Any key. Any scale. By December. Built on one idea: the neck is a graph, intervals are vectors, and every key is the same shapes translated to a new root.
You are not learning 12 keys × 7 modes = 84 things. That list is the reason most players quit. You are learning two primitives and one operation: the nodes (where the 12 roots live on the neck) and the vectors (interval shapes that never change when you move them). A scale is a recipe of vectors; a chord is a stack of them. “Any key” is a single translation — slide the shape to a new root. Lock the graph and the vectors first, and the keys fall out for free. The soloing — the inference — is the last step, exactly like everything else you build.
Your address bar is the low-E and A strings (brightened below). Memorise the natural notes there cold, and you can locate any root anywhere using octave shapes. Only naturals are shown — sharps are just “the fret next door.” The one wrinkle in the coordinate system: crossing from the G string to the B string, every shape shifts +1 fret. Burn that in now and nothing downstream surprises you. Roots of C are marked in rust as reference anchors.
Each diagram is a real chunk of neck. The R is your root, fixed on the A string, 5th fret; the coloured dot is the interval. The shape is the thing to memorise — it’s identical from any root, on any string pair (just nudge +1 fret when you cross onto the B string). Fire them by shape, then name them by ear. The 3rds, 6ths, octave and the 10th are your Landau/Henderson money shapes; the 4th and tritone are the quartal/fusion colour.
Learn each shape in one key, then walk it through the cycle of 5ths — two new keys a week. The cycle isn’t arbitrary: each step adds one sharp/flat, so it’s the gentlest possible drip of new territory. When all twelve feel the same, you’re done — there was never anything to learn but the slide.
One repeatable template. On a busy day, run the core thirty minutes; on a good day, loop the middle three blocks longer. The order matters — load the graph, drill the shape, translate it, then make music with it.
Name notes on E & A strings, then fire 3 interval shapes from a called root. No instrument-staring — this is the graph load-in.
The phase's scale/chord shape, metronome 60–75 BPM. Slow and clean beats fast and sloppy every time. Physical commitment, not inspiration.
Take today's shape and move it to two unfamiliar keys via the cycle of 5ths. This is the rep that buys you 'any key'.
Improvise or comp over a backing track in the day's key. Use the shape musically — chord tones on the beat.
Record one 30-second take. Listen once. Note the single worst thing for tomorrow. Done.
Below the tempo where you make mistakes. The metronome is the boss, not your ego. Speed is a by-product of clean reps, never a goal.
Sequences and shapes run on commitment, not mood. On flat days you don't need to feel it — you start the pattern and your hands finish it.
Never learn a new scale when you can move a single note in one you own. The brain hoards variations of a known shape; it drops 84 unrelated patterns.
Don't memorise keys. Memorise the map and the vectors. 'Any key' is a slide on the neck, computed once and reused forever.
If it falls apart on the recording, it isn't yours yet. The take is the only honest judge in the room.