Unified Guitar Scale Pattern Visualizer

Explanation

Most guitarists are taught scales in a horribly complicated way. It’s typical to memorize scales in “boxes” with combinations of 2 or three notes per string. When you divide scales this way you have to memorize 4 or 5 or six “boxes” up the neck for each scale type. That’s too many shapes to memorize, which is too easy to give up.

I’ve been experimenting with easier ways to remember scales over the last year and independently came to a thing that metal guitarists have known for years called the Grand Unified Pattern. It’s absolutely worth reading that article, it’ll save you years of scale anguish. The tl;dr is: for any musical scale on any stringed instrument, if you limit yourself to a consistent number of notes per string, a symmetry arises at the least common multiple of 1) #notes in the scale and 2) #notes per string. at the least common multiple(notes in scale, notes per string) / notes per string. Therefore there’s a single “box” you can learn for any scale that applies across the entire neck.

I was corrected on the formula here by Keith Martin of Fret Science. --D

Let me say that again: for any scale that exists you can learn a single “box” and it’ll work acros the entire neck of your instrument. The article I linked above walks through it for the major scale and also shows how to derive modes from that same shape, which is a bonus.

Notes on the Method

1. For seven-note scales, the “unified” scale box is seven strings wide. Your guitar is only six strings wide – that’s why it seems like you have to learn a bunch of different shapes! But you don’t! Just figure out which note you’re on in the pattern and go from there.
   • Side note: One reason pentatonic scales are so easy on guitar is because they’re 5-note scales typically played in 2NPS. Played this way, they’re symmetrical over 5 strings, which fits nicely. The unified pattern still applies - the other “box” shapes you learn for a pentatonic are the same pattern, just starting on a different note. Learn the pattern, you don’t have to memorize the boxes.
   • This is also true of major/minor pentatonics: same pattern but minor starts on the 5th interval of the major shape. Try it yourself!
2. I’ve defaulted to a fictional many-stringed instrument tuned in perfect 4ths (like the bottom four strings of a guitar) because I find it helpful to think of the pattern symmetrically. On a guitar in standard tuning, this means that when moving up from the G to B string you need to shift the pattern one fret left, or one fret right when moving down. I’ve added a selector for standard guitar/bass tuning if it helps to visualize how the pattern shifts.
3. Modes are just scale patterns starting on a different note. This is easy in the visualizer - just click on a note or type the starting interval and the pattern will shift to start with that note but keep the NPS the same. It’s a handy way to help learn how the “shifting” works. But remember: modes are the same exact pattern! Just starting at a different place.

Next Steps

There are plenty of next steps you can take with this tool. For example, with traditional 7-note scales, you can learn to leverage the fact that the pattern natually moves you up the neck on guitar, combined with the fact that the high and low E strings are the same piece of the pattern, and you can move all the way up the neck “rotating” the pattern.

Another next step you can take is to learn the scales on one string (i.e. 7NPS for a 7-note scale). Then learn how to pick a random spot on the scale and start moving up strings instead of up the neck. The visualizer allows you to pick any NPS you want up to the number of notes in the scale pattern, so you can see what this looks like if that helps.

Notes on the Visualizer Tool

This tool was “vibe-coded” with Claude Code. This is my first greenfield coding project done in this way, and I have to say it was actually a blast. I never would have made the tool this polished if I’d had to write all the code - not from inability, but from lack of time or desire.

The current version of the source will be linked below the diagram. I’ve designed the repo to leave lots of breadcrumbs for Claude to pick up work so that I can work between sessions. If you’re interested in that workflow, check out the TODO.md and .claude/README.md, which are designed to provide agent context when working with the repo.