Learn The Names Of The Notes… All Over The Fretboard… In About 5 Minutes Per Day…
This is the single most important thing that you can do today to improve your guitar playing in all areas...
I was thinking about a question I often get asked… “what should I work on next?”
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed and work on a mixed bag of things. And it often makes it seem like you’re just spinning your wheels.
But there is one skill that you can develop – starting today – that will drastically improve your playing… you can learn the names of the notes on your guitar.
Funny story – I thought I knew my notes pretty well when I learned what you are about to see (I’d been playing guitar for over 15 years already!) I was wrong… waaaaaaay wrong.
There were all these “dead spots” in the neck that I didn’t know. Within a week of using this system I’m giving you today, all of those spots were gone and I noticed immediate improvement.
So why haven’t I shown you this before? Well, to be honest, you need to be ready for it. But by now you’ve done enough of the lessons that you know you need this. And that has to happen before I lay it in front of you.
So enjoy the video, it’s just under 7 minutes long. All of the downloads are below the player. But above all… make sure that you do this.
What finger should you use when learning the fretboard notes?
great Griff this is the first time i’ve seen it explained this way ! It makes lots of sense ! Thanx Stan
What finger should you use when learning the fretboard notes?
Doesn’t matter at all.
I got a “method” off You Tube based on BEADGCF, (Battle Ends And Down Goes Charlie’s Father). It assumes that most people will know the notes on both E strings and takes into account the 4th interval between strings except G to B. Worth a look…..unless Griff has issues with this “system”…..in which case, listen tonGriff!
Always struggled to find notes up the neck, Great way to practice and get the placement ingrained into muscle memory. Thanks Griff. This will help immensely with my BGU course.
This your California video. I put the note stickers on a wall hanger guitar and got my groove. They are basically the root notes to a cord. I play piano, the sharps /flats are the black keys. YES, sometimes I get lost.
Yup, this really works. I like the circle-of-fifths approach, which is just like I was taught many(!!) years ago for learning and practicing piano scales, arpeggios, etc.
looks good im going to give it a try.
I try and memorize the notes on the fret board but this looks easier.
Great system to learn the neck. A lefty version of the neck view would be helpful for those of us in their right mind!
Just an observation – I think we SHOULD practice finding the notes above the 12th fret. Griff says don’t bother because they’re just repeats of what’s below, but I don’t agree that it is so simple. So, I would say do all the notes up to the 12th fret, then do all the ones that you can reach above the 12th fret (some are not available depending on whether you have a 20-fret or 21-fret neck). No harm in trying, and the next time you’re playing in G up around the 17th fret you will know where you are without having to think “I’m 12 frets above the 5th fret” and do the mental arithmetic on-the-fly.
Cheers from Oz, ChrisG
Chris- 20 fret guitar?
Same note locations above 12 as the nut up to 8th fret- ﹰC on low e string. Practice down to 8th finger the nut and pluck the open string, jump up to 12th.
Great Exercise, I will start this next week when I return home, where my guitar is. Yes I k how it should be eith me out of town also, but could not this trip.
Great information Griff,
Great exercise on seeing the semitry of the guitar neck. I really think that this is valuable knowledge. I’m going to start this exercise tonight! Thanks!
Alexander
Hey Griff…Yeah I remember when you first sent this out a couple of years ago & I worked on it for awhile’ but it’s time to refresh. Thanks for the reminder.
7/16/18
Griff the man, always gives great advice. Knows his stuff, this is a good teacher.
Bob
Thanks, I’ll give that a try. Maybe I’ll be able to play faster ?
D’you know griff I used to be quite good at this but I’ve let it slip
Many thanks for the reminder
I’m back on it
I also used to be quite good at capital letters for names
I’ll try to sharpen up on that too
Unnecessarily overcomplicated. Just name and show the notes from A to G, including the sharps and flats. Talking about natural halfsteps et al is confusing and unnecessary.
Spot on Rustie. This is basic rote memorization due to the fact that notes on the fretboard are not laid out in a logically set pattern. Griff’s music degree rears its head now and then like when he throws out the notes on the Circle of Fifths. I’m a feel player and have always struggled with the academic side of music. That said, I like Griff a lot and think he’s a great teacher.
He has to point out the half step between B and C and between E and F. It’s good for us to learn some music terminology.
This is just for standard tuning. If you change the tuning you will have to remap everything.
Keep at it Rustie, you can do it.
Another good practice is to “always know what key you are in” This really gets the brain involved and I believe, helps make things absorb, Also, remember the names of the chords in that song you just learned, not just the shapes, you might need to show someone how to play it and it helps to understand the nature of the chords.
Knowing the Fret board helps you move around it. Listening, playing the correct notes,trains the ear. Theory is Knowing what your playing. All helps in being better guitar players.. Thanks Griff for HELPING us play better.PEACE be well
You spend to much time talking about what not to do than telling us what to do!
Can someone explain the benefit to memorizing the notes in the order of the circle of fifths rather than learning them in alphabetical order:a.b,c,d,e,f,g? Thanks.
The circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches (i.e., all the notes). So, it’s just a way of doing this exercise for all the notes. IMHO, it’s better to jump around, rather than do the exercise from A-B-C-D-E-F-G (just 7 of the notes – so you’ll missing 5 notes), or to do them chromatically as A-A#-B-C-C#-D… because you’ll learn the notes better. It avoids the crutch of doing the exercise one/two frets from the previous note.
Sorry for the silly question,, why do you use the Circle of Fifths?
Thanks Griff
I liked the example and explanation
Good idea
I bet there’s as trick
Before I know it I bet I would know the notes on the guitar
Thanks so much for the additional clarity. A sharp and B flat are the same note. Does it matter what you call it? Who cares!
Thank you griff: I have been your student for quite a while now. I am learning this. I got box 1 and 2 memorized. Still need to learn timing
Prolly my weakest skill. You have changed me from a campfire player to almost a regular jammer.
Thankyou again
This is great Griff! This is the most understandable way for me to learn the notes and patterns. Thanks much!
well, what is it? A flat or G sharp…the answer is always the same in any key – each consecutive step in the scale (1, 2, 3, etc) has a consecutive Letter name, That will always give you the “correct” letter. Yes, it’s true – B# and C are the same TONE, and if you play a C sharp scale, you WILL need a B sharp for the 7th step. That’s all there is to it…..
I THINK we need to do a deep dive on FREDDY KING, pretty soon! 🙂
OK..humor me in my ignorance of theory. WHY so you play these notes in the Circle of 5ths? Why is this important?
Thank
Great exercise. I agree it will be invaluable to making us all masters of the fretboard. Appreciate your insight regarding 60 BPM being the tipping point on becoming proficient. Thank you Griff.for such a great learning tool.
I don’t do this Daily, but I do revisit weekly to keep it all fresh and straight in my head.
Great excuse to practice alternate picking (or whatever right hand technique you’re working on) at the same time. Work on two skills at once!
I like this Easy to see where the notes are thanks
I liked this chart Easy to read and follow where the notes and how they flow from one to the next
Did this a long time ago and it worked real well. But OI lost it along with my spelling abut and my typing about two years back