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A good way to kill time and learn the fretboard is to take a blank or lined sheet of paper and pen. Draw out the four or five strings, then draw in the frets. Be sure to count the frets correctly then place the finger board dots in their correct positions, then start adding each note to their respective fret positions. Wash, rinse repeat.
This is an effective way to learn the notes and you don’t even need a bass.
This is an effective way to learn the notes and you don’t even need a bass.
Two things that really helped me...
- Get a metronome or metronome app on your phone. Set it kinda slow, like 60 bpm. Then decide on a note, like G#. Now play a G# on the E string (4th fret), then play one on the A string (11th fret), etc. when you run out of strings, work back down to the E string. Of course, playing one note each beat of the metronome.
- Memorize the note names at the dots on the fretboard:
- 0 fret = E, A, D, G
- 3 fret = G, C, F, Bb
- 5 fret = A, D, G, C
A long time ago I memorized the notes across the 4 strings at each fret that has a dot (3,5,7,9) positions. The rest can be derived from there quite easily. After some time you can name them without thinking.
What is also important is memorizing chord structures. Those shapes will grow into muscle memory and help a great deal. It makes you not really need to know all the note names but rather just their root note.
What is also important is memorizing chord structures. Those shapes will grow into muscle memory and help a great deal. It makes you not really need to know all the note names but rather just their root note.
i’m still a beginner, despite being a total gear head, and i just wanted to ask for some tips on memorizing notes! it’s a bit time consuming hitting the open e or a or d or g string and being like “ok that’s a g... one two three...” etc and counting the half steps between b and c and e and f, just to arrive at a fret you’ll forget about once you move away for a second or two. beginners problems i guess. my picking technique and left hand technique are pretty okay, one finger per fret (sometimes i cheat and either use my middle finger or pinkie when i should use my ring finger), but i want to start getting into theory to better my playing. what’s the point of playing good if you play the wrong stuff??
I wish I could help you with this, but I started out playing the trumpet and reading music. It was a fairly easy transition. When I started playing guitar, I had a chord wheel that when you picked out a chord, it also gave you the 4th-5th-dominate 7th- and relative minor chords.
So, I worked it out on a four fret pattern where I knew where all the notes in one octave reside. Then it’s just a matter of learning where the root note is (there is only 13 of those) and the interval you are looking for which can be found positionally.
I will also suggest reading music helps a lot, although some will argue tabs are better. For guitar and bass that maybe true, other instruments not so much.
Anyway, best wishes getting it figured out.
This is what everybody wants. A short cut to being a decent musician. Really, you just have to do the work. The most effective way I know is to go slowly and say the names as you go. If there were magic short cuts we’d all be brilliant immediately but sadly there are aren’t. This guy seems to have a good method:
I haven't been studying the fretboard diligently for too long, but the rate at which I am making progress seems reasonable. There were some great new tips in this thread too.
What I really want are shortcuts to moving my fingers with dexterity. If I know I have to move up 3 frets to B and plonk my pinky down, OK, but doing it cleanly is another story.
What I really want are shortcuts to moving my fingers with dexterity. If I know I have to move up 3 frets to B and plonk my pinky down, OK, but doing it cleanly is another story.
I do not think anyone mentioned "The Box", so here is a cut and paste that may be if interest.
Might as well give you some more. Fearceol mentioned chord tones. Yes that is what we play 95% of the time. Here is another cut and paste paper for your reference file.
My old standby chart of generic bass lines using the major scale box as a Rosetta stone.
Bass Patterns based upon the Major Scale box.
Major Scale Box.
........Index...Middle..Ring....Little
G~~|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D~~|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A~~|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E~~|-------|-R/1---|-------|---2---|4th string
You may recognize this pattern with dots.
Adding the numbers lets the pattern come alive.
Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song. Find a C note on the 3rd or 4th string and put this box's R over that C note. Then play the "spelling" for the Cmaj7 chord. That spelling is listed below and it is R-3-5-7. If you wanted to play the C major scale, that spelling is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
Basic Chord Spellings
Scale Spellings Yep, gotta do our scales so our fingers know where the notes are and our ears get used to the good and bad sounds. Scales are a right of passage thing. Got to know them, however, chord tones is what we get paid to play.
Generic Notes - for your bass line.
Catch your root or tonic note in the first 5 frets thinking in A, B, C's then change over to 1, 2, 3's for the notes of what you wab
Google can find hundreds of riffs for you; get several into muscle memory. Here are some
|6667 8555 5668|5538 6333 3378| and the ole R-5-8-5 will fit most anywhere.
Find your notes (A, B, C) in the first 5 frets then add the chord tones (1, 2, 3) as needed. Want to move the key up the neck, help yourself. C stuff at the 3rd fret, 8th fret or 15th fret, etc.
Happy trails.
Might as well give you some more. Fearceol mentioned chord tones. Yes that is what we play 95% of the time. Here is another cut and paste paper for your reference file.
My old standby chart of generic bass lines using the major scale box as a Rosetta stone.
Bass Patterns based upon the Major Scale box.
Major Scale Box.
........Index...Middle..Ring....Little
G~~|---2---|-------|---3---|---4---| 1st string
D~~|---6---|-------|---7---|---8---|
A~~|---3---|---4---|-------|---5---|
E~~|-------|-R/1---|-------|---2---|4th string
You may recognize this pattern with dots.
Adding the numbers lets the pattern come alive.
Cmaj7 chord coming up in the song. Find a C note on the 3rd or 4th string and put this box's R over that C note. Then play the "spelling" for the Cmaj7 chord. That spelling is listed below and it is R-3-5-7. If you wanted to play the C major scale, that spelling is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
Basic Chord Spellings
- Major Triad = R-3-5 for the C chord.
