April 13, 2009

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

Learn guitar fretboard

How can you best learn the notes on the fretboard?

Well, what I recommend to my guitar students, is to learn shapes and patterns. That is how I make sense of the 6 strings and all these frets. Since the fretboard is a grid, we can navigate it by using patterns and shapes.

When I started playing guitar, I practiced scales up and down a lot. What I later realized was especially good from this was that I learned to "see" a scale. The Aeolian scale looks a certain way on the fretboard, and by practicing it over and over, I started to know it really well. Same with any other scale. After some time, I was able to "see" the notes before I actually played them, and I also knew what they were going to sound like before I played them, due to this visualization.

This is really nothing special. It is about practicing, and spending time with something until it becomes transparent. You can do the same.

I find it works well to look at notes as a group of 3 when are learning them. We can also do this on the next adjacent string. By playing 3 notes on 2 different strings, we have 6 notes - almost a complete diatonic scale!

For example, start with the C major scale. If we play F - G - A on the low E string, and B - C - D on the A string, it creates this pattern:

 
E|-------------|  
B|-------------|  
G|-------------|  
D|-------------|  
A|---2--3--5---| 
E|---1--3--5---| 

This pattern can be memorized. Make sure you know which is the root note especially, but do learn the names of the notes too. Say them out loud as you play them.

Now what we do next is to move up to the next available notes in the C major scale, using the same 2 strings. Then we get this:

 
E|-------------|  
B|-------------|  
G|-------------|  
D|-------------|  
A|---3--5--7---| 
E|---3--5--7---| 

You can see how the first 2 notes on each string were the last 2 notes in the first example. All we are doing is adding on one new note per string (fret 7 for both strings). This creates a new pattern. We are now playing a pattern with 2 identical shapes - what I mean by this is that we are playing frets 3 - 5 - 7 on both strings - a symmetrical pattern that is easy to remember. Make sure again you know which note is the root note.

This same concept can now be continued. Move on to the next 2 shapes. There will be just one new note for each string - can you tell which note and which fret?

Now, take on just a few patterns at the time, and practice them in different ways, play the notes in different order, etc. Just make sure you play them slow and focus on learning them. In fact, I think it's a bad idea to try and play them fast at this point - it will make it harder to memorize them.

Go back and forth between new patterns you learned, and the previous ones you think you know. It's amazing how quickly we forget some times... but it's normal. I'm the same. Just take it slow and easy and take your time. After all, we want to enjoy playing guitar for a life time, don't we? So take your time and play slowly and accurately.

You can use this tool below for finding which notes to play next. There are many tools like this available on-line, just Google "fretboard", "fretboard generators", "fretboard layout", etc.

If you want more help and assistance, take a look at the recommended resources here below. These are proven methods by highly qualified instructors. It is good to have a book or DVD to help guide you through fretboard practicing. When I started playing, there wasn't much good video instructional material like this available. How times have changed, eh!

This PDF course is a very good helper - Guitar Note Mastery - have a look, and take advantage of what this course offers for learning the fretboard.

Recommended Resources

Musician's Friend has a great selection of guitar resources - here's three good ones.

Bill Edwards Publishing Fretboard Logic Special Edition Book A bound combination of Books I and II in the Fretboard Logic guitar lesson series. Volume I explains the guitar's unique tuning and a basic set of fretboard patterns. Volume II integrates this foundation into an exploration of chords, scales, and arpeggios.

Hal Leonard Fretboard Roadmaps for Acoustic Guitar Book and CD By studying these fretboard roadmaps, you'll learn to play lead and rhythm and chords and progressions anywhere on the fretboard, in any key and in a variety of styles. You'll expand your chord vocabulary and learn to think musically, the way the pros do. Each chapter presents a pattern and shows how to use it, along with playing tips and guitar insights. An absolute beginner can follow the diagrams and instruction from the beginning. Intermediate and advanced players can use the chapters non-sequentially to increase their understanding of the guitar. The CD includes demos of all the exercises as well as six practice tracks to help you learn six different soloing techniques.

Rock House Fretboard Autopsy- Scales, Modes & Melodic Patterns, Level 1 Featuring Rusty Cooley DVD Rusty Cooley was named one of the top 20 fastest shredders of all time, and has been an influence to many guitarists including Mark Tremonti and John Petrucci. In Fretboard Autopsy- Scales, Modes & Melodic Patterns, Level 1 Rusty teaches you his unique fretboard visualization through shapes, patterns, and years of modal knowledge. Learn how the modes are covered across the neck, 5 and 6 string root modal patterns, extended and split patterns, and single and double string techniques. Rusty shows you the modal sequences he uses, and then challenges you to play the scales and modes. Apply all these techniques and develop your own style over the full band backing tracks included in this program.

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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