Hi. Happy new year everyone.
Does anyone have any tips on memorising all the notes on the fret board or is it a matter of just spending as much time as you can repeatedly going over and over? Regards.
David
It's a matter of 2 things: learning to recognize the pattern & repetitious practice using & identifying it.
This lesson covers it.
https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson/11526
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. There are 7 letters and 5 accidentals. They repeat in exactly the same way over & again across the guitar.
A - (A#) - B - C - (C#) - D - (D#) - E - F - (F#) - G - (G#) - A
Apply them to the guitar in octaves.
First learn the pattern of the notes on the E string:
E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E |-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
Now, visualize octaves of that pattern 2 frets & 2 strings higher on the D string; 3 frets & 2 strings higher on the B string.
E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B |---|---|---|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|
G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D |---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|
A |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E |-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
Next, learn the pattern of the notes on the A string:
E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A |---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|
E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Now, visualize octaves of the same letter on the A, G & (high) E strings.
E |---|---|---|---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|
B |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G |---|-A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|
D |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A |---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G-|---|-A-|
E |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
So you can learn the pattern of the notes on two strings and then repeat the pattern in octaves from there.
Learn the pattern on the low E string. It's the same pattern on the high E string as the low E string. Fill in the accidentals along the way. Two strings done. Practice it using barre chord shapes rooted on the E string every day for a week.
Next week move it over to the D string. Next week the B string. 4 strings done.
Next week learn the notes on the A string using barre chords rooted there. 5 strings done. Next week apply it to the G string.
5 weeks all strings memorized!
Hope that helps!
edited
