How to Read a Scale Diagram

ScaleSpace draws scales on a fretboard or piano keyboard using one consistent set of colors and shapes. This page explains the whole system: what the dots and rings mean, how a note shared by two scales is drawn, how positions narrow the neck down to one hand, and how to compare scales against each other.

Quick start

The whole tool is one screen. Pick a key, pick a scale, and it appears on the fretboard or keyboard — nothing to install, no account.

Pick a key from the row, then tap the scale name to choose a scale, mode, or arpeggio.

Tap + Add to layer a second (or third) scale on top of the first — try A minor pentatonic + C major.

Switch instruments any time; your scales stay put and re-spell to fit.

Tap any note on the chart to hear it.

Everything you set lives in the URL — bookmark it, or tap Copy link to share this exact view.

Reading the diagram

Every chart uses the same visual language on every instrument, so once you can read one you can read all of them.

Fretboard: nut on the left, frets numbered underneath, dots mark frets 3/5/7/9 (12 gets two).

One scale on screen: roots are red, every other note is blue.

Two or more scales: each layer gets its own color and shape — circle, square, diamond. A note in more than one layer shows as a split two-color dot with a ring — that's what the layers share.

A ring around any dot marks the root of that dot's layer.

Piano uses the same coding, drawn as dots on the keys instead of the fretboard.

Positions

A scale runs the length of the neck, but you play it in one place at a time. Positions filter the chart down to the notes under one hand.

Bass pentatonic and blues scales use the classic five-box system (P1–P5) — the one from the printed book.

Guitar gets named positions too (up to P1–P7) for 7-note scales — major, natural/harmonic/melodic minor, and the modes — one position per scale degree. A position that would run off the end of the neck is left out rather than shown wrong.

Everything else fretted — guitar pentatonics and arpeggios, ukulele — gets a simpler fret-range filter instead: pick a span like 4–9 to see just that stretch of neck.

Piano has no position concept; you always see the full keyboard.

Comparing scales

Comparing is what ScaleSpace is built for: two or three scales on the same neck at once, with every note they share marked.

Each chip in the top row is one layer. Tap a chip to change its key or scale; tap + Add for another (up to three); ✕ removes one.

Overlay puts every layer on one neck or keyboard together. Stacked gives each layer its own, lined up so you can compare shape to shape.

The position filter always follows the first (leftmost) chip.

Glossary

Scale: A set of notes, in order from a root, that a key or mode is built from.
Key / tonic / root: The note a scale is anchored to; every other note is measured relative to it.
Scale degree: A note's position in the scale (1, 2, b3, 4…) rather than its letter name.
Pentatonic: A five-note scale. Blues adds one more note (the b5) on top of it.
Mode: One of the seven scales you get by starting a major scale on a different degree (Dorian, Phrygian…) — same notes, different root.
Arpeggio: A chord's notes shown or played one at a time instead of stacked.
Relative major/minor: A major scale and the minor scale that shares all the same notes — C major and A minor.
Enharmonic: Two names for the same pitch (C# and Db). ScaleSpace spells each key the way a musician would, not just in sharps.
Position / box: A fret-range grouping of a scale's notes, sized to fit comfortably under one hand.
3 notes per string (3nps): A position system, used on guitar, that places exactly three scale notes on every string.
Overlay: Showing two or more scales on one neck or keyboard at once.