The Little Red Dots

Our journey in mastering the fretboard starts with a single note. We might call this the Root Note - when constructing chords and harmony, The Tonic - in the context of a scale or melody, or Unisons and Octaves when talking about intervals - the space between notes. For the moment, what we are interested in is being able to find all tones of any given note name, all over the neck, by using these patterns. Doing this will help you connect the different box patterns of a scale across the fretboard.

Root Notes

When we construct a chord - the note we start from is called the Root Note and lends its name to the chord. For example, if our Root Note is C, and we construct a Major chord - we get a C Major chord.

The Tonic

The Tonic is the first scale degree - the first note of a scale. When playing a scale, you should start and end on the Tonic - as this helps establish the Tonal Centre - the tone a melody centres around. When playing a solo or lead line, keep returning to the Tonic for the same reason. You don’t have to begin on the Tonic, although it’s always a good choice, you will almost certainly end with one. Landing on the Tonic gives a sense of completeness and resolution. It is home. As with Root Notes, the Tonic lends its name to the scale - The Tonic of a C Major scale is C.

What Key is this?

These diagrams are intentionally agnostic to the key - it is down to you to apply them. The trick is to learn the note names on the E and A strings, find a note of the same name as the key you want to play and line up the red dots. These shapes are movable - you do not need to re-learn them for every key. If you haven’t learnt the note names yet - place the first red dot on the third fret of the E string - it’s a G.

Octaves