Finding notes on the fretboard

Neill

I'm rather ashamed to admit I've managed to reach my sixth decade and I still can't easily get to a particular note without thinking about it.  

Now, having for the first time in my life a lot of genuine free time I'm determined to work on this but I have a simple dilemma.

Is it best to say take one note at a time and spend a few days practicing finding that note everywhere on the board, or would it be better to approach it by taking each string and spend say a week practicing finding all the notes on that string?

Or can someone suggest another way?

Lestratcaster

The way I learnt was the relationship and intervals of notes with each other. Learning at least the bottom 2 strings helps though. Alot of my learners are very murky above the 6th fret on the thinnest 2 strings.

So if you play 3rd fret bottom e string the note is a G. Cos I know the octave is the 5th fret of the D string I don't need to learn it again. And the 5th interval is a D so I know the 5th fret A string is that note (in a power chord). I know the note directly underneath that G is a 4th which is C. I know the note one back from the G is a 7th which is an F#. I know the note two frets higher than that G is an A. So I've only got 2 notes left which are B and E.

You could use triad arpeggios (only 3 notes) to learn as well, the triad in C is C E G and whichever way you move up and down the fretboard is a tone or semi-tone difference.

Everyone has their own way of learning but you have to make it practical and use the guitar to apply theory to otherwise it makes no sense.

You could get hold of a blank fretboard neck diagram thing and write in all the notes as you learn.

Phil_aka_Pip

As per @Lestratcaster : You could get hold of a blank fretboard neck diagram thing and write in all the notes as you learn.

Yes, do it, and don't copy from a book or a website. Work it out from first principles, using open string names EADGBE, and these facts: Each adjacent pair of natural notes (eg AB) are 2 frets apart - except for the pairs BC and EF, which are 1 fret apart. The frets left unamed after that process are sharps and flats (eg the one between A & B is either A# or Bb depending on what key you're in. (Sometimes, 'B' = Cb, 'C' = B#, 'E' = Fb, F = E# - this happens in keys with lots of sharps or lots of flats, don't let it scare you).

You should notice patterns emerging. For example what's on string n above fret 5 will be the same as what's on string n-1 above the nut. Whats on all 6 strings above fret 12 is the same as what's on all 6 strings above the nut. Between strings 3 & 2 the shift is 4 frets not 5.

One other thing. Choose a note (like Sesame Street has Today's letter). Find all the occurrences of that note - play them - some will be in the same register, others will be an octave up or an octave down. Note which is which.

aord43

Phil_aka_Pip said:

As per @Lestratcaster : You could get hold of a blank fretboard neck diagram thing and write in all the notes as you learn.

Yes, do it, and don't copy from a book or a website. Work it out from first principles, using open string names EADGBE, and these facts: Each adjacent pair of natural notes (eg AB) are 2 frets apart - except for the pairs BC and EF, which are 1 fret apart. The frets left unamed after that process are sharps and flats (eg the one between A & B is either A# or Bb depending on what key you're in. (Sometimes, 'B' = Cb, 'C' = B#, 'E' = Fb, F = E# - this happens in keys with lots of sharps or lots of flats, don't let it scare you).

You should notice patterns emerging. For example what's on string n above fret 5 will be the same as what's on string n-1 above the nut. Whats on all 6 strings above fret 12 is the same as what's on all 6 strings above the nut. Between strings 3 & 2 the shift is 4 frets not 5.

One other thing. Choose a note (like Sesame Street has Today's letter). Find all the occurrences of that note - play them - some will be in the same register, others will be an octave up or an octave down. Note which is which.

I came across the "choose a note" method.  It could work but you still need willpower, which I didn't have at the time.
I am gradually picking up some but mainly just know the root-5 and root-6 ones at the moment.  Obviously these repeat after 12, and also the high E is the same as the low one (obvious but it reminds you that you know half the strings already!!!)
Then the notes on the 5th fret (4th for G string) which are the same as the next string across -- commonly used for tuning.
I can always work it out from what you said above but it takes time to think about, as per the OP.

