I Love Guitar
Fact: there are 7 octave shapes on the guitar in standard tuning for 6 string guitars [not including double octaves that can be fretted]. They are the ultimate skeleton [the bare bones; frame to fill in; wrapper for any chord, scale, and/or arppegio] to understand the layout of the fretboard for any tuning. Octaves are a very effective way to see how the tones on the guitar are organized. We will base our studies on understanding each of the 7 octaves.
These shapes are consistent for every tone. Our example shown on the skeleton is for the tone A. And, we are labeling the root zero, rather than one [numerical chromatics; see tone naming]. The 'origin' - the chord forms - are within the grid showing all of the octave shapes on one fretboard, and labeled for each octave along the side of the break outs.
Once we know the octave shapes for any given tone, they are same for every other tone, and they always cycle in the same order.
An octave is an interval of an 8th, such as C to C, or A to A. It is a frequency doubling or halving of a tone (twice as fast or slow).
In Western music, scales are typically heptatonic (7 tones). Therefore, the completion of a scale, whether Major or minor or other, is the 8th, which is the same letter name, or tone, as the first. (Oct- means eight). Within an octave are 13 tones (13th completing), and 12 half steps.
In cultures using Pentatonic scales (5 tone scales) as their primary melodic & harmonic tone material, the 'octave' could be called a 6th, rather than an 8th. In 12 tone music (dodecaphonic), the 'octave' could be called a 13th.
Octaves can also be also rhythmic 'chords'. We fret these & mute the other strings, so we can move them around. The x's are the mutes.
Some are more difficult to mute & move than others. Here we are splitting these shapes into more & less useful (depending on how we use them).
FH = Fretting Hand.
The purpose of this learning module is to acquaint us with a process for understanding our fretboards. It is a series of maps and an explanation of what we are doing. And, our goal is to limit the number of maps we need, to know our board. And, ultimately transcend them and just jam. Some of us may not need any of this. Or, maybe, this will prove to be a powerful way to learn the board, to solo over any chord progression, and to bypass having to look at 1000's of maps.
Once we have the skeleton [noticing the CAGED cycle], we then fill in the shapes with different arrangements of tone groups. We 'divide' the octave shapes. Our exploration process will involve taking each octave and populating it with different tonal combinations [single tones, chords, arpeggios]. The idea is to exhaust the possibilities. When we do this, we not only really know it, but when we hear players use the same tonal material, it can become immediately apparent what is being played. We can become outstanding transcribers.
There are a lot of things that we can do with the maps. We can build chords and arpeggios. We can play scales. And, we can do combinations of these. Once we understand the maps, we apply them until they are pure knowledge [transcended]. For the breakouts, we are focusing on playing scales. And, we are doing the basics. In Soloer, we go in depth with this process.
Idea: Chords, arpeggios, and scales are the same tone group; therefore, they are the same thing, just different ways of articulating tones.
Scales are single tone playing. We prefer the term 'tone-groups', yet we will use both terms. For tone-groups, we will first be looking at and playing each octave at the nut [the origin]. We will first explore Major Pentatonic and the Major scale. These can be, but don't have to be, points of comparison for every other type of scale. After the origin at the nut, we will then move the shapes to the tone A. This way, we know how each octave works, for a single tone [A]. Once we know this, it becomes a process of changing the root tone [the zero]. And, we aren't locked into knowing something in just one place. We can play every tone's octave within a 5 fret span [a zone].
All of our octave mapping will culminate in Soloer. We will melodically [and harmonically - we can play chords during solos - or solo 'comp'] explore each in Soloer.
One of the main reasons we devised this process is so that we can think of what tones to play over each chord in a progression. This is in contrast to choosing one scale for a given set of chords. All of the chords in a given progression aren't always from the same family; therefore, we do need to know what to play over chords that are outside of the key, when they appear. When chords are all in the same key, we can make one scale choice. This is the easy way. Not too much thought goes into running around a single scale, knowing that it will work the whole time. There is nothing wrong with this; this is actually where we begin as soloers.
For the octave skeleton, we can clearly see the linear cycle of forms. Our CAGED cluster explains how to 'fill in' the octave shapes to create different types of chords.
Arpeggios are 'broken chords' and fall into two types: harmonic [ringing at the same time] and melodic [one tone at a time]. Some octaves have complete chords, while some are incomplete. Some octaves have fingerings which allow all of the tones of a chord [triad] to ring, and others that must be played melodically. It just depends on the octave. This will be become more clear as we move forward.
