Fretboard

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Griff has a good video he made public:


Everyone learns differently. For me it's start noodling around a small chunk of the fretboard, like a "house pattern" in a particular key, then try to memorize just the notes I'm using. My memory works best attached to actually doing stuff. Eventually my hope is to have enough small blocks memorized that filling in the gaps is easy.
 

Chuck

Moderator (One of the Men in Black!)
Staff member
Well, I really dropped the ball on this. I learned the notes of the sixth string, which gave me the notes of the 1st string.

Then I learned the notes of the 5th string, mostly because of all the chords we use that have 5th string roots.

Then I got lazy. I can find the notes on all other strings but I can’t just go there without a lot of thought.

I have to get back to it.
 

Randy S

Blues Junior
Yes, that's what I did. Learn the 6 & 5th strings. And with the 6th you'll know the 1st. Next learn the octaves, now only 2 left. I made alittle game out of it.
Actually if know the octaves you know them all.Ttwo strings down and two frets over (three frets over if you pass the B string). The 6th string gives you the 4th, which gives you the 2nd. The 5th string gives you the 3rd, which gives you the 1st. 1st and 6th are the same and you start over.
 
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Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Griff has updated, new & improved videos of his "learning the notes" exercise in his Acoustic Blues and Classic Rock courses.
The one posted above appears in his Soling Without Scales course.

However, in order to do the exercise you have to figure out where the notes are in the first place.

You can use the fretboard diagram as in the video above or in other versions you work your way up each string in whole and half steps until you get to the desired note.

I prefer to use chord shapes. This is the same as octave shapes, but for me the chord is easier to visualize.

Interestingly, the 3 chords you need are the same shapes Griff uses in his new course that just came out yesterday, the E, A & C shapes.
The ones we uses most often in Blues.

Everything is related.

The E shape has roots on the 6th, 4th and 1st strings. You can also apply the 2+2 rule from the 6th string: go up 2 strings and up 2 frets to the root at the next octave. The 1st string is the same as the 6th, just up 2 octaves.

The A shape is similar. It has roots on the 5th and 3rd strings. The 2+2 rule also applies.

However, you can also go left from the 5th string root with the C shape and find the octave root on the second string.

Together, these 3 shapes cover all the roots on all 6 strings.


What about the D and G shapes? They have the same roots as the shapes they connect. They are good to know, but not necessary for our purpose. D connects the E and D shapes (2+3 rule from 4th string root) and G connects A to E.


So when you play C as an E shape at the 8th fret you have a C at the 8th, 10th and 8th frets of the 6,4 &1st strings, respectively.

Play C as an A shape from the 5th string and you have your C on the 5 and 3rd strings (3rd & 5th frets).

Play C as a C shape from the same 5th string root and you have your C on the 2nd string (3rd & 1st frets).

Now when you do Griff's exercise you are just "bouncing" back and forth from one shape to another.
 
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BoogieMan

Blues Junior
Actually if know the octaves you know them all.Ttwo strings down and two frets over (three frets over if you pass the B string). The 6th string gives you the 4th, which gives you the 2nd. The 5th string gives you the 3rd, which gives you the 1st. 1st and 6th are the same and you start over.
I haven't yet found a need (not yet anyway) to memorize and instantly identify the note names so the octave method works for me. There are two additional octave shapes that are useful (from Fingerboard Breakthrough - Howard Morgen):

One string skip - 2 strings down and 2 frets up, 3 frets up when you get to the 2nd string.
Two string skip - 3 strings down (skip two strings) and 3 frets down, 2 frets when you get to the 2nd string. The only one you will use is the 5th string form (like the C chord).
Two octave shape - same fret on 6th and 1st strings.

Basic formula for finding any given note along and across the fingerboard (ascending):
When on 6, move to 4 (one string skip)
When on 5, move to 3
When on 4, move to 2
When on 3, move to 1
When on 2, move to 5 (two string skip)
When on 1, move to 6 (two octave shape)

The second note of each octave shape becomes the first note of the octave shape to follow. For example if we take F
String 1 1st fret goes to...
String 6 1st fret which goes to...
String 4 3rd fret. Move index finger to string 4 3rd fret which goes to...
String 2 6th fret which goes to...
String 5 8th fret (2 string skip) which goes to...
String 3 10th fret which goes to...
String 1 13th fret which goes to...
String 6 13th fret etc.

You can of course work this pattern descending.
 

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
I've posted this somewhere before, but for those of you who like mnemonics...

Looking at an open fretboard and going from the top (thicker) E string, the notes are E A D G B E. Eddie Ate Dirt. Good Bye Eddie.

Every single-syllable word is a whole note. Words with 2 syllables (lower case) are flats or sharps.
At the 3rd fret, we have Gayle’s Cool Friends always Dress Good (Great if you insist on correct grammar) (G C F A# D G).
On the 5th fret, we have Aunt Dawn’s Grey Cat Eats Ants (A D G C E A).
The 7th fret doesn’t have a sentence but the 1st 4 strings spell BEAD. So, just remember BEAD F# B.
The 8th fret says Carl Feels awful driving Green Cars (C F A# D# G C).
Finally, on the 10th fret, we learn that Dave Grew Crops For A Day (D G C F A D).
 