Phil_aka_Pip

@aord43 best of luck with it I think the info sticks better when you work it out from first principles then make your own fingerboard map. Maybe you need to do it more than once (not looking at your previous version). Hopefully the next time you do it, it will take a lot less time. When you can do it (accurately) in no more time than it takes to draw the picture neatly, I'd say the info is properly lodged in your brain somewhere.

Fuengi

There are a couple of handy acrostic references for quickly identifying notes:

3rd Fret (three members of ZZ Top) spells
Go. Crazy. For. A Sharp. Dressed. Guy.

7th Fret Top four string spell:
B E A D 

I find this is enough of a reference to get me around the whole board fairly quickly. 

Old_Swanner

Try this method I've used for with students for years.  Sticks for most pretty quickly.

https://www.oldswannerguitartuition.com/single-post/2017/11/01/The-Quickest-Way-to-Learn-the-Fretboard

Kinioo

Hi there - and good luck !
TBH,  I can play piano, I can read music sheets, I can find every single note on the piano keyboard in a blink of an eye...but...when it comes to notes on the guitar fret board it sucks !

It takes me much longer to find them/name them (eventually I get there but not as fast as I would like to be - i.e. I have to think for a second or two) . Both 'E' strings are very easy to learn and memorize, so I would use them as reference and find YOUR OWN way to work out the rest of the notes on the fret board - whatever works for you.

Again, good luck

Neill

Kinioo said:

Hi there - and good luck !
TBH,  I can play piano, I can read music sheets, I can find every single note on the piano keyboard in a blink of an eye...but...when it comes to notes on the guitar fret board it sucks !

It takes me much longer to find them/name them (eventually I get there but not as fast as I would like to be - i.e. I have to think for a second or two) . Both 'E' strings are very easy to learn and memorize, so I would use them as reference and find YOUR OWN way to work out the rest of the notes on the fret board - whatever works for you.

Again, good luck

I'm the same - I can't play a keyboard instrument but I can easily find the notes, I think it's because it is clear where the B/C and E/F are and it gives a sort of frame of reference.  I started off in music playing brass instruments and that's similarly very easy you very quickly learn which combination of the three valves you need for which note though it is obviously different depending on what key the instrument is in, but I played the Tenor (in Eb) and the French Horn (F) and never had any problem playing/reading sheet music on either. But the fretboard, as you say, doesn't give you much help.   I think this is the real reason so many guitarists don't read music.  Tablature is all very well to learn songs but it doesn't help you understand the fretboard.

Like most guitarists I can follow a chord sheet without thinking about it so I know pretty much where most of the the root notes are on the 5th and 6th strings, but I've spent a week now just concentrating on finding all the A's and D's and I still struggle when playing in time with a metronome.   

No gain without pain I suppose... 

Roland

When I started I memorised the fretboard using the public house method. You know how you give someone directions around your home town: “turn left at the White Horse, and left at the Queen’s Arms”. Start with A because it’s easiest. Memorise it’s position on the bottom and top E strings. The these are the pub you often drink in. Memorise the A positions On the other strings. These are the other pubs. Work out the Am (or C major) pentatonic positions which spring off the A’s. These are the paths you walk between the pubs. If your fingers walk these routes often enough then they can find their way without conscious thought, ie drunk.

OnTheRopes

This guy has an alternative way of learning the notes. Seems to be working for me at the moment anyway

adampeter

I struggle with this until i starting learning the major scale and its 5 "shapes" all over the neck
Something just clicked learning this in every key with every shape, also opened up CAGED as well

Phil_aka_Pip

adampeter said:

I struggle with this until i starting learning the major scale and its 5 "shapes" all over the neck
Something just clicked learning this in every key with every shape, also opened up CAGED as well

There are 7 major scale shapes, each beginning with a different note of the major scale. You can also call them modes if you like.

