Commonalities: The Big Picture

The Commonality Patterns comprise four of the five Diatonic Zones, omitting the V Zone. But even so, all the note positions of the every key are included. In other words, the entire fretboard can be distilled down to two fingering patterns, each one occurring in two positions per key.

The diagram shows all four positions of the patterns. The top grid shows the II and VI Zones — the bottom grid shows the III and VII Zones. They are separated in the diagram for clarity, since   they overlap. Notice the dotted lines indicating the Axis frets.

Play the green arpeggio paths first as ascending lines. The blue and purple paths represent isolated 3rds. See how the junctures between the patterns, on the 6th and 1st string (the highest fret position of one pattern to the lowest fret position of the next), are always either a whole-step or a major 3rd, i.e.; I to II, II to III, IV to VI, and V to VII. This will help navigating between the Zones.

The diagram below shows the background Zones of the Commonalities. The starred note positions correlate with those omitted from the Commonalities. The IV is left out of the VI and VII Zones, while the VII is left out of the II and III Zones.