Notes on fretboard

[Scotty R]

JustinGuitar has an app called Guitar Note Trainer, which is great for use when you don't have access to your guitar. He's built in 2-3 different modes for teaching / testing. It was less than a beer at a pub and totally worth it.

And don't believe the comment saying it doesn't run on latest version of iOS. I have the latest version of iOS and the app still works fine...

Lastly, I memorized the notes on thickest two strings and then use octaves to find the rest. Bob Murnahan taught me that.

 

[Paleo]

A couple of relationships to think about that may be of use to some members.


Since you know the strings in Standard tuning are tuned in P4ths (except the 2nd string, a M3rd) the same relationship holds across any fret.

Mentally I can go to the 5th fret A on the 6th string and I know the 5th string at the same fret is a D, next string G, next C, next E and finally another A.

How do you know what note is up a 4th? If you know your I, IV & V chords, you know.

How do you know what note is up a M3rd? If you know your Major triads, you know.

Another "common" example: 8th fret: C F Bb Eb G C.


Also the open strings, E A D G B E are the notes of the Em pentatonic scale.

The notes at the 5th fret are the notes of an Am pentatonic scale.

The notes across any fret are the notes in the minor pentatonic scale with the root on the 6th string.

Actually, they are every other note in the scale, which you fill in by playing a second note either to the right or left on each string to form a "Box".

 

[david moon]

JustinGuitar has an app called Guitar Note Trainer, which is great for use when you don't have access to your guitar. He's built in 2-3 different modes for teaching / testing. It was less than a beer at a pub and totally worth it.

And don't believe the comment saying it doesn't run on latest version of iOS. I have the latest version of iOS and the app still works fine...

Lastly, I memorized the notes on thickest two strings and then use octaves to find the rest. Bob Murnahan taught me that.

Hey- I was going to say that. Those will be the root notes of most of the moveable chord shapes: E A C7 9-with root-on-5th-string. If you asked me to find all the F# on the neck, I would start with the 6th string 2nd fret and then look for octaves. Or maybe look at various D chords and find the major third.

 

[david moon]

I used a few methods and Griff's was great. Or so I thought. Until I started reading music up the neck. Since 2013 when I spent a year learning to sight read guitar music I made the mistake of reading only in the first position. It doesn't help much up the neck. After a number of years of doing Griff's exercises of single notes all over the neck and cycling through the circles of 5th and 4th I thought I had all the note locations down pat.

Until I started reading music in the 5th position last fall. OMG it was like I had no idea where the notes were even after years of Griff's and other methods. I am finding that getting simple music books, currently I use the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method Complete (all 7 books in 1) because it covers every position on the neck, and sight reading the notes (no tab) forces me to actually KNOW where the notes are on the neck. Knowing the CAGED scales becomes invaluable in this pursuit I am finding.

I've learned my lesson. No more "exercises", written neck diagrams, or cycling through single notes. I've learned the ONLY way to KNOW the notes of the neck is to sight read music in that range on the neck. When I'm done with Mel Bay I'm going to buy some classical guitar music as that generally only comes with standard notation and no tab.

YMMV but I was disappointed that all those years of doing exercises, though not a waste of time, were not accomplishing fret board mastery.

Eric

well sight reading is a whole 'nother thing
I have been reading bass parts for a long time in musical theater and big band situations. Sight reading usually means they put the chart in front of you, you have never seen it before and just play it.

How do you do that? First take stock of the key. Look for standard patterns. For the most part, you're not looking at each individual note, processing through your brain and the placing the finger, you're playing a pattern or a phrase. That's just me

 

[Jalapeno]

well sight reading is a whole 'nother thing
I have been reading bass parts for a long time in musical theater and big band situations. Sight reading usually means they put the chart in front of you, you have never seen it before and just play it.

How do you do that? First take stock of the key. Look for standard patterns. For the most part, you're not looking at each individual note, processing through your brain and the placing the finger, you're playing a pattern or a phrase. That's just me

Sight reading as a tool for learning the fretboard. If you haven’t seen the music it forces you to learn where the notes are. If you don’t want to learn to read music you can do the same thing by writing out a sequence of note names and read that. Like this: A C E B F D A A C D E F G Bb etc. It works quite well starting with whole notes only, or quarter notes played slowly. It doesn’t require sheet music. The idea is to learn the neck. I happen to be trying to become a complete musician so reading music has been a daily exercise for me since I started guitar back in 2012.

I have found that to be much more useful for learning the neck than abstract exercises like single note exercises or tricks like up two strings and two frets. In the practice room you can find notes that way but it takes too much time while playing. For the exact same reason Griff discourages using the three frets down trick for major to minor. It requires too much brain power to be practical while playing. It can be done but it’s the least efficient method. Any exercise is better than nothing but abstract exercises can leave you stranded, as I found out the hard way.

Eric

 

[david moon]

In your example, I would see all notes of the C major scale, and position my hand accordingly. That Bb sticks out like a sore thumb but I could find it in the same position. In standard notation, if the key signature was no flats or sharps (key of C), an accidental would stick out and get your attention.
Also key to sightreading is looking ahead, not just playing each note as it comes up. Which gets back to seeing phrases, not indiviual notes..This comes with experience of reading other material in a similar genre.
Consider it like giving a speech that someone else wrote and you haven't seen beforehand
With Griff's materials when he has chords in standard notation, I am starting to see those clusters of notes as patterns and not analyze each note- again pattern recognition.

jalapeno- I'm not sure if I'm disagreeing with you, but this my perspective

 

[Jalapeno]

I don’t think you’re disagreeing at all but we’re talking about different things. I’m talking about sight reading as a tool for learning the notes on the fretboard and you’re talking about tools (techniques) for sight reading.

Eric

 

[SlowBlues]

Many thanks to all those who responded ! This is getting interesting !!