Learning the fretboard

Can anyone tell me what they have done to learn the notes on the fretboard?

Similar student enquiries in recent threads with instructor guidance and student perspectives offered here and here.

[br]The answer to this ubiquitous question is, watch the tutorial. Put in the time and work.

I picked a note - C D E F G A B and while I watched TV I would pick one and play all positions on the fretboard. Once you have these down you will know where the sharps are.

Originally Posted by: William MG

I picked a note - C D E F G A B and while I watched TV I would pick one and play all positions on the fretboard. Once you have these down you will know where the sharps are.

I use the same method but not while watching TV :-)

I tried using shapes to find similar notes but that takes time to think about it and slows your playing down. Learning each note anywhere on the fret eventually uses muscle memory and you don't have to even think about it. Similar to chords, your fingers just go there.

Of course once you learn one or more notes your progress improves as you learn adjacent notes.

One suggestion I have heard is to learn them in little groups.

For instance, learn the notes E F and G in all locations / octaves. Or A B and C. Etc.

Ultimately, it's best to be able to identify each note individually, cold. But sometimes using little groups of notes can help.

Reading / sight reading is a good way to get there. It drills it into your subconscious, so that every note is immediately known as itself, without having to play any games or calculate.

If you haven't done any reading yet, try something basic like the Mel Bay books. They work!

-Carl.

Originally Posted by: jetaylor

Can anyone tell me what they have done to learn the notes on the fretboard?

The most successful approach I've used & seen with students is the octave method. In my experience, the biggest single problem is that students don't really have a grasp on the system of musical letters in the first place. So start with that basic system. I cover it here.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=11526&s_id=495

1. There are only 7 musical alphabet letters: A through G.

2. Most of them are 2 frets apart.

3. The exceptions are B-C & E-F, those are 1 fret apart.

4. The letters that are 2 frets apart have accidentals between them (sharps or flats).

That generates the pattern that repeats across the guitar (or all musical instruments).

A - (A#) - B - C - (C#) - D - (D#) - E - F - (F#) - G - (G#) - A

The point is that there is only one pattern of letters to learn. Then you apply it across the fretboard.

First learn the pattern of the notes on the E string:

E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]A |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]E |-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|

[br]Then, visualize octaves of the same letter on the E, D, & B strings. For example, like this for E, F & G:

E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]B |---|---|---|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|[br]G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]D |---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|[br]A |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]E |-F-|---|-G-|---|---|---|---|---|---|

[br]Next, learn the pattern of the notes on the A string:

E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]A |---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|[br]E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

[br]Then, visualize octaves of the same letter on the A, G & (high) E strings. For example, like this for A, B, & C:

E |---|---|---|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|[br]B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]G |---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|---|---|---|[br]D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]A |---|-B-|-C-|---|---|---|---|---|---|[br]E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|

[br]So you can learn the pattern of the notes on two strings an then repeat the pattern in octaves from there. Spend a little time of your practice session one week focusing on learning the notes of the E string. Apply it to the repeating octaves the next week. Learn the A string notes the next week. Apply it to the repeating octaves the next week. In a month you'll know all the notes across the fretboard.

Hope this helps!

Just to add to this... Octaves are a good way of figuring out the notes.

Eventually it can cause a bigger problem (like mnemonics does for memorizing string names). If we only rely on the "octave calculation" we don't associate the note names directly with those strings / frets -- since we always have to relate them to other strings / frets. What starts out as a short-term trick can become a long-term hindrance. [br][br]

It depends on how important it is drill those individual note locations into your brain and use them instantly. If you're doing a ton of sight-reading and complex jazz harmony on the fly, better to not rely on that octave trick.

For most players I am sure the octave calculations are enough! I have used them most of my 30 years of rock playing, but it has limited me. In the past few years I have dedicated much more focus on learning each string / fret directly. [br][br]

-Carl.