Blues Guitar Fretboard

Every note on the first 15 frets in standard tuning, set up for blues. The blues scale and minor pentatonic come first. Click any fret to hear it.

Key
Scale
Chord
Strings
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Root In the scale The chord shape shown below Click or tap any fret on any string to hear it

C Major

Pattern
Position
120 BPM

Finding your way across strings

    12-bar blues in A

    Each box is one bar. Change the key above and the chords follow.

    • Over all 12 bars, play the blues scale or the minor pentatonic in the key of the song.
    • Over the I chord, the major blues scale and the major pentatonic give a brighter, sweeter sound.
    • Treat the flat 5th as a passing note. Slide or bend through it and avoid resting on it.

    C major

    Shape
    Move

    Diagram

    How chords are built

      All 12 major chords

      Click a chord to select it and hear it.

      Fingers

      C major triads

      Shape
      Diagram

      Play triad picks the three notes low to high, then plays them together. It uses the Speed and Finger overlay settings from the Scales tab.

      About triads

      • A triad is a chord's three notes (root, 3rd, 5th) played on three neighboring strings. The shapes are small, move easily, and sit well alongside another guitar or a band.
      • On each set of three strings the chord appears in three orders as you climb the neck: root position (root on the bottom), 1st inversion (3rd on the bottom) and 2nd inversion (5th on the bottom). The cycle repeats 12 frets higher.

      Step 1 · Get a tab in

      Paste one

      Copy a tab from anywhere (a web page, an email, your notes). Then click in the box below and press Ctrl+V, or ⌘+V on a Mac.

      Open a file

      Pick a plain text file (.txt) with a tab in it, or drag the file onto the box below.

      Write your own

      Turn on recording, then click notes on the fretboard above. Each click writes the next note into the tab.

      Your tab is saved in this browser only; nothing is uploaded or shared. To keep a copy, use Copy tab and paste it into any text editor, then save it as a .txt file.

      Step 2 · Play it

      Rhythm
      120 BPM
      Play

      Click any note or chord in the tab to start from there. Set a short range and turn on Loop to drill a hard spot.

      How to read and write a tab

      e|-------0-------|--0--|
B|-----1---1-----|--1--|
G|---0-------0---|--0--|
D|-2-----------2-|--2--|
A|---------------|--3--|
E|---------------|-----|
      • Six lines, one per string. The top line is the thinnest string (the 1st) and the bottom line is the thickest (the 6th), the same as the default view of the fretboard above. The example is written for standard tuning.
      • A number is a fret. Press that fret on that string and pick it. 0 means play the string open.
      • Read left to right. The dashes are spacing. Notes further apart are usually held a little longer.
      • Numbers stacked in one column play together, as a chord. The end of the example is an open C chord.
      • | marks a bar. Letters describe technique: h hammer-on, p pull-off, / or \ slide, b bend. The player plays these as plain notes.
      • Type it by hand if you like. Keep all six lines the same length and line up the columns. For a longer piece, start a new group of six lines below with a blank line between.

      Every shape on these strings

      Click a shape to select it and hear it.