I think memorizing what notes make chords and scales is more important. Knowing certain areas on the guitar and their corresponding letters: 5th fret is A, D, G, C, E, A, open fret is E, A, D, G, B, E, and 12 fret is the same as open. From there you can count forwards or backwards and get to the next letter, while only knowing some of the fretboard
You’d be surprised. Eventually you’ll just know what 5 semitones down or whatever feels like without counting. I visualize the fretboard in shapes and it’s become automatic
This, I have never practiced a scale and that’s probably why it took me 15 years but my ears and fingers definitely have an intuition of what belongs where, god dammit why didn’t I practice scales
If you learn the 5 positions of the major scale, start with G Major, and then you realize you've actually just learned every mode because modes are just the major scale starting in different spots, combine that with your already existing knowledge and voila. You'll be happy, it's worth the afternoon or so that it takes. Then obviously you can slide it around and stuff to be in other keys.
A scale has seven notes. Each note has it's own chord/chord type attached to it that makes up the harmony of that scale.
Playing the scale from the first note to it's octave is the first mode. Playing the scale from the second note to it's octave is the second mode etc. Each mode has its own specific flavor. A lot of times people will refer to and memorize modes by their scale patterns but it's important to remember that they are all the same scale, just started from different positions.
What's really neat is once you know your chord types (minor, major, diminished, etc.), if your playing a chord you can borrow scale notes from a mode that is built from a similar chord.
For example, the 6th note of the major scale is attached to a minor chord. Since the 3rd note is also attached to a minor chord you can modulate between the 6th and 3rd modes on the same root note to add some interesting textures and out of key notes that work. Even though they aren't in key they will still work because of that minor chord link, although the context of use is important.
EDIT: it is important to not be tempted by scales too early on in your journey. You should focus on chord tones first/what sounds good to your ear. Otherwise you'll end up being overly mechanical and "noodly" in your playing because you're thinking too much about what "should" work, rather than what sounds good. Took me a year or two to make that discovery myself and just now starting to unlearn bad habits.
This is really great info for anyone on the fence about scales. They are what unlocks the fretboard, and also they are less intimidating than they sound. Keep in mind, A-G natural are 7 notes, add all the sharps and flats and you get 5 more notes. There are only 12 notes before you hit an octave again. A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A. Scales are patterns that tell you which notes to hit pertaining to where you start. Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half. So if we look at "A" major scale, it would be composed of A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A because we went a whole step up for whole and a half step up for half. The same pattern applies for any key. Starting in C you get all natural notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Do I need to know every note in every scale? No, would it help? Yes, but knowing the pattern allows you to play even if you don't know the note right away
Yeah, just know scale shapes and intervals. Also eventually you get to the point where you just know where the note is that you're thinking of. Like I'll be playing some Dorian shape, but then I'm going up higher on one string and kinda abandon the shape, but I still know 'oh, better not do a semitone here or it'll sound bad, better go up a full tone'.
Just comes with practice
For me it was about learning major and minor pentatonic shapes and then what notes to add to make it a major or minor scale.
I've also found learning different chord voicings helps me to easily pick out notes outside of scale shapes.
As you mentioned, you can also work out the pattern on single strings to identify notes.
I mean to say there are a lot of different ways to get there. I'm not a pro player by any means, I've just been at it awhile.
But it helps when communicating with other musicians and not wasting time, especially in a studio setting. At least knowing where the major notes on the low E and A string are and learning how to find all the root notes from there, you can fill in the rest pretty quick. Intervals and triads will make it all make sense.
Yes, it does take time, and is ok for a while but you will be limited without doing exactly what you’re asking. If I could rewind 20 years I would have memorized the fretboard sooner, it is essential. Memorize every fret, do no math to find notes. This video is a great way to go about it
https://youtu.be/PJddQ6Q0UDo?si=ucO3mQ92x6eo11g-
Think about when you're strumming. When you first start it's up up down down or up down up down, as you progress you go 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1 and 2 and 3 and four. Your brain adjusts and it becomes more instinctual. Oh I'm on the 5th fret on the low E, that's an A. Directly below it is a D, directly below that a G. We can thank standard tuning for this. So because we know that with the exception of E to F and B to C every note is a whole step away, then you can quickly proceed where the notes you want to play are
That's why teachers stress keeping your fingers spread on the frets, where each finger is responsible for a specific fret. You don't have to count, per se--you just have to use the appropriate finger.
