Ab — fretboard note map

Every position on a standard-tuned guitar up to the twenty-second fret, with the notes of Ab major shown in the darker cells and the tonic shaded. Note names are spelled as they appear in the key of Ab, so the accidental in the key reads A rather than its enharmonic partner.

Tuning

standard (E A D G B E)

Key

Ab major

Notes of the key

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G

Frets shown

0 to 22 (open strings to the twenty-second fret)

Positions per string

23, including the open string

Notes outside the key

D, E, Gb, A, B

Enharmonic spelling

Ab rather than G# throughout this page

The neck, frets 0 to 22

Rows are strings, from the first string at the top to the sixth at the bottom, the way a chord diagram is read. Columns are frets. Darker cells belong to Ab major; the shaded cell is the tonic. Frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19 and 21 carry a marker.

How many times each note appears

Counted across all six strings from the open position to fret 22.

One string at a time

The first thirteen frets of each string, which is the range most playing occupies.

Reading the map

• The same note name appears on average 11.5 times across this range. The guitar repeats every pitch class at several positions, so a scale or a chord can be played in more than one place.
• The twelfth fret repeats the open strings an octave higher, and from there the pattern repeats. Anything learned in the first twelve frets can be shifted up twelve.
• Between the third and second strings the pattern shifts by one fret relative to the other adjacent pairs, because those strings are a major third apart rather than a fourth.
• The lowest note of the instrument is the open sixth string; the highest note shown is the first string at fret 22.

Other keys: C · C# · D · Eb · E · F · F# · G · Ab · A · Bb · B

Related

• DegreesAb — degree mapAb major and natural minor · frets 0–22
• KeyKey of AbAb Bb C Db Eb F G · Ab major / F minor
• ScaleAb major7 notes · 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Neck mapNote namesall twelve pitch classes, frets 0–22
• HubFretboard maps12 note maps, 12 degree maps
• ScaleAb major pentatonic5 notes · 1 2 3 5 6
• ChordAb11 — Dominant eleventh1 9 3 11 5 b7 · Ab Bb C Db Eb Gb
• ChordAb13 — Dominant thirteenth1 9 3 5 13 b7 · Ab Bb C Eb F Gb

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Everything in this key: Ab · Fretboard · Theory Atlas