sevenths on scale degrees count as secondary dominants)
  • Follow chords: turn it on and press โ–ถ (the button only appears in this mode). While the track plays, the notes of the current chord get a yellow ring, those outside the scale (e.g. the C# of A7 over the minor blues) a yellow dot, and the rest fades. Next to play: the chord and its notes (โ™ช A7 A C# E G).