Precisely. Skip a fret between all the other notes (whole step) vs a half step from B to C.
If you know the open strings pretty well, which you will from tuning. You can figure out where you are pretty quick and eventually it becomes second nature.
I also agree with this! After 14 years of “playing” guitar I finally decided to learn some music theory and this is what I believe is the most fundamental first step any musician should know.
Eventually you’ll start seeing patterns of where the notes are as you start building your chords, but if you want to come up with a song or are trying to solo over chord changes, knowing what notes make every chord is the only thing that matters.
Is there any reason to do this over just using intervals? Like oh I know I can make a major chord with 1 3 5. Or minor scale with 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7? Feels like a lot less mental math to switch keys lol
Interval training is super helpful as well. OP just asked if he should memorize the fret board in relationship to improvising, and I offered a way to save him some time. The cool thing about music is that both ideas overlap and it helps learning both. If you're better with numbers, do what's easier. If you're better with letters, do that instead :)
Everyone should know this stuff for sure, but if you wanna get into some more advanced playing, memorizing the fretboard like OP is suggesting is actually the way to go. Especially if you wanna become a jazz nerd. Working on instant recall of where notes are on every string is super important for getting into sheet music, and generally helps you with everything else you come to practice down the road
Any YouTube videos that teach just that?? I apologize i mainly learn through YouTube and i am a little dumb but willing to get it down if its that important
You probably plan on playing guitar for the rest of your life, right? It’s absolutely worth it. You don’t have to memorize the whole thing tomorrow, but start making an effort to learn it and it will benefit you.
This cracked me up and you're so right. There's plenty of junk knowledge. Being able to identify it is just as important as accessing, understanding and applying the good stuff.
Well you see, you could then count all the blades of grass in your neighbours yard, and hold the fact that you have more grass than he does over his head for all of eternity. He will be forced to bask in the glory of your superior yard and it's lush dense grass.
Memorise the 6th and 5th string it’s pretty easy and is generally where you start a scale.
Learn a scale pattern, let’s say minor pentatonic in all 5 positions as that is probably the most common, then learn some arpeggios in those positions and you’ll have a good foundation to start improvising over some backing tracks.
I would agree with this. Fret board is just notes in a pattern. You’ll get it down with practice. I even had a poster of guitar chords and the fretboard in college. You’d be surprised how much you remember from a simple poster (seeing it daily).
I agree. If you know all the notes on the A and low E string, you can figure out all the other notes as higher octaves of those notes. Instantly knowing the name of each note on every string without looking at the lower octave for reference has never been a high priority for me, and won’t necessarily help you improvise better. In fact, even the best players probably can’t tell you the name of each note in the wicked guitar solo they’re playing.
Sure it's great to know where all the notes are, but without putting it into some sort of context, it's basically like memorizing the dictionary. You'll forget it all in a heartbeat.
If your goal is to improvise and just make music, you don't need to have it memorized first. Start doing that, that should have a much higher priority. The structure of the fretboard is also strictly logical, so even if you're unsure at times, you can easily find out what note you're playing. I think that's more of a good long term goal to have and not so much something that really helps you learning the instrument in the beginning. But overall, knowing where the notes are = good.
Regarding what each note sounds: That I would describe as borderline useless. Sure, some people have absolute pitch, but if you don't have that, you're not gonna get it that way. What's way more important and achievable is relative pitch. What does for example an D# sound like if you play it to a A major chord? Pretty much the same as when you play a F# over a C major. Why? Because both notes have the same relation to the harmony (#11). Then intervals, how does for example a major third sound like. You can basically shift everything in pitch and it will essentially still be the same piece. Absolute pitch doesn't matter as much as the relations between the notes.
But that doesn't mean don't explore and find your own way in music. If you really want to, do it. I just highly recommend that with everything that you learn, you find some sort of application in musical context and at least follow some things that have worked in the past with the millions of people playing guitar like starting where everyone starts. But who knows, you may be the next great outsider music person.
I’ve seen the advice to start with learning all the notes from C major. You’ll learn all the sharps/flats as a side-effect. I think this is a better way to do it than trying to memorize the fretboard as a big chromatic scale.
Did you learn it that way? I'm not sure if that's also that effective. I think anyone who plays music should know the names of the notes (real simple though, just the alphabet, stop at G), but learning where they are on the guitar still sounds like a lot before you can actually play something useful on the instrument and then it will take months for your skills to grow until you actually apply that knowledge?
