Why learn all the notes on the fretboard?

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RockerRocker Frets: 4947
I have noticed, recently, that a few posters state that they want to learn the names of all the notes on the fretboard. I just wonder why. There might be some justification in this if the player was reading 'dots' but as most of us don't then please tell me what I am missing by not knowing the names of all the fretboard notes. I know some BTW.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • Well, if you’re playing over a chord, it’s nice to know what ‘effect’ you want from the note you choose to play over it. Don’t learn scales, learn relationships. 
    'Vot eva happened to the Transylvanian Tvist?'
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  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    I find it more weird not learning them.    How do you communicate with other musicians if you don’t know where the notes are.  
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    Would you buy a car and not learn what all the switches do, or how to use the different windscreen wiper settings?
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    Roland said:
    Would you buy a car and not learn what all the switches do, or how to use the different windscreen wiper settings?
    That does sound like me. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • John_P said:
    I find it more weird not learning them.    How do you communicate with other musicians if you don’t know where the notes are.  
    @John_P has summed up the thing quite nicely, which is the whole point of music theory for me: it's there to explain what you've done, not to dictate how you do things. 
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  • GrunfeldGrunfeld Frets: 4028
    edited March 2019
    Rocker said:
     ...please tell me what I am missing by not knowing the names of all the fretboard notes. I know some BTW.
    You'll see things deeper.
    First, I got by for decades without knowing notes.  It's obviously not essential.
    EDIT - I've deleted the waffle:  The answer from stratman below says what I was trying to say!  
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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896
    Roland said:
    Would you buy a car and not learn what all the switches do, or how to use the different windscreen wiper settings?
    I've had my car 3 years; I had to get out the manual to find out how to move the seat backwards & forwards today. In the process I found out it has a pair of buttons to change the width of the side supports.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
    If you have sufficient knowledge for your needs then maybe you don't need to know all the notes. But sometimes learning something new opens doors that you didn't know existed.

    It's not a competition.
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  • prlgmnrprlgmnr Frets: 3964
    They can choose to do so, and you can choose not to, but it seems a bit much for you to tell them not to as well.
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  • Why not?
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  • nickpnickp Frets: 182
    relative notes is easier and very useful - so if you play an F - can you play all the F notes in sequence moving from fret 1 to say fret 12 - so fret 1 e strings, then fret 3 on the D string, then fret 6 on the B string.  practice this with all 12 notes going up and down the fretboard, and do it to a metronome so that you properly know it - really useful for position switching/targetting notes etc

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  • King85King85 Frets: 631
    I've had three lessons so far after dithering on my own. Last lesson we looked at soloing over a chord progression. He explained how each chord comprises certain notes and how these notes work great played over their corresponding chord. Now knowing this I've begun to learn where specific notes are on the fretboard with an aim to learn them all and my playing is coming on leaps and bound with it.

    That's my two cents for the benefits.
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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6597
    edited March 2019
    I think of a chef only using salt and pepper to flavour all the dishes because they don't know about spices..... I guess what I mean is that the more tools you have, the more you can build. 
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  • soma1975soma1975 Frets: 6627
    how else are you gonna find the 13th note?
    My Trade Feedback Thread is here

    Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    You will be able to negotiate the fretboard better so iff the key changes you will be able to see the root notes of the new key ECT  ....also you will be able to structure chords better and use inversions of different chords cos you will know where the notes are anywhere on the neck ...very important In my opinion ...without it's a bit like driving a car with a blindfold on 
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    I want to write a novel but I don't want to learn the letters of the alphabet so vhkgljkk.jnvds.khjsdv jkhd sv,hjhkj .hjk.hjklsyftewdfu y6r52r7uy gutfyd cigucwbqgkuywfcl;i.

    jhgf
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  • PetGerbilPetGerbil Frets: 175
    octatonic said:
    I want to write a novel but I don't want to learn the letters of the alphabet so vhkgljkk.jnvds.khjsdv jkhd sv,hjhkj .hjk.hjklsyftewdfu y6r52r7uy gutfyd cigucwbqgkuywfcl;i.

    jhgf

    ...and another Scandinavian crime thriller is born. :)
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    I appreciate what you guys are saying but music is sound.  And I believe that as most guitarists learn shapes (for chords and scales) rather than fretboard notes, is there anything to merit knowing what note you just played?  As opposed to knowing that it was in the scale and key you are playing in and that it sounded good?  I really cannot see the benefit in knowing the note names or even thinking about them in a music playing situation.

    Also a lot of guitarists don't know the key of the song they are playing and I am not talking about Sweet Home Alabama.  And as for transposing a song to a different key......

    During a break at an IGF course week some years ago, a guy who had played an impressive solo piece asked me to show him the chords for The Fields of Athenry as I am Oirish.  Naturally I thought he was taking the piss, my level of skill on the guitar was nowhere near his, but he genuinely did not know the chords to use.  And the look of bewilderment on his face when I asked him what key he wanted to sing it in was staggering.  I played the chords in several keys, he wrote them all down and he was pleased that he learned 'something' on the course.

    Hence my question about knowing the names of the notes on the fretboard.
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • MayneheadMaynehead Frets: 1782
    It’s so you can confuse those that don’t know all the notes by saying “the C on the A string” rather than “3rd fret 5th string”.
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  • monquixotemonquixote Frets: 17485
    tFB Trader
    Rocker said:
    I appreciate what you guys are saying but music is sound.  And I believe that as most guitarists learn shapes (for chords and scales) rather than fretboard notes, is there anything to merit knowing what note you just played?  As opposed to knowing that it was in the scale and key you are playing in and that it sounded good?  I really cannot see the benefit in knowing the note names or even thinking about them in a music playing situation.


    It's the mechanism by which musicians communicate. 

    If you play in a band with a brass section or a keyboard player they are going to ask you to "transpose this song into F because the singer can't hit the high note" or "Play a D, but with an F# in the bass" they are also going to say things like "could you add a 9th to that chord" or "can you harmonize what I'm playing in 3rds" if you do a derp face and shrug you get written off as a dumb guitarist that doesn't know about music and you don't get the gig.

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