B — fretboard note map

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

Tuning

standard (E A D G B E)

Key

B major

Notes of the key

B C# D# E F# G# A#

Frets shown

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

Positions per string

23, including the open string

Notes outside the key

C, D, F, G, A

Enharmonic spelling

B rather than B 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 B 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

• DegreesB — degree mapB major and natural minor · frets 0–22
• KeyKey of BB C# D# E F# G# A# · B major / G# minor
• ScaleB 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
• ScaleB major pentatonic5 notes · 1 2 3 5 6
• ChordB11 — Dominant eleventh1 9 3 11 5 b7 · B C# D# E F# A
• ChordB13 — Dominant thirteenth1 9 3 5 13 b7 · B C# D# F# G# A

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Everything in this key: B · Fretboard · Theory Atlas