Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Are these basically synonomous or do they refer to different things?

There is not necessarily an industry standard. So, it's best to be as clear as possible & define your terms up front. But there are general usages as follows.

Box and shape usually refer to fretboard/scale patterns. As in "the A minor pentatonic box", or "the C major scale shape". The term box usually refers to a pentatonic scale because there are 2 notes per string & visualizing one of the pentatonic shapes forms a "box" due to the 2 "sides" formed by the notes & orthogonal "sides" formed by the strings on which you choose to stop visualizing the box. I cover that in my tutorial on pentatonic scales.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=296

Sometimes shape refers to finger placement, as in "an E major barre chord shape".

Form can refer to a fretboard pattern or a fingering pattern, as in "the C major CAGED form", or "the E major barre chord form".

Position usually means the lowest fret used in any given fingering or musical passage. As in "the G major barre chord rooted on the E string has the 3rd fret as the lowest position", or "the A minor pentatonic scale starts on the 5th position, or fret".

I've heard some players refer to shapes or boxes as position, but I try not to because that term already has a pretty solid traditional usage as the lowest fret used.

Hope that helps!