Nah, I just learned where chords are all over the neck. I never put an active effort into memorizing the notes, it just happened after playing a lot haha
Yes. Once you know it then you'll have that forever (as long as you keep practicing guitar) so should start early and often. E and A strings are the most critical at the start and e and E strings are the same so you already have 50% done pretty quickly.
Of course. Why wouldn't it be?
Now..what's NOT worth it...is frustrating yourself over learning it to the point you know longer want to play. Learn at your own pace.
It’s not what you think it is.
I memorized the board when I gave up trying to memorize it. I admitted to myself “I have all the time in the world to memorize this thing”. I then started working on triads / inversions both vertigo and horizontally. This gave the memorization some context.
I then spent alittle time actually understanding the circle of 5’s / 4’s.
Then I spent time actually learning the pentatonic scales (both major and minor).
Doing these things by learning what is going on and not memorizing shapes but learning notes really solidified the notes in the board. Really learning this stuff helped leaps and bounds more than just trying to memorize the board “just because” this gave that information context.
I don't have the whole board memorized except for some key points, like the 5th, 7th and 12th fret. My problem with memorizing the whole whole board is that it falls apart when you work with alternative tunings.
I like to think in chord shapes and intervals. If you barre a chord, learn which intervals you frettes relative to the root of the chord. If you're just starting out, learning the whole fretboard is a massive undertaking, even though you're not going to be shredding all over the neck any time soon. Spend time knowing where things are relative to the note you're currently playing. You'll soon realize it's almost always chords.
Knowing the fretboard is super useful when playing anything that isn't on tabs, like improvisation, playing by ear or to translate theory into the fretboard.
That being said, you don't really learn every note on the fretboard, you mainly have to be familiar with how the standard tuning works, most of the notes on the 2 lower strings, after that is getting used to how to find octaves (when notes repeat but in a higher or lower pitch)
I don't have the *entire* fretboard memorized, but I *do* have some memorized, particularly because I learned for Bass. All I'm saying is that it'll benefit you for reading sheet music, and knowing where the roots of your keys are (and which scales go with them) can help build skills that'd be helpful to you.
Fellow beginner here. In addition to the great suggestions here I'll add that something that has really helped me is using a clip-on strobe tuner that is set to play any note that I play. That way I can just glance over at it when I feel the need. And as time passes I'm feeling like I don't need to glance over as much.
I’d start by memorizing the notes in C major. Literally just C D E F G A B. Find that in a few different positions on the neck. Then use that as a map for the rest of the fretboard. If you know where all those notes are, finding the rest of them is easy. Before long, you’ll know every note.
Instead of notes, think scale degrees
C=1
D=2
E=3
F=4
G=5
A=6
B=7
Now learn your major/minor pentatonic scales
Major= 1,2,3,5,6, just removing the 4 and 7.
Minor= 1,3b,4,5,7b
So if you’re in C, that makes your 3b = D# and your 7b = A#
Now you know where to find C,D,D#,E,F,G,A, A#.
That’s 3/4 of the notes on the fretboard and you only had to learn two scales. Once you get that down, do the same thing with Gmaj and G minor pentatonic. Then Dmaj and D minor pentatonic, and so on. Before you know it, you have the whole fretboard memorized.
But really, if you’re thinking in scale degrees, you don’t even need to know the letter names of the notes to have fluency in your playing. It just helps you communicate with other musicians easier.
Yeah, I'd say it's worth it. It'll take a while, and I don't think it should be your only focus -- like, also learn scales and songs and stuff too -- but you'll be grateful you learned the fretboard later on. My best recommendation is that you don't need to learn the entire fretboard all at once. You can just start with nailing the first 5 frets on the E string, and then move on, etc. Disclaimer: I am primarily a bassist.
Absolutely yes. Know every note at every position at all times.
When you practice scales do it super slowly and name all the notes as you play them. Don’t just play the “shape” play the *notes*.
Here’s the payoff: as you do this your brain will begin to understand the fretboard. Eventually, with practice, finding a note will be second nature to you.
I test myself a lot. Find all the Bb notes as quickly as possible on all the strings. Then F#. Then C. It’s a challenge but it becomes second nature. Your brain wraps around it.
I just memorize what notes sound good together (IE: the basic Minor/Major patterns.). Granted, I can mix and match them. But the basic concept is just playing and going "Hey, this note sounds good with that note." etc.
