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.
Sweet. Nice lesson griff- as usual. I just wanted to give my 2 cents and say I don’t know if I agree with the statement that you made when you said “don’t worry about the open strings”- it seems to me that if you include those too and do ALL the locations for each note it is a bit more thorough. Most of us probably know the open string names already but it seems more thorough to me if you include those too. This way if you make use of open strings in your riffs & leads you will be aware of what those notes are too.
IVE SEEN THIS BEFORE AND WHAT AN ASSUME LESSON. IT TOOK ME 3 WEEK LAST SUMMER TO MEMORIZE ALL THE NOTES. IN DECEMBER I HAD A RELAPSE AND NOW I NEED TO START ALL OVER AGAIN. OLD AGE , BAD MEMEORY.LOL. SO , PLAY IT AGAIN SAM!
RECAP! SPENT THE MONTH OF FEBURAY DOING EACH NOTE FOR 20 MINUTES A DAY FOR UNTIL I GOT IT . IT TOOK ME ALL MONTH TO LEARN THE NOTES LIKE I SAID BELOW THIS WAS FROM 2 YEARS AGO. JUST HAD AN MRI AND HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE . MY MEMORY IS SHORT. NOW I CAN’T REMEBER WHERE THE NOTES ARE ALL AT. I LIKE YOUR PERSONA AND YOUR VIDEOS. I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO PLAY LIVE AGAIN. SO I’M JUST PLAYING FOR FUN NOW. IT’S BEEN REAL HOT AND HUMID IN REDONDO , BY THE BEACH. SO IT’S TO HOT TO PLAY IN MY APARTMENT. YOU YOUNG GUYS , JUST STAY AT IT. YOU WILL REAP THE BENIFITS. GOD BLESS GRIFF.
How boring. And how utterly marvelous!! Knowledge and muscle memory can never be over rated. Fantastic practice sessions.
Thanks, Griff. I’ve seen this before, but it always seemed more complicated than you’ve made it. And I also think that the open strings should not be ignored.
I wouldn’t worry about the open strings because, if you’re playing a blues solo, there’s no way you can bend an open string. Playing an open string takes the bending option right out of the solo. How often to you use an open string when playing a solo? However, it probably wont do any harm to know the names of the open strings.
PHAT PHISH!! SERACH ONLINE FOR THIS FREE DOWNLOAD. YOU’LL LEARN EVERY SCALE AND ALL THE NOTES PLUS A WHOLE LOT MORE.
Griff: As always…..you’re the man!
Brilliant never thought or this thanks.
I don’t read music very well or tabs either for that matter (need to work on that) but the note names I do know mostly by association from playing barre chords. I might stumble a bit to pick them out real quickly at times but basically I know them. The associations I use are the octaves. Notes on the 6th string are found on the 4th(D-string) 2 frets higher, example 6th string (low E) third fret is a G note and the 5th fret of the 4th(D string) is also a G note . It works the same for the 5th string to the third string. For the octaves from the Third string to the first (High E-string) the seperated by an additional fret example 2nd fret on the 3rd string(G-string) an A-note the octive is on the 1st string at the 5th fret. This is due to the tuning of the guitar. Just have to remember the notes on the b-string. BUT it might be a good idea to work with Griffs excercises too. Keep Rockin’………..Z
Griff that’s a great way to remember notes from the twelfth fret and below! But since a lot of rock and blues is played on frets 12 and up, I feel it’s important to know the names of notes above the twelfth fret also.
Great exercise… However I agree with others about using the open strings. I think using those just reinforces the names of the open strings….. Thanks for another great lesson
Griff Thankyou for posting this again it is something I really struggle at. I have redownloaded and will keep trying to practise them as I know how important it is to know the names and locations ofte notes if I want to improve my playing skill. Merry christmas and Happy Newyear to you and your family. And thanks again for never giving up on your many students.
The fret board is a map, and it is best to think of it as you would other maps.
If you didn’t know where Apple St. was but you knew how to get to Main St. and were told that Apple was two blocks north of Main St. you now have enough information to get to Apple St. Main St. is your way point. This works the same way on the fret board. If you know where C is you know where D is (if you know your basic theory of whole and half steps.)
Years ago when I started learning barre chords I wrote the notes on the 6th and 5th string on a strip of paper and taped it on above my PC monitor at work and at home. All day long I was looking at it even though I wasn’t actively ‘studying’ it.