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
Griff has a good video he made public:


Everyone learns differently. For me it's start noodling around a small chunk of the fretboard, like a "house pattern" in a particular key, then try to memorize just the notes I'm using. My memory works best attached to actually doing stuff. Eventually my hope is to have enough small blocks memorized that filling in the gaps is easy.


I'm the same way.

It's like handing someone a written set of instructions spelling out all of the steps associated with lighting a match from a matchbook (which I'd bet would take up about a full page of text) as opposed to simply showing them how it's done.
 

JPsuff

Blackstar Artist
I haven't yet found a need (not yet anyway) to memorize and instantly identify the note names so the octave method works for me. There are two additional octave shapes that are useful (from Fingerboard Breakthrough - Howard Morgen):

One string skip - 2 strings down and 2 frets up, 3 frets up when you get to the 2nd string.
Two string skip - 3 strings down (skip two strings) and 3 frets down, 2 frets when you get to the 2nd string. The only one you will use is the 5th string form (like the C chord).
Two octave shape - same fret on 6th and 1st strings.

Basic formula for finding any given note along and across the fingerboard (ascending):
When on 6, move to 4 (one string skip)
When on 5, move to 3
When on 4, move to 2
When on 3, move to 1
When on 2, move to 5 (two string skip)
When on 1, move to 6 (two octave shape)

The second note of each octave shape becomes the first note of the octave shape to follow. For example if we take F
String 1 1st fret goes to...
String 6 1st fret which goes to...
String 4 3rd fret. Move index finger to string 4 3rd fret which goes to...
String 2 6th fret which goes to...
String 5 8th fret (2 string skip) which goes to...
String 3 10th fret which goes to...
String 1 13th fret which goes to...
String 6 13th fret etc.

You can of course work this pattern descending.

That kinda reminds me of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon when Bugs is faced with this when trying to purchase a snack in a movie theater:

bugsbunny20cents.jpg
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
For those that like to be shown, here's the video version of my previous response.

With some extra "nuggets" to go with your fries.:sneaky:

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/1et3g4maxe4rxyj/The Fretboard.m4v?dl=0

Oops! Around 2:08 I mean 2nd string not 1st.

And I should have added that when I went down to the G on the 6th string, 3rd fret, that would be the E shape and moving up to the 10th fret on the 5th string I would have the A shape to the right and the C to the left, so the shapes are "reversed" on the neck from what they were for C.
 
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Al Holloway

Devizes UK
The two string skip is good. Also (ignoring the 2nd b string) 5 back or 7 forward is also how I think. If you are on the 7th fret 6th sting the next string has a b at 2ndfret (-5) or 14th fret (+7). Not hugely useful but when using the circle of 5ths to learn the note positions I find working out the next string position like this works better than looking at a print out.

cheers

Al.
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
The fastest way to memorize the guitar fret board? That is difficult to say, as people learn from different sources and some are better than others.

I started to put together some information on this topic a few years ago. Then my computer died, and Windows 10 does not allow my version of Pagemaker (6.5) to work, so I have to "Punt"!

Anyway, I have enclosed one diagram of an approach that I was in the process of developing.

Think in terms of I, IV, and V Chords. Make a list. Create a chart. Start with a small pattern like a House Pattern. Learn how to flow from each key to the root of each Chord. If you concentrate of the root positions of say a Blues in A, that would be a good starting point.

Start with the Minor House Pattern.






Tom
 

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Momantai

Red nose, red guitar
So many ways and “tricks” to learn the notes on the fretboard. But let’s face it folks:
It just takes a lot of hands-on training to learn the notes. Both as A B C C# etc as in 1st 2nd 3rd of the scale you’re playing in etc.
No matter what they say ! :cool:

And the older you are, the longer it takes.... ;)
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Finding notes "in isolation" or by learning octave shapes and formulae can be useful for finding notes with the same letter name, but eventually you want to be able to identify or find every interval from the root/tonic of whatever you are playing, scale or chord.

Actually I learned fastest by putting on a jam track in a particular key and playing scales from all the roots I can find in that key.
Did the same thing in all 12 keys. Eventually I learned where every note is.

I stress the word eventually.

Maybe learn the notes in the most "useful" keys first.

If you are a beginner you don't need to know where everything is all at once.


But the sooner you get there, the better?
 
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HotLks

Blues - it's in me and it's got to come out.
Well, I really dropped the ball on this. I learned the notes of the sixth string, which gave me the notes of the 1st string.

Then I learned the notes of the 5th string, mostly because of all the chords we use that have 5th string roots.

Then I got lazy. I can find the notes on all other strings but I can’t just go there without a lot of thought.

I have to get back to it.

I'm with you brother. I've had pretty good success with what was said earlier. Count up two strings and up two frets for the octave of the notes you already know. Having that under your belt may make identifying notes on string 4 & 3 a little quicker.

See you down the road! :thumbup:
 
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