Identify Notes
Click any position on the fretboard to reveal the note instantly.
Fretboard setup
Build your view
Choose a tuning, then explore notes, scales and modes.
Highlights every location of the selected note across the fretboard.
Scale analyser
Find scales that contain your notes
Select between 5 and 8 notes. Exact scale matches are shown first, followed by scales that contain every selected note plus additional tones.
0 / 8 selected
Select at least 5 notes to analyse.
Tier 1
Exact matches
Tier 2
Scales containing these notes
Every selected note is present. Results with the fewest additional tones are listed first.
How to Use the Interactive Guitar Fretboard
The Interactive Guitar Fretboard lets you explore notes, scales and intervals directly on the guitar neck. Use it to find note positions, visualise scale patterns, compare scales and identify scales that contain notes you've selected.
You can also switch between guitar tunings to see how note positions and patterns change across the fretboard.
Guitar Note Finder: Locate Notes Across the Neck
Select a note to highlight every position where it appears on the fretboard. This makes it easier to recognise recurring note positions, identify octave relationships and become familiar with how notes are arranged across the guitar neck.
Use the Note Location feature to explore these relationships and practise finding notes across different strings.
For a structured approach using visual patterns, see Finding Notes on the Fretboard.
Guitar Scale Finder: Visualise Scales and Modes
Choose a tonal centre and scale to display its notes across the fretboard. Explore major and minor scales, pentatonic scales, modes and other scale types across different positions on the guitar neck.
This helps you see how scale shapes connect, recognise recurring patterns and explore different ways of playing the same scale.
Compare Scales and Explore Intervals
Use the scale comparison feature to see which notes two scales share and where they differ. You can also explore how notes relate to a selected tonal centre, helping you recognise interval patterns across the fretboard.
This is useful for comparing familiar scales, exploring modes and understanding the relationships between different scale structures.
For more on intervals and their role in music theory, see Interval Basics.
Guitar Scale Analyser: Find Scales From Selected Notes
Select between five and eight notes using the analyser's note buttons to find scales containing those notes. The analyser shows exact matches first, followed by larger scales that include your selection.
Use it to investigate the notes in a riff, melody or musical idea, or discover scales that share the same notes.
For more on how scales are constructed and how their notes relate, see Introduction to Scales.
Common Questions
How do I find a specific note on the guitar fretboard?
Open Note Location and select the note you want to find. The fretboard highlights every position where that note appears across the strings and octaves.
What's the difference between the Scale Visualiser and Scale Analyser?
The Scale Visualiser starts with a scale you choose and shows its notes across the fretboard. The Scale Analyser works in reverse: you select notes using its note buttons, and it identifies scales containing them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use the interactive guitar fretboard?
The fretboard has several features for exploring notes, scales and intervals. Use Note Location to find specific notes, the Scale Visualiser to display scale patterns, Compare to examine differences between scales, or the Scale Analyser to identify scales containing notes you've selected.
Choose the feature you want to explore, then use its controls to update the fretboard display.
How do I find a specific note on the guitar fretboard?
Open Note Location and select the note you want to find. The fretboard highlights every position where that note appears across the strings and octaves.
This is useful for recognising note positions, octave relationships and recurring patterns across the neck.
What's the difference between the Scale Visualiser, Compare and Scale Analyser?
The Scale Visualiser displays the notes of a scale you choose. Compare lets you examine two scales side by side, highlighting their shared and different notes.
The Scale Analyser works in reverse: you select notes using its note buttons, and it identifies scales containing those notes.
Can I use different guitar tunings?
Yes. The fretboard supports alternative guitar tunings, allowing you to explore how note positions and scale patterns change when the strings are tuned differently.
What do the interval numbers on the fretboard mean?
Interval numbers show how each note relates to the selected tonal centre. For example, 1 represents the tonic, 3 represents a major third, ♭3 represents a minor third and 5 represents a perfect fifth.
These labels help you recognise the interval structure of a scale and locate particular intervals across the guitar neck.
For a detailed explanation, see Interval Basics.
How do guitar scale patterns connect across the fretboard?
The same scale notes appear in multiple positions across the guitar neck. The Scale Visualiser displays these notes across the fretboard, helping you recognise overlapping positions and recurring patterns.
You can use these relationships to move between scale positions and explore different fingerings for the same musical material.
What are modes on guitar?
Modes are scales with different interval structures and tonal centres. The seven modes of the major scale are Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian.
Select a mode in the Scale Visualiser to see its notes across the fretboard. You can also use Compare to examine how different modes relate to one another.
What are exotic scales?
Exotic scales is a broad label commonly used for scales outside the most familiar major, minor and pentatonic collections. These scales may contain unusual interval combinations or originate from different musical traditions.
The Scale Visualiser lets you explore their note arrangements and compare them with more familiar scales.
Can I find scales that contain notes from a riff or melody?
Yes. Select between five and eight notes using the Scale Analyser. It identifies scales containing your selected notes, showing exact matches first, followed by larger scales that include additional notes.
