Phrygian Dominant Fretboard Diagram

Phrygian dominant on the whole guitar neck

Every note of the scale from the open strings to fret 15,
named by its degree so the same map works in any key.

A fretboard diagram is the map behind every shape: positions, regions and licks are all pieces of it. Here each dot carries its degree, 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7, instead of its note name. Degrees describe what a note does in the scale, so once you know where the b2 and the 3 sit around a root, you know them in all twelve keys.

The player above opens on the full neck with the degrees shown. Switch to Notes to see the names in the chosen key, or press Play to hear the five neck regions in a row, from the nut to fret 13.

Where each degree sits on every string

The table lists the frets of every degree in E, string by string:
read it across to find a note, or down to see a string.

Each string carries all seven degrees between the open string and fret 11, then the pattern starts again at fret 12. Notice the gaps: on every string the frets of b2 and 3 are three apart, the augmented second, while every other neighbouring pair is one or two frets apart.

Finding the root in any key

Learn the roots first and the rest of the scale falls in around them:
two bass strings are enough to find them.

The root on the 6th and 5th strings anchors every shape; on the 4th string it sits two frets above the 6th-string root, and on the high E string at the same fret as on the low E. The table gives the lowest root of every key on each string; add 12 for the next one.

How to memorise the Phrygian dominant fretboard

Not all at once: one degree at a time,
always measured from the root you already know.

Start with the roots on all six strings. Then add the 5th, which sits two frets above a root on the next string up, and the 3rd. With 1, 3 and 5 in place, the home chord is everywhere you look. Add the b2 last: it is always one fret above a root, and it is the note that gives the scale away.

Say the degree aloud as you play it, with the player set to Intervals. Ten minutes a day for a week is enough to find any degree on any string without counting frets.