Interval Shapes on the Fretboard: The Visual Catalog

The short answer: on adjacent strings, each interval sits a fixed number of frets from the root — minor third: 2 back, major third: 1 back, perfect fourth: same fret, perfect fifth: 2 forward. Learn the shapes on one string pair and they're identical on every pair except when the higher string is B, where everything shifts one fret toward the bridge.

The core shapes (root on the lower string)

Root A on the low E string; interval notes on the A string:

Read it as offsets from the root fret:

These exact shapes work on E→A, A→D, and D→G. Three of the five string pairs, one set of shapes.

The B-string shift

When the higher string of the pair is B (so the G→B pair), every offset moves one fret forward. Root C on the G string:

The major third lands on the same fret as the root here — which is precisely why open G major (G-B) works with zero fingers on those strings. The B→E pair goes back to normal shapes. One exception, one fret, always the B string. (Why? The tuning.)

Skipping a string

Two intervals worth knowing across a skipped string:

• Octave: 2 strings up, 2 frets forward (3 crossing B) — covered fully in octave shapes.
• Perfect fifth, wide voicing: 2 strings up, 3 frets back from the octave... simpler to remember as: the octave shape minus a fourth. If that's not clicking yet, skip it — adjacent-string shapes cover 90% of real usage.

How to actually internalize these

Don't binge the whole catalog. The sequence that works:

1. Fifths and octaves first (you half-know them from power chords).
2. Both thirds — they carry the major/minor distinction, the most audible interval choice in music.
3. Fourth and minor seventh — completes what you need for seventh chords and most riffs.
4. Drill from random roots on random strings until the offsets stop being arithmetic and start being locations you just see.