Bear in mind that matching notes to a scale doesn't necessarily establish the key or tonal centre of a piece of music. Harmony and musical context also matter.
How can I use the fretboard visualiser to practise improvisation?
Select a scale to display its notes across the fretboard, then explore different positions and patterns while playing over a suitable chord progression or backing track.
You can use Compare to examine alternative scale choices and the interval display to focus on particular notes and their relationships to the tonal centre.
The visualiser helps you explore the available notes, while listening and experimenting will help you understand how they sound in a musical context.
FAQ: How many keys are there?
People give different answers to this question because they are counting keys in different ways.
One answer is based on sound.
The other answer is based on how music is written.
1Pitches and 12-tone equal temperament
Modern Western instruments use a system called 12-tone equal temperament.
This means an octave is divided into 12 evenly spaced notes. After the 12th note, the pattern repeats at a higher or lower pitch.
Those 12 notes are:
C | C# or Db | D | D# or Eb | E | F | F# or Gb | G | G# or Ab | A | A# or Bb | B
2Enharmonic equivalents
Sometimes, the same sounding note can be given two different names.
For example:
- C# and Db
- F# and Gb
- A# and Bb
These pairs sound identical, but they are labelled differently.
When two different note names refer to the same sounding note, they are called enharmonic equivalents. This term is most often used for single notes, but it can also be applied more broadly to other concepts such as chords that are spelled differently but sound the same.
312 sounding major keys vs 15 written major keys
Because there are only 12 possible sounding notes, there are only 12 distinct sounding major keys.
However, because some notes can be written in two different ways, some major keys can also be written in two different ways.
When we count major keys by how they are written in notation, the total becomes 15.
To understand why there are 15 and not more, we first need to understand how music is written a little.
4Basic notation: staff, accidentals, and key signatures
Music is usually written on a staff made of five lines and four spaces. These represent the letter names A to G repeating as you move up or down.
To show sharps and flats, we use accidentals:
- # raises a note
- b lowers a note
- ♮ cancels a sharp or flat
If we wrote these accidentals next to every note, the music would be cluttered and hard to read.
So instead, we use a key signature at the start of the music. The key signature tells you which notes are always sharp or flat in that key, so accidentals do not have to be written constantly.
5Why we choose sharps in some keys and flats in others
When writing a major scale, musicians try to keep the spelling clear and consistent.
A common rule of thumb is to avoid using the same letter name twice in a scale, such as F and F# in the same key. If we didn't, the music would become harder to read because the same line or space would represent two versions of the same letter.
This is one reason enharmonic spellings exist.
For example, the key we call Bb major:
Bb C D Eb F G A
This uses each letter once and has a simple key signature of two flats.
This key sounds the same as A# major. But if we try to write A# major while following the same rules, we are forced into:
A# B# C## D# E# F## G##
This introduces double sharps and makes the music far harder to read.
For this reason, we always use Bb major instead of A# major. This is also true for Eb major and Ab major.
The choice between sharps and flats is about keeping the key signature simple and the music readable.
6Where the number 15 comes from
If you list the major keys as they are correctly written in notation, you get:
C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#
F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
That is 15 correctly written major keys.
Three pairs sound the same but are written differently:
- C# major and Db major
- F# major and Gb major
- B major and Cb major
In practice, the version used depends on which spelling keeps the notation consistent with nearby keys and easiest to read.
7Relative minor keys
Every major key has a relative minor key that shares the same key signature.
For example:
- C major and A minor share no sharps or flats.
- G major and E minor share one sharp.
- F major and D minor share one flat.
This means:
- There are 12 distinct sounding major keys
- There are 12 distinct sounding minor keys
So in practice, there are 24 distinct sounding keys.
When counted by correct written spelling:
- There are 15 written major keys
- There are 15 written minor keys
So in theory, there are 30 written keys.
Final answer
- 12 major keys by sound, 15 by spelling
- 12 minor keys by sound, 15 by spelling
- 24 distinct sounding keys in practice
- 30 keys when counted by written notation
FAQ: Tonic? 3? - Interval Legend Explained.
The filter buttons control which note roles stay visible on the fretboard.
They do not change the key or scale. They only show or hide highlighted note functions.
1Tonic
The tonic is the home note of a scale or key. It is the note everything is measured against, and it is where things tend to feel “resolved”.
Think of it as 1.
2Intervals
An interval is the distance between two notes.
When we talk about scales, we usually measure every note from the tonic (1). That gives us a consistent way to describe what each note is doing relative to the tonic.
Intervals have two parts:
- the number (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)
- the quality (major, minor, perfect, diminished, augmented)
We use the major scale as a reference because it gives us a simple baseline for where 1 to 7 normally sit.