For each octave breakout, we play the octave melodically and harmonically. Then, we play the Major Pentatonic from the lowest tone to the highest, and then back down, without repeating the highest tone [this is 'academic tone playing']. Then, do the same for the Major Scale. Then, we improvise [this is 'experimental tone playing']. As we are doing these things, we take notice of the numerical chromatic tone number and the tone names for each. We also notice that the only difference between the Major and Major Pentatonic is that the Major Pentatonic 'lacks' the 5 and 11 [the tritone]. In traditional theory, the 5 and 11 are named the 4 and the 7. If more is needed on this topic, check out tone naming.
Once we get comfortable with each individually, we can join any of them together to create any type of pattern. And we can see how they join to create the traditional 7 Major scale patterns. We are promoting learning these in tandem, but favor the breakouts for a number of reasons we will explain in Soloer.
Our first task will be to play the octaves as scales, academically. By academically, we mean that we play the tones in order from the lowest to highest, then highest to lowest, without repeating the top tone. This is a training mindset. Following training, we then improvise with the tone group.
SINGLE DOWNS - pick single tones all down = 
SINGLE UPS - pick single tones all up - this is not common, but a good training exercise = 
DOUBLE DOWNS - pick each tone twice down-down (1, 1, 2, 2, etc) = 
DOUBLE DOWN-UPS - pick each tone twice down-up, (1, 1, 2, 2, etc) = 
SINGLE DOWN-UPS - pick single tones, down-up =
Once we are comfortable with this list, we focus our studies on Single Down-Ups [#5] and Double Down-Ups [#4 - we can also do 3's, 4's, etc.]. When we do Double Down-Ups in odd numbers, the pattern will alternate downs and ups for each new tone. Example, picking each tone 3 times, it will go down-up-down, up-down-up, etc.
- Down - We will sometimes see the staple - written in guitar materials for a down pick, but we won't use it. It's a staple.
- Up pick. This always looked like a down to us. Bye bye, carrot.
For each octave, we play every conceivable combination of tones. We play doublestops [2 tone 'chords'] and triplestops [whether triadic or otherwise]. For any combination, we can arpeggiate - play the tones individually, while holding a 'chord' [this will be playing them harmonically]. If we play the tones individually [melodically], we are essentially back to single tone playing. This is where the line gets blurred between these 'things' [chords, arpeggios, scales], and the statement, "chords, arpeggios, and scales are the same tone group; therefore, they are the same thing, just different ways of articulating tones", starts to makes more sense.
Before the breakouts, here is a picture of all of them. These correlate to the breakouts on the next tab.
Tones outside of the octave breakouts have been left off this big map. We add them once we know the inside of each.
We play this octave starting with the one finger.
It can also be played with the 4 on the 3 string and the 9 on the 2 string.
And, we can start the octave with the 2 finger, which would put the 2 on the 2 string. We cover this in depth when Soloer goes live!
We can start this octave with the 3 or 4 finger.
And, the 11 can be played on the 3 string.
Similar to the 3-1 octave, we play this octave starting with the one finger.
It can also be played with the 4 on the 5 string and the 9 on the 4 string. We would start with the 2 finger if those tones were on those strings.
The reason we start here with the one finger is that if we start with the 2, the origin doesn't allow for a -1 fret.
Once we move onto the board [all closed], starting with the 2 works fine. Soloer will explore both fingerings.
Similar to the 3-1 and 6-4 octaves, we can play this octave another way. Here, we are starting it with the 2 finger.
It can also be played with the 2 on the 3 string, the 7 on the 2 string, and the 11 on the 1 string [for this fingering we would start on the root with the 3 or 4 finger].
The reason we start here with the two finger is that if we start with the 3 or 4, the origin doesn't allow for a -1 fret.
Once we move onto the board [all closed], starting with the 3 or 4 works fine.
Again, similar to the 3-1, 6-4, and 4-1 octaves, we can play this octave another way. Here, we are starting it with the 1 finger.
It can also be played with the 4 on the 3 string [for this fingering we would start on the root with the 2 finger - in doing this, the only difference from the 4-1 octave starting with the 2, is the upper root tone]. The reason we start here with the one finger is that if we start with the 2, the origin doesn't allow for a -1 fret.
Once we move onto the board [all closed], starting with the 2 works fine.
We can start this octave with the 3 or 4 finger.
A is its own origin. C is shown on the next tab as a closed version.
This octave can be started with a different finger as well. Here, we are starting it with the 1 finger.
It can also be played with the 4 on the 4 string and the 9 on the 3 string [for this fingering we would start on the root with the 2 finger]. The reason we start here with the one finger is that if we start with the 2, the origin doesn't allow for a -1 fret.
Once we move onto the board [all closed], starting with the 2 works fine.