Category Archives: All Lessons

Guitar lessons with a focus on theory and understanding the music that you are playing.

Lesson 8: The BEAD-GCF Pattern

Remember you can zoom in and out on the images in this post by pressing Ctrl + and -. This lesson builds upon Lesson 6: The Five Fret Pattern.

Five Fret Pattern 1st String

The Five Fret Pattern occurs because of the particular way in which the guitar strings are tuned 5 frets apart. The great thing about this is that it makes the guitar reflect fundamental patterns in western music. This is why I think it’s so important for guitar players to learn music theory for the guitar in a way that is specific to the instrument and not just a rehashing of piano lessons.

If you take any starting note and you keep moving up 5 frets along an imaginary infinitely long guitar string, you will eventually cycle through all the different notes (a real guitar string isn’t long enough but the same thing happens when you move vertically across the strings).

Guitar Fretboard Diagram

For example, start with the B note on the lowest string, move 5 frets to the right and you’ll find an E (or follow the Five Fret Pattern and move up to the next string). When you move along another 5 frets (or the next string using the Five Fret Pattern) you’ll reach the A note. If you continue following this pattern you’ll encounter all the notes in the following order:

B – E – A – D – G – C – F – A# / Bb – D# / Eb – G# / Ab – C# / Db – F# / Gb and then the pattern starts at the beginning again: B – E – A – D – G – C – F etc. It’s a circular pattern.

To help you remember this pattern more easily you can simplify it to:

B – E – A – D – G – C – F – Bb – Eb – Ab – Db – Gb

Pronounce the first four notes as the word BEAD and remember the next three with the mnemonic Get Carter For me (after the movie Get Carter). Finally repeat the first five note names but as flats Bb – Eb – Ab – Db – Gb.

Now look at the notes on the fretboard again and see how this pattern appears across the strings. Find the B on the lowest string, then the E on the next string, the A etc and remember that this pattern follow the Five Fret Pattern so it shifts over to the right for the two highest strings.

Pick another note on the lowest string, for example the A at the 5th fret. The next notes are D – G – C, then remember to follow the Five Fret Pattern by moving a fret to the right to find F and Bb.

This pattern is another tool to help you learn all of the notes on the guitar fretboard, but it will also help you learn the Circle of 4ths and 5ths, a fundamental tool for understanding music theory. The Circle of 4ths and 5ths will be covered in the next lesson.

Lesson 7: Scale Formulas

Remember you can zoom in and out on the images in this post by pressing Ctrl + and –

Five Fret Pattern 1st String

After the last lesson in which I showed you the Five Fret Pattern it is time to start using it to learn scales.

Most people try to learn scales by memorising patterns of finger placements. It’s a good way to learn scales but many people find it hard to break out of these patterns when playing lead or soloing. Since you can easily find scale patterns all over the internet and in many books I won’t do the same here.

Your goal for this lesson should be to memorise the scale formulas below and finding your own patterns on the fretboard using the Five Fret Pattern. The key of the scale will depend on the note you choose as your 0 point. So if you choose your 0 point to be on the 5th fret of the low E string then your scale will be in the key of A.

Try playing along the same string, on just 2 or 3 strings, in a 3 fret span across all 6 strings, basically in any way that you can think of. Play them both ascending up the scale and back down again (note that the melodic minor played in the descending direction becomes the natural minor). This will help you to avoid getting locked in the dreaded ‘box’ and give you freedom to play scales all over the neck.

All of the below examples are in the key of C.

Chromatic Scale

Note Names: C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B, C
Formula: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Major Scales

Note Names: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Formula: 0, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12

Natural Minor Scale

Note Names: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C
Formula: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12

Harmonic Minor Scale

Note Names: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, B, C
Formula: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12

Melodic Minor Scale

Note Names: C, D, Eb, F, G, A, B, C
Formula: 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12

Lesson 6: The Five Fret Pattern

Derek Trucks
Remember you can zoom in and out on the images in this post by pressing Ctrl + and –

I consider the pattern taught in this lesson to be one of the most important things you can learn in order to help your guitar playing. Once you understand this simple pattern your understanding of how the fretboard works will take a giant leap forwards.

One of the things guitar players struggle with when learning music theory is the confusing way in which numbers are used to describe different musical concepts. For example you may have seen how music intervals (the distance between two notes) are described with terms such as Major 2nd or Perfect 5th. As a guitar player it is confusing to relate these terms to the fretboard because they don’t describe the distance in fret numbers, something which you can easily count.

On top of that you might hear people use terms such as whole and half steps or whole and half tones. This is just another needless level of complexity that doesn’t provide any helpful insights. (In case you are wondering half tones and half steps are a distance of one fret and whole tones and whole steps are two frets distance).

In order to make things much easier to learn and help you understand the inner workings of the fretboard we are going to simplify things. By describing music intervals simply by counting the distance in frets between two notes you easily start to notice patterns that will help you learn chords and scales much quickly and you’ll be able to play them all over the neck with ease.

I call the pattern in this lesson the Five Fret Pattern. The pattern is found by placing your finger on any note on the fretboard, in this first example we’ll pick G# on the low E string. This will be our root note or zero point. Since we’re counting a distance we’ll count this as 0 (in the same way that the start of a ruler is 0 cm or inches).

Five Fret Pattern 1st String

So starting with your finger on the 0 in the white circle, count 5 frets along the string until you reach C#. Now you can also find C# on the 2nd string (the A string) where you see the number 5 in the white circle. The next string up, the number 10 in the white circle is the equivalent of moving 10 frets along the 1st string from the G# on the 1st string. So you can see how all the numbers in this diagram show fret distances from the starting point. Note how the number 24 in the diagram shows a C# but two octaves higher. (You get the next octave up every 12 frets. E.g. 12, 24, 36 etc).