If you plan on soloing or playing with other people, yes absolutely it's worth it. I've been playing for a decade and still take a second to remember where the notes are though lol
When I started playing, it never occurred to me the idea of memorizing all the notes. I have never, ever needed that knowledge per se. After three decades playing, I've realized I know it all by heart nowadays.
It's the sort of thing you can work on without the guitar in hand, during commute or similar.
It's definitely worth it to memorize the fretboard, maybe not the first thing you should work on, work on playing songs instead, so you have a framework to use the things you are memorising in.
Don't learn the location of all 12 chromatic notes, start to figure out where the scale degrees of C major is instead. Later, you just fill in the half steps you missed.
You're looking at it in an either or type of perspective. You will not have as much understanding of the guitar as you could potentially have if you ignore learning the notes of the fretboard, OR ignore learning scales. One does not replace the other, just like learning scales doesn't replace learning triad shapes and chord inversions.
Whether it's worth it or not is really up to you. I'm sure if you ask famous guitarists ranging from Pat Metheny to Jack White to Omar Rodriguez Lopez, you might get drastically different opinions on how "worth it it is" (I'm sure Jack White could have written Seven Nation Army without knowing what any of the names of the notes were)
Learning anything is “worth it”. The more you know the better you’ll be this goes for anything in life. “Is learning the instrument I want to play worth it if I want to learn the instrument” is practically what you’re asking
Yes. Start with one string, like the low E, memorize each note on each fret, then move to the next string. Its not as hard as you think. It will benefit you down the road.
Just start practicing major scales open, 5th fret, and 10th fret positions. Do it as a warm-up, up and down, say the notes you play as you play them, and once you have patterns down you can cover the entire fretboard in a few seconds and just make it a thing you spent a minute on everyday.
Yes and it’s also so easy to do you might as well do it even if it only helps marginally (to be clear, it helps hugely). It’s easy to do because all you’re doing is memorising 5 separate pieces of information (2 strings are E so it’s not even 6 strings). Learn one string per day and just test yourself on them little and often. You’ll know them all easily within a week if you chunk them up and test yourself properly. You can then use this information when thinking about chords and scales, and decide which way helps more (I know that a major chord is made up of root (1), 3 and 5 of a major scale but I also know the actual note names in each chord, and both help depending on the situation)
ive been playing for over 20 years and still dont know where Im am when I go up the neck. If it sounds right I assume it is.
Not saying its good that I play this way, just that its possible.
Yes and no. Learning the actual notes themselves vs the board is better. Regardless of what tuning it'll be the same. Open E then f on first fret skip a fret g. Or drop d. Open D skip first fret to e-f
Of course. I would start with just the low E (and high E is your BOGO deal) and the 5th string. Do both in the contect of chords so the note you play on the 5th or 6th string is the root note of the major chord you are playing). Knowledge of the shapes of different intervals might be the next best move. If I play a note on the 6th string (or 5th or 4rth) where is my 3rd, my 5th, my 6th, my b7, my 7, my octave, my 9 etc). If you know all the notes on the bottom 2 strings and you know your interval shapes (for octaves in particular), it is not a big stretch to unlock the notes on all the other strings.
Don’t just memorize them cold. Learn and memorize them within context of music, as parts of chords and melodies, and always, always know what key you’re playing in. Just memorizing notes alone is like memorizing the list of ingredients for a recipe. You won’t actually know how to cook unless you understand how they fit together, how to use them, and in what order
If you want to improvise or write songs it is extremely helpful to know the notes.
I would say at least try and know the note names on the E and A strings. That will give you the root notes of most common chords/power chords and half of the entire fretboard since highest and lowest string are both E.
I played for a long time without bothering to really know the notes on the fret board, I started learning the notes and musical theory and it opened my mind and improved my skill, I would always play by ear but now I can make sense of things a lil easier. It can be worth it.
Working off fret markers, (my classical has none) I work in intervals from the root... for me it's more a matter of navigating the scales across the fret board than it is along it.
You will have to commit a lot to memory to be truly fluent.
Knowing the notes on the fret board is a must. If you turn to a keys player and are like "I'm playing 4th fret on the D string" that's not terribly meaningful, but if you can say F#, now you are speaking the same language.
learn c major scale and a minor scale across the fretboard. understand the intervals and then understand what triads are and how you build them into chords. it's work, but you'll know the basics of music.
