I am kinda like you I guess in that I am a visual person and I know all sorts of shapes and stuff on the fret board but very few of the notes. I have tried memorization but it doesn't really seem to hold, even if I can get my self to si down and right out the whole fret board it doesn't seem to transfer into an ability to quickly recall the notes or be able to dissect the notes of scales. I know that this is important because it wold allow me to quickly figure out what I shoul be playing when I am laying with other people with out just going, oh well they are starting with an A minor chord and I want to play rock so... A minor pent., this works sometimes but it'd be nice to be able to see a whole progression and the notes and then know which scales and notes I need to use to play with it.
How did you learn them, just memorizing, or is there better way I might try. This is something I really think is important if I want to progress but I can't get myself to sit down and just memorize, which like I said doesn't seem to transfer into playing very well.