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!