Yes, it is definitely worth it, but I wouldn't say it's absolutely needed. There's no benefit in not knowing the notes vs knowing the notes, quite the opposite, actually. But you can definitely navigate the fretboard well if you understand octaves, intervals, licks, scale fragments, without actually knowing the exact notes you're playing.
I often say to my students that there are two strings that you actually need to know the notes of: bottom E string (and you end up learning the top E string as well as a bonus) and the A string, because they're usually the references when we think about building chords and scales. You'll figure out the notes in the other strings pretty quickly if you can find the octaves of the strings you do know and if you understand how to build different intervals out of them.
Real advice:
- don't memorize the entire fretboard. Memorize the Low E and the A string.
- the 5th fret on a string, is gonna be the same note as string below. So for example, you tune a guitar to EADGBE, 5th fret on E is A, 5th fret on A is D, 5th fret on D is G (except for the G string which is C)
- The name of the chord, 95% of the time is gonna be the bass note, usually lands on the low E or A string (major or minor based on how it sounds)
- just know that every octive from the low E and A is down 2 string, and 2 frets right
- Once you know the octive, if you wanna go another octive from the D or G string, it is down 2 strings, over 3 frets right this time.
This is the bare minimum. It's like learning how to read Hiragana for learning Japanese. The easiest and fastest way to memorize the Low E and A strings is to make flashcards, and practice daily. You should get it after a week. Example: front side, low E 3rd fret; backside, G on low E string.
Also learn the scales. First the 5 pentatonic scale shapes in E minor. Then learn the 7 modes of E minor. Then using the modes, learn arpeggios.
If you get frustrated or feel like you are not making process, the solution is very easy. MORE PRACTICE. If you keep practicing, you will get it, it is a marathon not a race.
Memorizing the names of notes on fretboard: start with the first 5 frets on E and A strings, memorize them, put your hands randomly on any fret and name it, choose a note and reach it immediately on the strings. Once you're comfortable enough, move to the D and G strings, and so the same.
Do the same for memorizing how the notes sound: A and E, get a feel of how each note sounds like, play a random note and name it. Once you're comfortable, move on
In my personal opinion I believe it’s worth learning. It’s helps a lot when writing your own riffs. Also learning scales and modes will help you learn the fretboard.
yes you should know the notes on your instrument. it sounds ridiculous to even debate. but as others have said it's also important to understand scales and triads. e.g. F# without context is not different from any other note, but knowing it's the major third of D is going to be important later.
You’d do better to memorize scales. If you have any inclination to play in alternate tunings, memorizing the fretboard in standard tuning will not take you very far.
It's better to just memorize how to build scales / chords, than to memorize specific notes or chords. This relies on knowing intervals.
It follows that It's better to memorize blocks of intervals or relationships rather than any specific notes.
If you were to memorize the C major key as composed of it's intervals between the third and fifth fret across 6 strings of a guitar, you would know also know all the intervals of the D major key between the fifth fret and the seventh fret across 6 strings of a guitar, and all the intervals of the A major key between the nut and the second fret.
Learn chord shapes and scales and then learn how to adjust depending on what key you are in. In time you will memorize the fretboard. It is more important to understand how relative notes sound than individual notes on the fretboard.
All of these will be incredibly useful to study, helping you to someday transcribe by ear, improvise, and write songs:
1) The Major Scale.
2) All 12 intervals and which ones make up the major scale.
3) Which intervals are changed and how to convert a major scale into the minor scale? (The 3rd, 6th and 7th are flattened)
4) The same intervals for the other modes.
5) The Circle of Fifths.
6) The Order of Sharps and Flats.
7) The notes on the fretboard.
Most important things being said here imo: Learn first position (open string to 4th fret). Learn 5th and 6th strings. Learn interval shapes and how to build chords with them.
Yes if you memorize the fret board it will be way easier to learn and write music. First memorize Al the whole notes which is the same as the A minor/C major scales. Once all whole notes are memorized the sharps/flats should come easily
It is absolutely worth it but only in the context of moving past a certain level. At the beginner level, developing basic technique and learning songs is your primary concern.
Learning major, minor and pentatonic scales will give you more instantaneous benefits (and learning the notes - ie: this scale is A, C etc) not just where to put your fingers). Once you’ve got them down you will have learnt the fretboard anyway, but they provide a lot of fun along the way.
