A few years ago I spoke with an old buddy while on holiday, who expressed a desire to improvise across the entire guitar neck. This appears to have been a goal which confounded him for many years. In fact, it was that very conversation which motivated me to start writing lessons for this website.
Of the many guitar players I’ve known throughout my travels, making use of the entire neck is not an uncommon limitation. When I first got started, just looking at the fingerboard with all it’s strings and frets was certainly intimidating. However by methodically breaking down twelve frets into groups, one can quickly learn the entire neck.
This lesson is an attempt to break down the guitar fingerboard into five distinct groups. Once these positions are memorised, and linked together, you will have the facility to play a major scale (and all relative modes) across the entire instrument.
There isn’t much to this lesson other than memorisation and technique. In the diagram below, I identify each note of a major scale by interval, with an additional fingering diagram for technique. If you’re left handed, you’ll need to horizontally mirror my diagrams. Also bear in mind, you’ll only need to memorise five strings, as the highest and lowest are identical.
Index = 1
Middle = 2
Ring = 3
Pinky = 4
When linked together, you can combine all five positions to cover the entire neck. For example, in the image below each position of a G major scale is circled and labeled with a specific color. Notice how each position partially overlaps with it’s neighbours. Once you finish with the fifth position, the cycle starts all over again with position one.
When improvising, this is how I visualize scale patterns; with one blending into another, all while being cognisant of what interval I’m playing. I would recommend first memorising the positions as geometric patterns, then try linking them together by continuously improvising up and down the neck. Lastly, work on memorising what interval each note is within the pattern.