Skip to content
Notifications
Clear all

Any tips or "secrets" on memorizing the fretboard?

11 Posts
9 Users
0 Likes
2,055 Views
(@geonjules)
Estimable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 50
Topic starter  

I'm kinda stuck in the pentatonic box.
I feel if I memorize the fretboard, it will open alot of new doors for me. Should I memorize one string at a time, or would it be better to work on one note at a time, and its location on the entire fretboard?
If theres even a better way, PLEASE let know. I've got a printout I'm taking to work, so I'll be doing alot of studying there. :wink:
Thanks for looking.

" Thoughts that pay homage to frustration will attract frustration. When you say or think theres nothing I can do,my life has spun out of control,and I'm trapped,thats what you will attract ".


   
Quote
(@bluezoldy)
Reputable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 329
 

Here's a fretboard learning game that I came across the other day:

http://www.fretboardmaster.com/FretboardGame.html

♪♫ Ron ♪♫

http://www.myspace.com/bluemountainsblues


   
ReplyQuote
(@dagwood)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 1024
 

How about just starting with memorizing only the 5th and 6th strings?

Get the 6th string and you'll have the 1st string.

Find the G on the 6th string... 3rd Fret right?
Then you can easily find the same note two strings down (4th string),
(this is is the same starting on the 5th string to the 3rd string).

So back to the G on the 6th String. Two strings down and two frets down (toward the body) is another G.

6th string 3rd fret G
4th string 5th fret G

5th string 3rd fret C
3rd string 5th fret C

Make sense? That's what my instructor taught me. "Learn the 5th and 6th String Notes" then its easy for the rest.

The main reason for only those two strings was so I would know where the root of the chords where for the root 6 and root 5 barre chords.

Try it :)

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)


   
ReplyQuote
(@kent_eh)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

Aside from the usual answer (practice, practice, practice), you might try flash cards, if your mind learns that way.

There are some on-line places that sell them, or you could make up a set yourself, which is a pretty good learning exercise on it's own.

What I did was to print out 78 copies of a blank fretboard map (all 6 strings, frets open to 12) in a size that will fit on an index card. Then I printed out a chunk of blank staff 78 times.

Then I marked fretboard positions and drew corresponding notes onto the staffs and glued them onto opposite faces of index cards. This took a while, and I had to consult a printout like the one you have while doing it, but I finally got the deck of cards together.

They can be used either way, either look at the fretboard and identify the note on the staff, or look at the staff and find it on the fretboard.

I also made up some that have the staff or fretboard on one side and the note name on the other side.

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
ReplyQuote
(@boogie)
Honorable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 467
 

Here's another freebie:

http://musictheory.net/

Under Trainers, select Guitar Trainer.


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

Hi,

I've never bothered to memorise all the names of the notes on the fretboard, as it seems to be a relatively pointless exercise on its own. I wait until I have a musical reason to know some names in a particular area. Then I learn just the ones that I need at the time, to serve the chord progression, scale, song or whatever it is.

I'm really more interested in learning the hows and whys of the way the sounds fit together - i.e. the patterns and spacings of stuff like intervals, chord tones, scale tones etc. I know the note names at quite a lot of fret positions now. But until I have a clear reason to learn the rest, I couldn't really care less what they're called... :P

If it was me, I'd learn a bit more about what the pentatonic (or any other scale) actually is, what the logic behind the note spacings are, and how it all works. Once you get a feel for how a particular scale works and what its sounds and spacings are, then you start to be able to really do something with it. You can practice running it up and down the strings, across, or whatever you like - because you can start to hear what's happening. You develop a feel for what should come next, how many semi-tones away it will be, and therefore where to find it. When you see things in musical discussions like "Start from the root note of the key, work your way around the scale, creating some tension and resolution, and then resolve back to the root" it may not mean much at first. But if you mix up some 'straight along the scale' practice with a stack of improvisation then that sort of guff starts to make great sense and the fun really gets going. 8) At least that's how I do it... And along the way some of the note names/positions seem to stick without ever trying to learn them all directly. :)

But I expect others see it differently. :wink:

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
(@geonjules)
Estimable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 50
Topic starter  

Thanks all, for the help and the links. I'm gonna get on it.

" Thoughts that pay homage to frustration will attract frustration. When you say or think theres nothing I can do,my life has spun out of control,and I'm trapped,thats what you will attract ".


   
ReplyQuote
(@wes-inman)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5582
 

I'm like Chris, i do not worry so much about the exact notes on every string (although I know them). I also think more in terms of how each note in a scale relates to the chord or progression being played. I also think in terms of how certain intervals sound.

