Octave shapes

You’ve mapped one string. Nobody maps the other five fret by fret — instead you learn one small shape that teleports any note you know to the rest of the neck.

The basic shape

The same note, one octave higher, sits two strings over and two frets up. This works:

• from the low E string to the D string, and
• from the A string to the G string.

Example: G is at fret 3 on the low E string. Two strings over (to the D string), two frets up (to fret 5):

e |-----------|
B |-----------|
G |-----------|
D |-------G---|   fret 5
A |-----------|
E |---G-------|   fret 3

Play both together — fingers 1 and 3, or 1 and 4 — and you’ll hear it instantly: the same note, higher. Rock and funk players strike this pair as a unit all the time; to you, right now, it’s a measuring tool.

Crossing the B string

The guitar has one irregular string: the B string is tuned one fret “lower” relative to its neighbor than every other string (a quirk that makes chords easier to finger — your tutor finds this trade-off very human). The consequence:

Any octave shape that lands on or crosses the B string needs one extra fret: two strings over, three frets up.

So the shifted shape works:

• from the D string to the B string, and
• from the G string to the high E string.

Example: G at fret 5 on the D string jumps to G at fret 8 on the B string.

e |-----------|
B |---------G-|   fret 8
G |-----------|
D |-----G-----|   fret 5
A |-----------|
E |-----------|

Don’t memorize the tuning math — memorize the two shapes: +2 frets normally, +3 when the B string is involved.

Mapping one note everywhere

Chain the shapes together, add the 12-fret repeat from exercise one, and a single known note floods the whole neck. Here is every G up to fret 12:

fret:   0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12
e   |---|---|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B   |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|
G   | G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-G-|
D   |---|---|---|---|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A   |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-G-|---|---|
E   |---|---|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Trace the chains: low E fret 3 → D fret 5 (basic shape) → B fret 8 (shifted shape). A fret 10 → G fret 12 (basic shape), with the open G string as its 12-fret twin. And the two E strings always match fret for fret — G at fret 3 on both.

Try it

1. Play every G in the diagram, slowly, lowest to highest. Count them.
2. Pick another note — C is a good one (A string, fret 3) — and build its map yourself with the two shapes. Check: you should find C at fret 8 on the low E string and fret 5 on the G string along the way.
3. Make it a habit: one note per day, found on all six strings, logged. Six days covers more than most players learn in a year.