I’m also a numbers guy, and I always think a huge project needs to be broken down in many mini projects. Otherwise the task at hand will seem too overwhelming to achieve. I have also found that people know more than they think they know.
Six strings and 12 frets is equal to 72 notes. Might seem like a lot at first. If you know your barre chords on the 6th and 5th string then you know all the notes on the 6th and 5th and 1st strings, since the 6th and 1st are both tuned to E. That is 3 out of 6 strings, 36 notes or 50%. You haven’t even started yet and already you know 50% of the material. All that is left to learn are the notes on 3 strings, D G &B. Now, if you’ve been playing for a while I would expect you to know all the notes on the first 3 frets, those cover all the open chords. If you’ve ever tuned a guitar by ear matching the 5th fret (4th fret on the G) to the open string below it, then you also know the notes on the 5th fret as well. If you know up to the 3rd fret and the 5th fret, then by default you know the 4th fret. That’s 15 additional notes that you probably know, add 3 because you know the 12 fret if you know the open strings. 36 and 15 and 3 is 54, 54 notes out of 72 is 75%.
When seen in this light, your goal should be pretty easy to attain, right?
18 frets left to learn 3 strings (D G&B) frets 6 through 11. I called this my no man’s land on my mental map.. lol But if I knew the 5th fret then it’s a whole step to the 7th, and if I knew the 12th fret then it’s a whole step to the 10th. The 6th and 11th fall into place and slowly but surely you whittle down what is in the don’t know field.
The hardest thing for me is above the 12 fret. We live in a base 10 society. And for years when I saw a tab that had the number 15 on the E string I would be thinking A (5th fret plus 10) and not G (3rd fret plus 12)
There are dozens of apps out there that will help you learn the fret board so you can practice guitar without the guitar.
Soon enough you’ll be able to get to Apple St without having to think of Main St. as a way point. You won’t need directions. You’ll just go there automatically because you’ll see it in your mind before ever arriving at your destination. The fret board works the same way.
The simplest thing for me is knowing that the 12th fret is just the octave of the open string. Then the 13th fret on up is simply repeating 1 through 12 (assuming a 24 fret fretboard, or 1 through 10 assuming a 22 fret fretboard, on each string. So the 24th fret would be 2 octaves of the open string. The 22nd fret is the octave of the 10th fret. Works for me.
Gr
eat lesson, simple but I agree that is absolutely necessary for every guitarist to learn or you find yourself FUMBLING all over the fretboard. Thanks Griff
Great lesson, simple but I agree that is absolutely necessary for every guitarist to learn or you find yourself FUMBLING all over the fretboard. Thanks Griff
I read about an easy way to remember the open strings. (eadgbe) It goes “Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie!” This is from the book ” Guitar For Dummies” written by Mark Phillips and Jon Chappell.
One of the things I noticed a few years ago is that at the seventh fret starting from the 6th string, the notes are the word BEAD down to the third string. Everywhere on the neck that you have a B there is an E next door and where there is an E there is an A next door and so on. Things go a bit funny between the third and second strings because of the way the guitar is tuned.
Another thing that is well known to bass players, is that right next to the note on the 6th string is the 4th of the note on the 6th string and up two frets on the 5th string from the 4th is the 5th of the first note. Therefore, if we hit the G note on the sixth string, next to it on the 5th is C and up two frets on the fifth string is the 5th, D. Of course, these three notes are the one, four and five chords of the key of G and so on all over the neck. Put your finger on the C note on the 5th string and next to it on the fourth is F and up two frets is G. Next to the F on the third fret is Bb, up two frets on the third is C and you have the F triad, and so on.
As someone else said, if you know the notes on the 6th string you already know all the notes on the 1st string and the note on the first string is the fourth of the note on the second string and up two frets on the first string is the fifth of the note on the second string. For example, put your finger on the C note on the first string at the 8th fret..On the second string next door is G of which C is the fourth and up two frets from the C on the first is D which is the fifth of the G.
Griff’s method will teach you the notes more logically but if you are stuck, the above clues will really help you out.
Griff…Great stuff, Thank you!
Great info.
Thanks Griff
Memorizing licks is fine if all you want to do is repeat what other artists have created but if you ever want to communicate with other band members or create your own sound you will need to know what the notes are and where they are. Griff is trying to teach a method that gives you the freedom to work in any context (by yourself or with other musicians). This isn’t intended to be a knock on your playing, it’s just an attempt to answer your “WHY/HOW?” – (check out the #19 Richard Ramirez response below)
The one thing that’s missing about the need to learn all of the notes is WHY? How does one PUT IT TO USE?