Although music is math, you can't simply approach it in a scientific way. To a degree it is instinct. Let's say I asked you to sing or whistle a song you know well. You don't think "OK, the first note is C, then it goes to the 3rd, E for two eighth notes, then the next note is a F quarter note". :roll:

You don't think like that at all when you sing or whistle, or at least I don't. I just sing or whistle the right note. To do that you have to be completely familiar with your own voice or how you form your lips to whistle a certain note. It is amazing that we can do that, but we can. Well, with guitar you hopefully will become just as familiar with the instrument as you are with your own voice. You can just go to the right note. Now, I can't do this 100%, but most of the time I can judge where the next note is I want to play. I can especially do this with the Minor Pentatonic Scale as I have been practicing this scale for many years, I know how it sounds. If I were to play other scales I would not do as well. You have to practice that scale inside and out and learn how it sounds.

That said, it is important to know where certain notes are. If I am playing a typical Blues progression in A and using the A Minor Pentatonic, I want to know where all the Root notes are in each position. I want to know where the A's are when playing over the A chord, the D notes are for the D chord, and the E notes for the E chord. I also want to know where the 3rds are (major sounding), and the flatted 3rds (minor or Blue sounding) for each chord is. I want to know where the flatted 7ths are. These are all very common tones in the Blues sound. If I am playing Metal and want that classic evil tone, I want to know where the flatted 5th tone is.

So, it is both knowledge, but you have to become so familiar with the scale you know where certain important notes are so you can play them by simply following what you hear in your head.

Takes lots and lots of practice.

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
ReplyQuote
(@hyperborea)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 827
 

I'm like Chris, i do not worry so much about the exact notes on every string (although I know them). I also think more in terms of how each note in a scale relates to the chord or progression being played. I also think in terms of how certain intervals sound.

Although music is math, you can't simply approach it in a scientific way. To a degree it is instinct.

I can use the "math" way to figure it out but it isn't fast enough and as Wes says you need to make it "instintual". I'm well on my way to getting that with the 3 low strings. If you work all of the pentatonic scale patterns up and down the neck making note of the root note (say it out loud) you will remember them. You can reinforce that by working with barre chords (or even power chords) up and down the neck. Those will require that you know where the notes are on the low 3 strings. Have a lot of chord progressions and play them using different barre chord forms - all A shape, all E shape, all D shape, etc. and then mix it up with A then E, E then D, etc. When you do it to a metronome it will make you have to find it quick. I'm working on making the high 3 strings more instinctual using triads and their two inversions.

All of those ways of learning the fretboard are actually something that you can use in your playing and are not just for learning the fretboard.

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
ReplyQuote
(@kingpatzer)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2171
 

I'll go the other way.

I think it's important to know the notes. You should be able to stop at any point in your playing and answer questions like:

"what note am I playing?"
"how does that note function under the current harmonic structure?"
"what other scales does that note appear in?
"How does it function in those scales?"
"How would those scales function under the current harmonic structure?"

etc.

Now, I'm not saying that you should be thinking that way wall the time. But it is often a great way to create interest in your solos. Take a phrase and move it to a new, related scale or key. Knowing the fretboard makes that sort of thing much easier.

As to how to learn the freboard? The best way is to learn to site read in any position and then do so frequently.

Barring that, learn it one string at a time, use chord shapes to help teach your self the various notes.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

I'll go the other way.

I think it's important to know the notes. You should be able to stop at any point in your playing and answer questions

I'd certainly agree with that. :) But the operative word there is "stop". I have no trouble finding out what the note names are when I stop playing. It takes only a small fraction of time to count across from the nearest note position that I do know. And through that process I gradually expand the ones that I can name instantly or quickly. I learn best when I have a direct practical reason to know something. If there's no practical application to back it up I'll soon forget it anyway.

When I'm actually playing, I want to find the next note because it's - as Wes said - a 3rd or a flatted 7th or whatever. And I tend to know that through patterns and experience, not because I can instantly match it to a complete memorised visual chart of the note names.

My guess is that a lot of students do drills to teach themselves the names all over the neck and are then somewhat disappointed that the knowledge in itself didn't automatically lead to much in the way of progress in their playing. It's certainly handy knowledge, but it's not really the main game. The main game is the patterns of sounds. That's the way it seems to me anyway.

I think that lots of players learn 'Pentatonic boxes' that give them a quick and simple framework that allows them to bang away without hitting too many wrong notes. All well and good, but - if forum questions are anything to go by - they often seem to run out of ideas reasonably quickly, and then don't know where to go next. Learning all the notes names on the neck might seem like a way to "break out of the box", but I'd suggest that learning more about scales in general, how they're built, and how and why they work would pay better dividends. I bet that many of the beginners who learn 'boxes' have only a hazy idea of where the root notes are, which are the 3rds and 7ths and so on, what the relative importance of each one is, when and how a scale repeats across and/or along the neck, why each note along in the scale can be more or less important, spaced differently, etc.

I'd suggest learning more about that first. But there are many ways through, so I guess it's whatever keeps people engaged and interested... 8)

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote