Major scale (Ionian): guitar patterns in every key

One window, four fingers

Every shape on this page lives inside six frets. Your four fingers rest over the middle four, one each, and the two outer frets are the ones you have to go and get: the index stretches back a fret for the lowest, the pinky forward a fret for the highest. Your hand does not travel. Which of the two you use is a matter of which way you are going. Climbing onto a new string you arrive with the index stretch, and coming back down you leave with the pinky stretch, the same note fingered the way the hand already sits. What changes from one scale to the next is which dots inside that window you play.

Slide the whole window up a fret and every note it holds is renamed a semitone higher, so one shape covers all twelve keys. That is the trade this site keeps coming back to: learn a shape once, then learn where to park it. If the window itself is new to you, the chromatic box scales teach it on its own before the major scale is involved.

Patterns #3 and #10: no stretches

There are twelve numbered shapes for this scale. The app starts with #3 and #10, and the reason is visible in the charts: neither one puts a dot on the shaded outer frets, so all four fingers stay over their own frets from the first note to the last. Nothing has to stretch while you are also trying to keep time.

Pattern #3 shown in G major

Pattern #3 is one of only two major-scale shapes with no dots on the Box’s outer frets, so all four fingers stay parked over their own frets from the first note to the last. No stretches, just Chromatic Box discipline. And the shape never changes from key to key; only the fret number under it does. Learn it once and every unlock after is the same fingers, one fret higher.

Pattern #10 shown in D major

The other stretch-free major-scale shape: like Pattern #3, no dots land on the Box’s outer frets, so every finger keeps its own fret the whole run. The dots sit differently, which puts each key in a second window, usually far from where Pattern #3 plays it. With both shapes down, any key is close at hand wherever you are on the neck.

Each chart is drawn in one key, and the number beside it is the fret your index finger rests on. The dots are identical in every key. Only that number moves, which is what the twelve pages below show.

The other ten shapes

After #3 and #10, the app adds the other ten shapes two at a time, fewest dots on the outer frets first. Each dot on a shaded fret is a stretch waiting for you, so the charts below get busier as you go down.

Ionian: First Stretches (#5, #8)

Your first shapes with dots on the Box’s outer frets: two on Pattern #5, three on Pattern #8. Each key still climbs a fret at a time, so the only new thing is one finger reaching while the others stay parked. Pattern #8’s run needs no stretch at all; its outer dots are there for when you play the whole shape.

Pattern #5 shown in A major

Pattern #5 is the first major-scale shape with dots on the Box’s outer frets, and it has only two: the index’s on the G string and the pinky’s on the D string. They are the same note. Going up you take it with the index reaching back, coming down with the pinky reaching forward, and every other note sits under a parked finger. In G♯ the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Pattern #8 shown in C major

Pattern #8 has three dots on the outer frets: the index’s on the low and high E strings, the pinky’s on the B string. Its root-to-root run uses none of them, so the Drill is stretch-free, like Patterns #3 and #10. The outer dots belong to the whole shape: play past the roots and that is where your fingers reach.

Ionian: More Stretches (#12, #1)

Four dots on the outer frets for Pattern #12, six for Pattern #1. Pattern #1 is a two-octave run with five stretches in it, four of them for the index.

Pattern #12 shown in E major

Four outer-fret dots: the index’s on the D and G strings, the pinky’s on the A and D strings. The run is one octave, played twice, with one index stretch and one pinky stretch each time. Let the reaching finger go and come back while the others stay put. In D♯ the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Pattern #1 shown in F major

Six outer-fret dots, three at each end: the index’s on the low E, A and high E strings, the pinky’s on the low E, B and high E strings. Its two-octave run has four index stretches and one pinky stretch. In E the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Ionian: Many Stretches (#7, #6)

Seven outer-fret dots on Pattern #7, eight on Pattern #6. Both ends of the Box get busy now: Pattern #6’s run has the pinky reaching four times and the index three.

Pattern #7 shown in B major

Seven outer-fret dots: the index’s on the A, D and G strings, the pinky’s on the low E, A, D and high E strings. The run is one octave, played twice, with two index stretches and two pinky stretches each time. In A♯ the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Pattern #6 shown in A♯ major

Eight outer-fret dots, four at each end: the index’s on the low E, A, D and high E strings, the pinky’s on the low E, A, B and high E strings. Its two-octave run has three index stretches and four pinky stretches. In A the Box sits at the nut, and the run keeps just one pinky stretch.

Ionian: Every String (#2, #4)

Ten outer-fret dots each, the most any major-scale shape has, with at least one on every string. Both are two-octave runs with eight stretches each, four for the index and four for the pinky.

Pattern #2 shown in F♯ major

Ten outer-fret dots, the most any major-scale shape has, with at least one on every string. Its two-octave run has four index stretches and four pinky stretches. Keep the hand parked: the fingers reach, the hand does not move. In F the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Pattern #4 shown in G♯ major

Ten outer-fret dots, like Pattern #2, but in a different window, so each key lands somewhere new on the neck. Its two-octave run has four index stretches and four pinky stretches. In G the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all.

Ionian: The Last Two (#9, #11)

The last two major-scale shapes, ten outer-fret dots each. Their runs are one octave, played twice: eight stretches in a Drill of #9, seven in one of #11. With these, you have all twelve shapes in all twelve keys.

Pattern #9 shown in C♯ major

Ten outer-fret dots, at least one on every string. The run is one octave, played twice, with two index stretches and two pinky stretches each time. In C it sits at the nut, where the open strings do the index’s outer fret for free and the run needs no stretch at all.

Pattern #11 shown in D♯ major

The last major-scale shape: ten outer-fret dots, one octave played twice. The run opens with an index stretch and turns around on a pinky one, so a Drill has three index stretches and four pinky stretches. In D the Box sits at the nut, and the run needs no stretch at all. With it you have twelve shapes for every key.

Six more scales for no extra fingerings

Take one of these shapes and treat a different dot as home, and the notes you are playing have a different name: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian. The modes are not new shapes. They are the same dots with a different note doing the work of home, which is why the app numbers a pattern by its shape rather than by its root.

The practical version: once these two shapes are under your fingers, every mode you meet later costs zero new fingerings. All the new learning is ear and emphasis, not hand.

All twelve keys

Same dots, different window. Each page charts both patterns at the frets that key puts them on, spells the notes, and lists the chords built from them.