I play almost 100% by learning licks. Don’t need to know a single note to learn a lick, where it works in a blues progression, or which other licks work with it.
Memorizing licks is fine if all you want to do is repeat what other artists have created but if you ever want to communicate with other band members or create your own sound you will need to know what the notes are and where they are. Griff is trying to teach a method that gives you the freedom to work in any context (by yourself or with other musicians). This isn’t intended to be a knock on your playing, it’s just an attempt to answer your “WHY/HOW?” – (check out the #19 Richard Ramirez response below)
You have a video for Macs and one for Winows, but you don’t have one for Ubuntu
I run Gentoo (as well as Mac and Windows) and the videos play fine without having to do anything. Your default media player should just work.
I”ll use it everyday
I’ve heard of this type of exercise before but never gave it much thought. Because of the band I’m in now, I am moving in more of a Smooth Jazz direction ie: David Sanborn, The Crusaders, The Meters, Grover Washington Jr. … I can see where this knowledge can be of great help to me. I’m also just now learning scales. I’ve been playing guitar for 50 years now and have been playing lead guitar for the majority of that 50 years. People who hear me play lead think I know scales. I pretty much just guess right a lot of the time ( I thank the Creator for the ear I was blessed with) and have learned by ear patterns that work in a given key. Of course a pattern learned in the key of E is easily transposed to the key of F by moving the pattern up a half step. Learning where the individual notes are anywhere on the neck will help me immensely. Thank you for the exercise.
Great lesson Griff ! Thank you.
Great lesson, Griff! I plan to put it into action right away.
Cool lesson. Aways nice to learn new ways to to get to know the fret board.
how u know what I am working on or so all your emails you send are about what ever I am working on thanks im not so shur but you must be able to read minds lol grate LESSON
Type this twice and lost it so keep it short now it is 4oclock in the morning start using a bass at the local blues club apparently I’m a natural at it but what happened was I very quickly learned most of the notes on the fret board and it has made 6stringplaying easier after all if you know your note names you don’t get lost so easerly ps if your looking for a solo and can’t the odd notes run down the major scale and your pro my fix those elusive notes your missin up shot of this story is I enjoy the bass never realised what a awesome instrument it was and I have upmost respect for bass players now don’t worry I won’t forsake my first love the six string rock machine has anyone else noticed rocky music is blues played at a faster pace griff or should I say teach there’s not a better teacher than you never know we might meet one day
Great stuff from you again Griff. Thanks. Funny thing just today at church I was following along in the hymnal with a Christmas song we were singing and as I did this my mind wandered off to reading the notes and trying to figure out where I would play them on the guitar neck. We all know there many answers to that question but maybe in a future note you might lend us some of your insight on what is the best choice. Thanks a million and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Great lesson. I will persevere. I have a question if it is permitted. Wacky things like this pop up every so often.
If guitar strings were conical in shape rather than cylindrical, would the fret bars be evenly spaced along the fretboard, and would the larger end of the string be at the bridge or the nut?
Hi Griff, I’ve been trying to learn the notes on my guitar for weeks now. Been using an interactive fret board on line, it’s good but I can’t seem to take it all in. Just read your email and tried your way. I am amazed at how much easier your way is. Only been trying for 5 minutes and I already know where note C is on all six strings. Fantastic. Thanks for all your email lessons. Looking forward to the next.
Yes it does take some time to learn the notes on stringed instruments unlike the piano. The underlying beauty of this exercise is that you are learning much more than just where the notes are located on the fretboard. When you start to the chord tones for arpegios and improvisations you already have that info under your belt.
Day 2, I now know C and G up and down the fret board. Great
Yes a great way to learn the fretboard. I like to think of them as numbers, the sequences can then be memorized without the need for guitar in hands for example C would be (starting on the low E) 8 3 10 5 1 8. Then D would be just add 2 to each number. Eb just add another 1 to each number etc, etc, yes it is best to leave the open strings out then there is only 1 of each note on each string. Just my 2 cents for what its worth.
While doing this exercise, it’s a good idea to become aware of the circle (or line) of fifths. As you go up to the next key, you are adding one # to the key signature. For example, the key of C has no sharps. The key of G has 1 # (F#). The key of D has 2# (F#, C#). The key of A has 3# (F#, C#, G#). Notice that as you add the next #, it includes the sharps from the previous key. IF you go down the circle of fifths, you add a flat to the previous key.The key of C has no flats. The key of F has 1flat (Bflat).The key of Bflat has 2 flats (Bflat and Eflat). Clear as mud?
