Chromatic Areas.

[GuyBoden]

Using the chromatic scale.

You can organise your fretboard into five Chromatic Areas.

(Warning: I'd learn fretboard Intervals, Chord tones and Arps before attempting 'Chromatic Areas'.)








As you can see the pattern is repeated. There are only five patterns and five areas.

Below: "The 5 Pattern lines"

Pattern 1: C, Db, D, Eb
Pattern 2: G, Ab, A, Bb, B
Pattern 3: D, Eb, E, F, Gb
Pattern 4: A, Bb, B, C, Db
Pattern 5: E, F, Gb, G, Ab


Then Pattern 1 repeats.

[JazzKatua]

Using the chromatic scale.

You can organise your fretboard into five Chromatic Areas.

(Warning: I'd learn fretboard Intervals, Chord tones and Arps before attempting 'Chromatic Areas'.)








As you can see the pattern is repeated. There are only five patterns and five areas.

Pattern 1: C, Db, D, Eb
Pattern 2: G, Ab, A, Bb, B
Pattern 3: D, Eb, E, F, Gb
Pattern 4: A, Bb, B, C, Db
Pattern 5: E, F, Gb, G, Ab


Then Pattern 1 repeats.

Main structure is CAGED as I see it.

[Mick-7]

Main structure is CAGED as I see it.

What Guy laid out would be CAGED but guitarists I've known who play a lot of chromatic lines divided the fingerboard into sections of about 5 frets and their fingerings were suited to that, so they'd have 3 or 4 positions rather than 5.

Here are a couple of chromatic patterns from Slonimsky's Thesaurus with suggested fingerings:

[GuyBoden]

Personally, I've found that intuitively knowing the repeated "5 Pattern lines" is essential to using Chromatic fingerings.

Below: "5 Pattern lines" shown in C Chromatic scale.

Pattern 1: C, Db, D, Eb
Pattern 2: G, Ab, A, Bb, B
Pattern 3: D, Eb, E, F, Gb
Pattern 4: A, Bb, B, C, Db
Pattern 5: E, F, Gb, G, Ab



A simple descending Chromatic line using "Pattern 1" and "Pattern 2" would be this:

(With an additional 'E' ending note.)

[Mick-7]

That is major scale CAGED position oriented as JazzKatua said though, players such as Alan Holdsworth and Dave Creamer don't use it but most of us learned the fingerboard that way and changing our approach can be difficult.

[GuyBoden]

That is major scale CAGED position oriented as JazzKatua said though, players such as Alan Holdsworth and Dave Creamer don't use it but most of us learned the fingerboard that way and changing our approach can be difficult.

Yes, my "Chromatic Areas" can be viewed as being based on CAGED patterns.

I used 3NPS and 4NPS for many years. I was a big Allan Holdsworth fan, until the stretches hurt my hands.

[JazzKatua]

That is major scale CAGED position oriented as JazzKatua said though, players such as Alan Holdsworth and Dave Creamer don't use it but most of us learned the fingerboard that way and changing our approach can be difficult.

I mentioned CAGED since I knew about it around a month ago and see the similarity. I guess CAGED is an american system? Living in Europe I never heard about it before, so I'm not using it but can see the use of it.

[JazzKatua]

Yes, my "Chromatic Areas" can be viewed as being based on CAGED patterns.

I used 3NPS and 4NPS for many years. I was a big Allan Holdsworth fan, until the stretches hurt my hands.

Do you also use a combination of 3nps and 2- or 4nps? For playing bebop lines I'm trying out the combination.

[Bob_Ross]

You can organise your fretboard into five Chromatic Areas.

Perhaps this is just semantics, but to my mind calling these "areas" is misleading:
You've shown five different fingering patterns for the Chromatic Scale [sic] but any of those patterns can be played anywhere on the fretboard.

[GuyBoden]

Do you also use a combination of 3nps and 2- or 4nps? For playing bebop lines I'm trying out the combination.

I don't think 3NPS or 4NPS are good for playing Bebop. The chromatic notes are much easier to play within a CAGED type system of fingering in my opinion.

3NPS or 4NPS are very good for modern type playing, Fusion, Rock etc.

[Mick-7]

The 5 fret "chromatic" fingering approach is radically different from the CAGED fingering system, which is why I never completely adopted it. For example:

[pauln]

Not being a position fingering player; this seems peculiar to me; maybe I'm missing something about this idea?

Where's that video of the guy who takes a series of four or five (?) specific chromatic pitches (plays them on the piano) and proceeds to sound them on the guitar about 16 times, each with a different fingering in a different position, different string sets... called something like "Why your guitarist friend seems a little..." crazy or out there, or something?

Isn't the whole finger board one chromatic area?
Isn't defining subareas as positions confounded by string set allocation of pitches (a particular position includes multiple fingering string sets)?
Aren't chromatic subareas defined by scale or key name just inversions or modes of each other?
Doesn't theory consider that there is only one chromatic scale?

[GuyBoden]

Not being a position fingering player; this seems peculiar to me; maybe I'm missing something about this idea?

Where's that video of the guy who takes a series of four or five (?) specific chromatic pitches (plays them on the piano) and proceeds to sound them on the guitar about 16 times, each with a different fingering in a different position, different string sets... called something like "Why your guitarist friend seems a little..." crazy or out there, or something?

Isn't the whole finger board one chromatic area?
Isn't defining subareas as positions confounded by string set allocation of pitches (a particular position includes multiple fingering string sets)?
Aren't chromatic subareas defined by scale or key name just inversions or modes of each other?
Doesn't theory consider that there is only one chromatic scale?

To get to a chosen destination, maybe some of us need a map.

[pauln]

I am not seeing how this would be used to play.
If the problem is navigation on the finger board,
how's a picture of the finger board informative?

Is the foundation the chromatic scale or is this
starting with the area for "C", its scales and its
chord tones, adds, extensions, and alterations?

only five patterns and five areas - but just for C?
The note names of the pitches of these patterns
must change, as well as the positions, when you
move to the C#/Db chromatic area; 65 patterns?

Patterns are useful because constant structure.
These patterns' note's names change each area.

Could you provide an example how you use it?

[CliffR]

I am not seeing how this would be used to play.
If the problem is navigation on the finger board,
how's a picture of the finger board informative?

Is the foundation the chromatic scale or is this
starting with the area for "C", its scales and its
chord tones, adds, extensions, and alterations?

only five patterns and five areas - but just for C?
The note names of the pitches of these patterns
must change, as well as the positions, when you
move to the C#/Db chromatic area; 65 patterns?

Patterns are useful because constant structure.
These patterns' note's names change each area.

Could you provide an example how you use it?

Yeah, I agree. I don't see any benefit to this. Typically, I'll use chromatics to move from one melodic note to the other. The gaps between those notes are pretty obvious. No need to make a system out of this.

[GuyBoden]

Yes, these Chromatic patterns must be only for me. I've mapped my whole fretboard in most keys using this Chromatic Areas method. All the phrases I've been transcribing are found in these areas (and, that's a lot of phrases).

But, I've spent nearly 50 years playing guitar, so I already know intervals, arps and the usual scale stuff well enough.

I was originally taught Classical Guitar positions in the early 1980's. Then I used CAGED in the 1990's, followed much later by 3NPS and 4NPS patterns.

Mapping the whole fretboard is important to my style of playing, I don't play in one octave blocks, but maybe I should.

Knowing the intervals is a very big important aspect to my mind.



Warning: P4 tuning above.