A Dorian guitar reference
A little inspiration for your next session
Your chords.
Your next melody.
You know a few chords. Let’s find some notes to play over them.
Bring a song you love, or start with one of ours.
- 01 Add your chords
- 02 Find notes to try
- 03 Make them your own
Scales to try
Find a sound that catches your ear, then take it to the fretboard. Your chords come along with you.
No need to know the key.
Bring the chords you know, or try an example above. We’ll help you find a place to start.
Minor, with a brighter turn.
3 notes/string per form · active frets 5–10 · higher neighbor starts at fret 7 · 12 shared positions
Drag the neck to explore. The active form follows your view.
Read the active form as fret numbers
Fret number + note · from low E to high e · active form, with shared and neighboring positions below.
- 6Low E
- 5 A · 7 B · 8 CShared: 7 B · 8 CNeighbor: 7 B · 8 C · 10 D
- 5A
- 5 D · 7 E · 9 F♯Shared: 7 E · 9 F♯Neighbor: 7 E · 9 F♯ · 10 G
- 4D
- 5 G · 7 A · 9 BShared: 7 A · 9 BNeighbor: 7 A · 9 B · 10 C
- 3G
- 5 C · 7 D · 9 EShared: 7 D · 9 ENeighbor: 7 D · 9 E · 11 F♯
- 2B
- 7 F♯ · 8 G · 10 AShared: 8 G · 10 ANeighbor: 8 G · 10 A · 12 B
- 1High e
- 7 B · 8 C · 10 DShared: 8 C · 10 DNeighbor: 8 C · 10 D · 12 E
Chords & scale notesA Dorian · 7 notes
A Dorian
Minor, with a brighter turn. A favorite for spacious grooves and open-ended improvisation.
The natural 6th is the note that separates Dorian from natural minor. Start and finish a short phrase on A to hear it as home.
The small numbers under each note show its degree relative to A.