Memorizing notes of the first 12 frets...

[fazool]

I took a college-level music theory class so I understand music.

But, I've never fully memorized the notes on the fretboard. I can find a note and can figure out which note it is in a second or two but I never had any real need to memorize them, ever.

Once in a while I pursue it just "because".


I've also found that you can ignore every single "quick solution" promise - there are none. You simply have to memorize them.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by hubcapsc

A chord* is made up of 1, 3 and 5. There's 5 chord shapes down the neck
in this order: C, A, G, E, D. I've focused on where 1 is in all the 5 shapes. I
fiddle with it a little most times when I sit up there and play guitar
for a while, it is growing on me, I'd like to not even think about it after
a while. Start with the G shape, for example, and bing, bing, bing,
there's the three #1s in it, it's easy to pop over the single #1 in the E
Shape you haven't used yet and so on down the neck.

-Mike " * yeah, yeah :-) "

Oh yeah working on CAGED too!

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by fazool

I took a college-level music theory class so I understand music.

But, I've never fully memorized the notes on the fretboard. I can find a note and can figure out which note it is in a second or two but I never had any real need to memorize them, ever.

Once in a while I pursue it just "because".


I've also found that you can ignore every single "quick solution" promise - there are none. You simply have to memorize them.

But who memorizes a computer keyboard, but yet our fingers find the right keys by exercises and drills we did when we first learned right?

[GCWaters]

This was problematic for me for years. I tried multiple methods--a variety of regular method books, position playing, scale patterns, CAGED, etc. None of them worked. What did work was "The Missing Method" books. They basically break the fretboard down into three regions, with exercises for each.

For whatever reason, this matched how I "saw" the fretboard where the others didn't. And that, I think, is critical. I learned music first on trumpet, then on piano, where things are laid out in a very nice linear manner. I think linearly, and the guitar is anything but. These books, though, translated the guitar into something that my brain could understand and that matched how I understood music. I highly recommend them.

[Playguitar]

I believe the disparity of answers is because some people are able to internalize the fretboard and know what sounds come from each position. I wish I was able to do that. I am working on improvisation and it helps for me to know where the 1, 3, and 5 notes are for each chord. I have found it much easier to start with memorizing just the 1,3 and 5 and then add in the pentatonic scales.

[godfreydaniel]

Here’s something posted by forum member Mr. Beaumont that I found very helpful:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=542165

[Silly Moustache]

A long time ago, I was sitting in on an evening talk by an old school big band/ jazz guitarist (btw this was at a bluegrass camp!) and he said that he had never fully mastered learning every note on all the strings ...BUT he new every note on the 6th (E) and 5th (A)

1. So - knowing the 6th string, he also knew the 1st string.

2. So - by knowing the notes on the E (6th) string and then going to the 4th (D) and up two frets -there was your octave.

3. The same trick works from the 5th (A) to the 5rd (G)

4. Also knowing the notes on the 1st string (top E) means you know the 5th note (dominant) of the notes on the 1st string.

It works for me.
However, I have watched a number of Thomas Zilia's videos "musictheoryforguitar" I like him, and and I think that his teaching method is great ...I'm gonna try this one. (gotta find a metronome!)

https://youtu.be/PJddQ6Q0UDo

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

A long time ago, I was sitting in on an evening talk by an old school big band/ jazz guitarist (btw this was at a bluegrass camp!) and he said that he had never fully mastered learning every note on all the strings ...BUT he new every note on the 6th (E) and 5th (A)

1. So - knowing the 6th string, he also knew the 1st string.

2. So - by knowing the notes on the E (6th) string and then going to the 4th (D) and up two frets -there was your octave.

3. The same trick works from the 5th (A) to the 5rd (G)

4. Also knowing the notes on the 1st string (top E) means you know the 5th note (dominant) of the notes on the 1st string.

It works for me.
However, I have watched a number of Thomas Zilia's videos "musictheoryforguitar" I like him, and and I think that his teaching method is great ...I'm gonna try this one. (gotta find a metronome!)

https://youtu.be/PJddQ6Q0UDo

and often the 5th or 6th string is the first note of the chord you're playing which is helpful. Then add in major and minor Cage chording
ideas for the seventh chords (and perhaps other extended chords) and you're moving along. Personally though for me in repertoire the
music has been memorized and I don't think about any of the above when playing it.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Learning to play guitar and play actual pieces of music on the guitar it's helpful not to go down rabbit holes. See it happening again and again.