An easy pattern my son picked up on.
Take any note on the low E. Move up one string and then count 5 frets left. You’ll end up on the same note.
If you hit the nut, continue counting up from the 12th fret.
The B string is the exception where you move 4 frets left instead of 5. Works every time.
You still have to memorize everything on the low E, but this may help with getting the rest of the strings glued into the gray matter,
Thanks Griff!!! This helps me getting into practice, and I finally feel that I’m starting to actually do something with this course.
Bravo!
wow been over 2 years since i started learning and just wonted to say you really put out a great deal of stuff to help people . i mean i learned as much as people in class’s everyday . just saying thanks man . and i love playing now that i can put it in a sweet sound .there’s a hump aswell you know .lol 3 years wow .MERRY CHRISTMAS to all in your family …
Thanks Teach ! I knew this was coming sooner or later. Great way to learn them. To be good at anything-you have to know your tools.
After learning the notes on the fretboard, what’s next.
Hey Griff, This lesson is very simple to follow. and I think it would be good to advise everyone here where they can find this Lesson 6 page 27 of your Course : Soloing Without Scales. I have copied that page for each Note and highlighted each note in a colour per page and just tick each page as I have memorised it over a few weeks. I have so far done CGDA and your system really works. I am now doing it again to make sure I complete all 12 notes.
Thanks Griff,
Michael -Sydney Australia
Definitely going to put this lesson to good use. Thanks Griff. I received this 6:30am and already 40 comments? How’s that happen? Anyway, you’re right that I knew I needed to know this at some point. I must be learning. Perpetual beginner is something I want to put behind me in the worst way. Griff, you are a very effective teacher. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
very good enjoy your teaching
Hey Griff,
Another tip which I experienced doing each note with 60BPM is that you remember what the note sounds like for each note around the fret board so when you miss the correct note the sound is different to your memory and that is how I know I slipped up so I repeat until done.
Hope this useful.
Thanks
Michael-Sydney -Australia
A lot of good comments on this lesson. The more you know the better you get and it is a fun way to learn your guitar.
Very good method. I plan on using this technique during my lunch break. Thanks again for sharing.
Griff,
Your method is so simple it’s ingenious! I* have played for over 50 years and the first time you presented this it hit me that I couldn’t immediately go to some notes up the neck. Sure I could mentally figure it out, but now I can just pop right to it. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Thanks…
Old School & Still Rockin’
I might add one more piece that has helped me while doing this lesson. Find a jam track in the key of the note you are learning and play just those notes throughout it in a lead pattern of your choice, floating from note to note rather than in the “scale” pattern you start with, so you can find them readily on each string without having to go from one string to the next. This has helped me immensely–after I did the “scale” pattern to get the notes in my head to begin with. I was stuck only knowing the notes if I went in order until I did this. Great lesson.Thanks again.
Hello Griff, I’m one of those guys who just never learned the notes. I thought is was boring and no need to learn them. I’m have committed to learning them. I just still do not see how it will be helpful but maybe as I learn more it will become apparent. Thanks so much for your lessons. It is obvious that you put much time and effort in this. God Bless.
Thanks for the reminder, Griff. I had this all down a few months ago and it’s always good to do a review every few weeks.
Hi Griff! This IS cool! I thought I never be able to do it, its over a hundred things, no logic, just memorizing ((( But you are great! You simplified it and made it automatic, I like it. Let’s just do it ))) Thanks a lot!
Great lesson and thank you! I needed this!! Years ago I learned all the octave shapes and all the notes at the 5th fret. ect!! This works better!!
Thanks Griff this is extremely important because you will know where your root notes are anywhere on the fretboard so very useful when your soloing like in your soloing without scales I can’t think of a more important tool for solos !!!
No doubt that this is critical in becoming, or being looked at as a real guitarist, but also as to playing skill and knowing where to go when you are called upon to do a solo or formulate a chord that needs some embellishment..
I like octave playing of notes so a lot of times if I am working on a solo and I play a note, I want to find that same note outside of the scale I am playing, and if it sounds tasty and good I memorize where the notes are that way. I do the same thing with open string playing of notes, again if it sounds tasty and good I memorize the match up as to note and open string, otherwise I use open strings for percussive strum beats. I am not sure you can be a good musician without knowing where the notes are located on the guitar.