As you can see moving up a string is the same as moving 5 frets along the string. This pattern is easy to remember because its easy to mentally count in groups of 5. The only thing you have to be mindful of is that because of the way the strings are tuned in standard tuning that the pattern on the highest two strings is shifted over towards the bridge by 1 fret.
In the below diagrams you can see what the pattern looks like when you choose your starting point on one of the other strings. Remember that this pattern appears the same way anywhere along the fretboard. All it does is show you relative fret distances.

Five Fret Pattern 2nd String

Five Fret Pattern 3rd String

Five Fret Pattern 4th String

Five Fret Pattern 5th String

Five Fret Pattern 6th String

How knowing the Five Fret Pattern can help you play chords and scales all over the fretboard

Now I’ll show you how this can help your guitar playing. If you know for example that the formula for a Major chord is 0, 4, 7 (0 is the root note plus a note 4 frets along and a note 7 frets along) then you can play Major chords all over the neck by simply placing your fingers on a 0, 4 and 7. (Or equivalents an octave higher. 0+12 = 12, 4+12 = 16 and 7+12 = 19).

Put your finger on a random place on the fretboard and see if you can visualise the Five Fret Pattern with the help of the diagrams. Now see if you can find a 4 and 7 or a 12, 16 and 19 that you can fret at once. Strum these notes and you will have played a Major Chord.

Now see if you can find chords using the Minor Chord formula 0, 3, 7 (Or on higher octaves 0+12 = 12, 3+12 = 15 and 7+12 = 19).

You can also use it to play scales all over the neck. Here is the formula for the Major Scale: 0 – 2 – 4 – 5 – 7 – 9 – 11 – 12. Choose a starting point and count the frets along the string (or on other strings using the diagrams) to find the notes in the scale. 0 is the root note, the next note is 2 frets along, the next one is 4 frets along etc.

Learning this pattern in conjunction with all the names of the notes on the guitar fretboard is one of the best things you can do for your musical education.

Video 002: The CAGED System or CAGED Chord Pattern

This video lesson shows you the CAGED System or CAGED Chord Pattern as I like to call it. This video can be viewed in HD. If you like this video please spread the word by pressing the ‘Like’ button at the top of the post. Thank you!

This video accompanies the lesson: The CAGED Chord Pattern You’ll be given the opportunity to download a more detailed lesson including diagrams for all the patterns and Major triads when you sign up to the GTR Newsletter.

Lesson 5: Moveable Chords Part 1: Major and Minor Chords

John Frusciante
Note that in all lessons on GTR the strings are numbered in a different, more sensible way than most guitar instructors and resources teach: Numbering The Guitar Strings

One of the great things about the guitar compared to other instruments is that you can move finger placements (chord shapes) all over the fretboard in order to get similar chords in different keys. It’s important to understand this about the guitar because I believe that many people become confused about music theory by ignoring this fact.

Unfortunately 99% of guitar teachers and resources still try to teach music theory from the perspective of the piano. I’m sure you’ve heard people say that the piano is the best instrument to learn theory on? Well that’s flat out wrong since on a piano you can’t even move a Major chord around the keys without constantly changing your finger positions. If you want to play the guitar then you should learn music theory from the perspective of the guitar.

In this lesson I’ll show you 4 basic moveable chords that will provide most the chords you’ll use in most pop and rock music. They are the moveable Major and Minor chord shapes. The photos are taken from my perspective as I’m looking down at the fretboard, holding the chord shapes with my left hand.

Moveable Major Chord

There are two moveable major chord shapes. In the first shape you place your index finger on the 1st string, your ring and little finger on the 2nd and 3rd string, but 2 frets down towards the pickups or sound hole. Finally the middle finger goes on the 4th string on the central fret. Below is a diagram of this chord shape.

To know the name of these moveable Major and Minor chords you just have to look at the name of the note you are fretting with your index finger on the 1st string. This is called the root note. (If you want to learn all the names of the notes on the guitar sign up for the GTR Newsletter for a free guide-book) You can slide this shape all along the 1st string to play different Major chords. An example of this type of chord is the A Major chord.

A Bar Major Chord
A Bar Major Chord

The second moveable Major chord shape starts on the 2nd (A), the low is E is muted or not played. Put your index finger on a fret on the 2nd string and either use your ring finger to hold down the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings two frets down or use your middle, ring and little finger to do so.

If you want you can play it as a full barre chord and use the other end of your first finger closest to your hand to hold down the 1st and 6th string as well but the root note is still on the 2nd (A) string. An example is this D Major chord. Again you can slide this chord along the 2nd string and you just have to look at which note is being held down on the 2nd string to know the name of the chord.

D Major Bar Chord
D Major Bar Chord

Moveable Minor Chords

The moveable minor chords are very similar to the Major chords. The first Minor chord shape is as follows. Index finger holding a barre across all the strings with the ring and little finger holding down the 2nd and 3rd strings two frets down. An example is this A Minor chord. The root note is on the 1st (low E) string.

A Minor Chord
A Minor Chord

The other shape is with the index finger holding down the 2nd (A) string, the ring and little finger holding down the 3rd and 4th string two frets over and the middle finger holding down the 5th string on the fret in between. An example is this B Minor Chord. The root note is on the 2nd (A) string.

B Minor Chord
B Minor Chord