That depends upon what one wants, specifically, from the music one plays.


If one's goal is to be able to read music - in standard notation - and play what is written, it is helpful to know the notes on the fingerboard. It isn't difficult to learn. Likely, the best way to do so is to learn to read music AND where those corresponding notes are on the fingerboard. An easy way to do that is to learn to read and play simple melodies - rather than chords - on one string at a time.

Tony Braden's method did exactly that. Jumping ahead, one then learns to play two notes at a time - a melody and harmonizing bass note. That starts one on the rules of harmony. Before long, one plays three notes at a time, then four, each according to standard rules of harmony. That leads to creating one's own arrangements of any melody.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

That depends upon what one wants, specifically, from the music one plays.


If one's goal is to be able to read music - in standard notation - and play what is written, it is helpful to know the notes on the fingerboard. It isn't difficult to learn. Likely, the best way to do so is to learn to read music AND where those corresponding notes are on the fingerboard. An easy way to do that is to learn to read and play simple melodies - rather than chords - on one string at a time.

Tony Braden's method did exactly that. Jumping ahead, one then learns to play two notes at a time - a melody and harmonizing bass note. That starts one on the rules of harmony. Before long, one plays three notes at a time, then four, each according to standard rules of harmony. That leads to creating one's own arrangements of any melody.

Yep, know all that and doing quite a bit of composing. Do think developing a good ear and playing actual music are the primary things.,

[Gordon Currie]

I hate to call it memorizing, as that sounds more intentional than it was for me.

I absolutely know every note on the fretboard up to and often past the 12 fret.
It took decades of playing and trying to find a phrase or melody note.

I'd say for me it happened more as a byproduct of trying to identify patterns.

If you want to be a great improviser, especially in jazz, NOT knowing the notes instantly will slow you down.

OTOH there are many things you can do without having the entire fretboard memorized.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

I hate to call it memorizing, as that sounds more intentional than it was for me.

I absolutely know every note on the fretboard up to and often past the 12 fret.
It took decades of playing and trying to find a phrase or melody note.

I'd say for me it happened more as a byproduct of trying to identify patterns.

If you want to be a great improviser, especially in jazz, NOT knowing the notes instantly will slow you down.

OTOH there are many things you can do without having the entire fretboard memorized.

Great post, maybe the best of the whole thread and to me, it's absolutely possible to drive around Seattle by simply remembering where to turn, but knowing street names makes it much easier.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

But who memorizes a computer keyboard, but yet our fingers find the right keys by exercises and drills we did when we first learned right?

Yes, I memorized the keyboard. Nice being able to type without having to look at the keys. Little bit different too, playing the guitar and typing.

[raysachs]

After playing a lot more electric than acoustic in my first couple years of playing, just learning the basic barre chords made it extremely easy to remember five of the six strings. You have your E shape up and down the neck, which teaches you the notes of both E strings and the D string (which is always two half steps lower.) The A chord shape teaches you the notes on the A string and the G (which, again, is always two half steps lower). So that leaves only the B string as a sort of wild card, but you usually learn the pentatonic minor scale early on in that process, and it’s really easy to find the root note on that string three frets above where it is on the D string or five frets above where it is on either E.

So it’s not like I can look at the fretboard and instantly name every note, but I functionally know where everything I need is when I’m playing. Just from playing a lot and paying attention.

-Ray

[Mooh]

I was a piano and voice student long before I could tell the difference between a guitar and a banjo (for example), so I knew about scales, intervals, chord construction etc. The order of notes was obvious to me from the starting point of the open string, but location of the octave and fifth along the string helped put in place all the others in between. Knowing the octaves across the strings is helpful, as is hand drawing your own maps of the fingerboard with scales and chords shaded in, which is what I had to do in the pre-internet era, large sheets of newsprint taped to my bedroom wall as a teenager. Singing the names of the notes as you play scales and arpeggios in as many positions as possible can help with more than just fingerboard memorization, it's also a great ear training exercise, and vocal exercise. Now, I promote these ideas with my students.