Once you know the major scale layout, any other scale can be described by comparing it to that baseline:
- if a note matches the major scale, it keeps its number
- if it is lower, it becomes flat (♭)
- if it is higher, it becomes sharp (#)
3Interval qualities
For beginners, it helps to know the two “families”:
- 1, 4, and 5 are usually in the perfect family (perfect, diminished, augmented)
- 2, 3, 6, and 7 are usually major or minor (and can also be diminished or augmented in some cases)
Examples using C as the tonic:
C major: C D E F G A B
Intervals
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C natural minor: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
♭6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A♭
B♭
C chromatic (every note): C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B
Intervals
1
♭2
2
♭3
3
4
#4/♭5
5
#5/♭6
6
♭7
7
Notes
C
C#
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
G#
A
A#
B
Semitones from C
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
In the chromatic example, some notes are shown with enharmonic equivalents (for example #4 and ♭5). These are the same pitch, just written differently depending on context.
4Understanding the overlays
Now that intervals make more sense, the legend on the fretboard tool becomes much more useful.
Two of the filters highlight:
- 3 or ♭3
- ♭5, 5, or #5
These matter because they form the backbone of triads, the most basic chord type.
A triad is built by stacking thirds from the tonic. This is called tertian harmony.
The three chord tones are:
Chord tones
1
3
5
From those tones we get four core triad types:
Major formula
Formula
1
3
5
Minor formula
Formula
1
♭3
5
Diminished formula
Formula
1
♭3
♭5
Augmented formula
Formula
1
3
#5
Just by looking at the 3rd and 5th, you can tell what type of triad you are dealing with.
That is why the tool highlights these intervals. When you are looking at a scale pattern, being able to instantly see where the 3, ♭3, 5, ♭5, and #5 sit shows you:
- whether the sound is major, minor, diminished, or augmented
- where the most important chord tones are inside the scale
- how the scale connects to the harmony underneath it
To apply these interval formulas to chord construction, open the Guitar Chord Finder and Analyser. For the underlying theory, read Guitar Interval Basics and Introduction to Triads.
5Characteristic tone
The major scale is the main reference point for a lot of Western music. It gives us a simple baseline for where the intervals 1 to 7 normally sit from the tonic. Once you know that layout, it becomes much easier to describe other scales by how they differ from major (or from natural minor).
C major: C D E F G A B
Intervals
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C natural minor: C D E♭ F G A♭ B♭
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
♭6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A♭
B♭
We can compare many scales to these two references. Modes are the best example. Modes are usually the same as major or minor with one interval changed. That changed note is often the clearest “flavour note” of the mode. I call it the characteristic tone.
Continue to the advanced modes explanation.
Major modes (compare to major)
C Ionian (major)
Intervals
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C Lydian
Intervals
1
2
3
#4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F#
G
A
B
Characteristic tone: #4
C Mixolydian
Intervals
1
2
3
4
5
6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E
F
G
A
B♭
Characteristic tone: ♭7
Minor modes (compare to natural minor)
C Aeolian (natural minor)
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
♭6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A♭
B♭
C Dorian
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A
B♭
Characteristic tone: 6
C Phrygian
Intervals
1
♭2
♭3
4
5
♭6
♭7
Notes
C
D♭
E♭
F
G
A♭
B♭
Characteristic tone: ♭2
6Characteristic tones in more advanced modes
Up to now, we have treated modes as variations of the major scale (or natural minor). That works well because those modes usually differ by one obvious note, so it is easy to say this single degree is the flavour.
The same idea applies to other scales too. Any scale can be treated as a parent scale, and you can build modes from it. The most common examples you will see are the modes of harmonic minor and melodic minor.
Once you move into these, things get a bit more complex. Compared to plain major or natural minor, an advanced mode often changes more than one degree. That means there is not always one single characteristic tone when you compare it to major or minor.
Because of that, it is usually easier to compare an advanced mode to the closest familiar mode, rather than comparing it straight to major or natural minor. You are looking for the new change relative to something you already understand.
Reference point
C major
Intervals
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
C natural minor
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
♭6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A♭
B♭
Example: Dorian vs Dorian #4 (Romanian minor)
C Dorian (mode of the major scale)
Intervals
1
2
♭3
4
5
6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F
G
A
B♭
C Dorian #4 (Romanian minor)
Intervals
1
2
♭3
#4
5
6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E♭
F#
G
A
B♭
Characteristic tone (comparison): #4
Compared to Dorian, the new unique note is #4. That is the quickest identifier for Romanian minor. To keep the Dorian feel, you still lean on the natural 6 as a strong anchor.
Example from melodic minor
Melodic minor has its own set of modes. These modes often look like major or minor with a couple of changes, so the best approach is the same: compare to the closest familiar mode first, then look for what changed.
A very common example is Lydian dominant (Lydian ♭7). It looks like Lydian, but with one important change.
C Lydian
Intervals
1
2
3
#4
5
6
7
Notes
C
D
E
F#
G
A
B
C Lydian dominant (Lydian ♭7)
Intervals
1
2
3
#4
5
6
♭7
Notes
C
D
E
F#
G
A
B♭
Characteristic tone (comparison): ♭7
Overlay note
For simplicity, the characteristic tone overlay only highlights the new unique note in the comparison you are making. Some modes technically have more than one flavour note when compared to major or natural minor, but highlighting every difference at once can be overwhelming. The point of the overlay is to show you the quickest identifier, not every detail.