Neill

OnTheRopes said:

This guy has an alternative way of learning the notes. Seems to be working for me at the moment anyway

That's basically how I started doing it but the method described is slightly different in that he emphasises no open strings and doing a different note per day.  I've been trying to master one note, at speed, before moving onto the next which may be where I'm going wrong, and now I think about it, including the open strings does seem to get in the way somehow.  It's completely unnecessary of course as even a dunce like me knows what the open strings are...  

OnTheRopes

I have found that having done (say) A one day for a few minutes and the next day perhaps D and then trying A again that it has stuck. After a week or so I am finding I do retain (mostly) the note positions when I revisit it. Not always instantly and occasionally I fluff one but it is certainly coming. 
I assume it works, for me at least because rather than working up from another note or from fret markers you are just going straight to the note, kind of like muscle memory for the brain.

GuyBoden

Learn the whole fretboard in the easy keys first: C Major, G Major, F Major, D Major..........

Play in one key, all over the fretboard, knowing what each note name is when you play it. Sing the name as you play the note. Visually see it, both in your mind and on the fretboard.

Use the CAGED or 3 Notes per string method. Learn to play on any string, any fret, up or down the fretboard. Learn the note names not just the note patterns.

aord43

GuyBoden said:

Learn the whole fretboard in the easy keys first: C Major, G Major, F Major, D Major..........

Play in one key, all over the fretboard, knowing what each note name is when you play it. Sing the name as you play the note. Visually see it, both in your mind and on the fretboard.

Use the CAGED or 3 Notes per string method. Learn to play on any string, any fret, up or down the fretboard. Learn the note names not just the note patterns.

Easier said than done!  Seriously, the idea of learning all that just freaks me out.
Also I think that unless you used it very regularly, you wouldn't remember it.  I did learn where all the "C" notes where below the 12th fret once, and it didn't take long to forget.

stratman3142

I originally learned where the natural notes are. Then the sharps and flats are just up or down one fret respectively.
When playing above a certain tempo my brain can't keep up with exactly which note I'm playing but I'm aware of where the root note of the scale/pattern is in that region as a reference point.

Grunfeld

Neill said:

 I've been trying to master one note, at speed, before moving onto the next which may be where I'm going wrong,

[emphasis added] 

Don't do nothing at speed till you can do it at slow. 
Accuracy first; speed later.
(Which, to be fair, might have been assumed in what you'd said.  But just in case it wasn't, that's my 2p's.]

GuyBoden

aord43 said:

GuyBoden said:

Learn the whole fretboard in the easy keys first: C Major, G Major, F Major, D Major..........

Play in one key, all over the fretboard, knowing what each note name is when you play it. Sing the name as you play the note. Visually see it, both in your mind and on the fretboard.

Use the CAGED or 3 Notes per string method. Learn to play on any string, any fret, up or down the fretboard. Learn the note names not just the note patterns.

Easier said than done!  Seriously, the idea of learning all that just freaks me out.
Also I think that unless you used it very regularly, you wouldn't remember it.  I did learn where all the "C" notes where below the 12th fret once, and it didn't take long to forget.

Yes, it takes dedication and the correct application......................

Once learned, you then use it as part of your warm up routine....................

Steve-O

If you already know the notes on the E and A strings you are halfway there already so give yourself a pat on the back!
However, to able to think of any note or triad or chord and play them at any position on the fretboard as easily as you can find a G on the low E string takes dedicated practice and mental concentration as Im sure you are aware by now.

  First, I would recommend strengthening the foundation of knowledge you already have. Play notes from the Cmajor scale horizontally on one string at a time, and then learn the positions for the D,G, and B strings. Say the notes as you play them as others have said.  From there try playing triads (C,E,G) starting from a different string each time (The Goerge Van Epps book really helps in this regard). This will help build your vertical knowledge of the fretboard.

Finally, don't give up! It's taxing and tedious work for sure, but if you persevere with just 30 minutes a day you'll start to be able to visualize the notes on the guitar before you play them almost unconsciously.