- Minor Triad = R-b3-5 for the Cm chord.
- Diminished Chord = R-b3-b5 for the Cdim chord.
- Maj7 = R-3-5-7 for the Cmaj7 chord.
- Minor 7 = R-b3-5-b7 for the Cm7 chord.
- Dominant 7 = R-3-5-b7 for the C7 chord.
- ½ diminished = R-b3-b5-b7 for the Cm7b5 chord.
- Full diminished = R-b3-b5-bb7 for the C with the little o - no strike through.
Scale Spellings Yep, gotta do our scales so our fingers know where the notes are and our ears get used to the good and bad sounds. Scales are a right of passage thing. Got to know them, however, chord tones is what we get paid to play.
- Major Scale = 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 Home base
- Major Pentatonic = 1-2-3-5-6 Leave out the 4 & 7
- Natural Minor Scale = 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7 Major scale with the 3, 6 & 7 flatted.
- Minor Pentatonic = 1-b3-4-5-b7 Leave out the 2 & 6.
- Blues = 1-b3-4-b5-5-b7 Minor pentatonic with the blue note b5 added.
- Harmonic Minor Scale = 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-7 Natural minor with a natural 7.
- Melodic Minor Scale = 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7 Major scale with a b3.
Generic Notes - for your bass line.
- The root, five and eight are generic (R-5-8-5) and fit most any chord. Remember the diminished has a flatted 5.
- The 3 is generic to all major chords. So R-3-5-3 will fit under any major chord.
- The b3 is generic to all minor chords. And R-b3-5-8 will fit under any minor chord. Why the 8? Well the 8 is just another root in the next octave.
- The 7 is generic to all maj7 chords. Yep, R-3-5-7 fits nicely.
- The b7 is generic to all dominant seventh and minor seventh chords. G7 = R-3-5-b7 or Gm7 = R-b3-5-b7.
- The 6 is neutral and adds color, help yourself to 6’s. Love the sound of R-3-5-6 with a major chord.
- The 2 and 4 make good passing notes. Don’t linger on them or stop on them, keep them passing.
- In making your bass line help yourself to those notes, just use them correctly.
- Roots, fives, eights and the correct 3 & 7 will play a lot of bass.
Catch your root or tonic note in the first 5 frets thinking in A, B, C's then change over to 1, 2, 3's for the notes of what you wab
Google can find hundreds of riffs for you; get several into muscle memory. Here are some
|6667 8555 5668|5538 6333 3378| and the ole R-5-8-5 will fit most anywhere.
Find your notes (A, B, C) in the first 5 frets then add the chord tones (1, 2, 3) as needed. Want to move the key up the neck, help yourself. C stuff at the 3rd fret, 8th fret or 15th fret, etc.
Happy trails.
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your posts like this have helped me out since ive joined TB, i just wanted to say thanks and Cheers sir!
That’s where practice comes in. You just have to do the work. It takes time and effort and that’s the reality of becoming a musician of reasonable capability. If it’s not worth the effort, then you don’t want it badly enough.
@Malcolm35 thanks for posting the Major Scale Box. I think I have seen it before but after a few months of plucking, it makes more sense now.
I like diagrams so I started to render it all pretty-like (which also helps me remember things). Please let me know if you see any errors so far!
In the Full Diminished, there is a double flat 7 ... why not write that as a 6?
I like diagrams so I started to render it all pretty-like (which also helps me remember things). Please let me know if you see any errors so far!
In the Full Diminished, there is a double flat 7 ... why not write that as a 6?
wow a lot of this stuff sounds like rocket science! i’ll take my time... i have about 36 years to catch up with some of you... 
Don't uses "boxes" and don't use TAB. Those involve memorizing shapes. Learn to read music, and read everything you can get your hands on. You'll memorize the fret board in no time, and that's just one side effect of sight reading.
Ed's little system here is very clear and logical. Watch all 4 of them.
OP, from your earlier posts it sounds like you play rock music. In light of that, there is no reason to learn to read music. Learning the notes on the fret board is always helpful and many of the previous posts have given some great ways to do that. Learning how to use the "boxes" is extremely helpful and applicable to the music you play. Using tabs is perfectly fine, just don't rely solely on them. Most of the tabs online are not accurate but can help get you in the ballpark and then your knowledge of the fret board, intervals, scales, chord tones (all part of the boxes) and your ear will get you the rest of the way there. You state that you are a beginner so you just have to put in the work and gain experience. The more you do this stuff the easier it becomes.
Ultimately, anything you choose to do will be helpful in some way. The key is to keep playing, and playing, and playing, and playing.....until it becomes natural and you won't have to think about it. Good luck!
Ultimately, anything you choose to do will be helpful in some way. The key is to keep playing, and playing, and playing, and playing.....until it becomes natural and you won't have to think about it. Good luck!
That's why I like the 12 first position note approach. It's simple, you don't have to memorize much. The rest of it just comes naturally with practice, as long as you know what patterns to play to reach the octaves.wow a lot of this stuff sounds like rocket science! i’ll take my time... i have about 36 years to catch up with some of you...
Any systematic approach will do, but the two I remember working are:
- Work your way up the neck chromatically through all the positions. Start in F#/Gb and B/Cb. Find etudes and material in those keys. Then move up one fret to G and C. Then up to Ab and Db, and so on till you run out of frets.
- Find every instance of a note. Quickly play through every Bb you can find--every string; every octave. When you can do this instantly for any note, without pausing to figure them out, then you've arrived.