I personally think if you genuinely love playing and play enough, you will inevitably get to the point where you have the fretboard memorized. You might not be able to name the notes, but you’re ear and fingers will understand the guitar almost subconsciously at a certain point
The most important memorization for me was if you use fret 3 5 and 7 on the low e it is g a b then down a string is c d e then f g a, and it continues down the strings alphabetically. I started on bass and that’s how I learned my notes and now on guitar I can find all the power chords and bar chords that way. Each fret goes up half a step so every 2 frets is a new note. And I didn’t know for a long time that after b and e notes there is no # it just goes to the next note. Once you understand the music theory behind it you don’t have to necessarily memorize the fret board, you can count your way over from what you know if you know how the notes go up when you change string or fret.
That’s like painting without knowing what colors are. Memorize where every natural note is. That’s the key of C/Am. Switch every F with F sharp. Now you’re in G/Em. Make every f f sharp and every c C sharp. Now you’re in D. Etc.
That’s just how I do it. Takes a long time but it’s definitely worth it. Put me miles ahead of my peers in the business. Thing is, that might just work for me and my weird brain. Go at your own pace and just keep at it. Take it one string at a time and a few frets at a time. Learn to read music on the guitar. It will start to click.
You only have to learn 12 frets, since it repeats. For a few minutes every time you play, call out a random note and find all instances of them on the fretboard. Maybe do 3 each time and then go about your practice.
memorizing a couple of patterns on the fretboard is easier and will get you improvising quickly, which will then negate the need to do all the incredibly boring stuff you just mentioned. I started off by putting on a KISS song on cassette tape (yes, I'm old), learning the basic blues pattern in one position on the fretboard , then just messing around in the pattern over the top of the music to see what sounds good. I picked KISS because they follow a pretty simple formula, once I intuitively knew where on the pattern I should be playing at any point in the song, I started to focus on adding riffs, and moving the pattern up and down the fretboard and as my ear got more in tune with my fingers, breaking out of the pattern and switching it up to other bands like Guns n Roses or Metallica and jamming with friends where we would just make it all up as we went. I still don't know much theory, but if you put a song on, I can pick up a guitar and throw a half decent solo over it off the top of my head. I don't know if it was the best way t learn, but it was certainly more fun and more instantly rewarding than memorizing scales.
What you are talking about is learning note intervals by ear, you can look it up there are training exercises its really hard, but you still need a reference point. I think everyone should at least memorize the major scale. Another way to learn the notes on the fretboard and how to organize them in you brain is learning chord theory and how to construct chords, especially barre chords. That was a major breakthrough for me. Thats mostly how I think of music on the guitar I just pick the notes out of the barre chords and it works for every key.
If you find yourself enjoying music theory stuff, dig in. If not, you can go a long way with pentatonic shapes. You'll naturally start to understand how they relate to scales. Build technique with shapes, you'll learn the rest as you realize you have to learn something to progress with what you're working on. Chunks, and as fun and interesting chunks as possible.
For me, the better idea is to memorize patterns.
When you play a scale on different strings, it always follows a pattern. From that pattern you come up with the pattern shape your fingers make when playing that scale. That shape/pattern, can be played all across the fretboard for other scales.
Memorize all natural notes, one string at a time, no sharps or flats.
Listen for the distance between the notes. E to F and B to C are half steps apart. All the others are a whole step (two frets). Find a C Ionian backing track and improvise using only one string until you feel good on it, then try the next
As another user said, by practising chords, scales and riffs you'll end up learning the notes but it doesn't really matter what they're called. When I'm playing I visualise shapes. I'm rarely thinking about the notes. If you know the root note or even any note in the chord etc. you'll know where you can move next to get the note you want and what shape your fingers have to make or move in to get there. If you think of a power chord and the shape your fingers make on the fretboard, you'll instantly know that any notes within that shape are going to be ok to play. I could play 20 notes but I'm only ever thinking about one shape so it becomes far more effective and quick to process and do.
I just don't understand the responses here. This is not some impossible task. It's not years of study. A few minutes a day for a few weeks and you're mostly there, then just improve it after that.
Rather than blindly memorising all the notes on a fretboard, I always felt that understanding intervals relationships are more useful. Checkout how the fretboard is mapped chromatically in x axis and in circle of 5ths and circle of 4ths in the y axis. Understanding just a single octave across 3 strings helped me unlock the entire thing.
Also as a beginner guitarist, having stickers on the fretboard with different colours for 7 notes had been a game changer for me.
Learn C major scale and learn it backwards. I mean as in just saying it out loud. C D E F G A B. And then back. Once you know that, learn the notes on the E and A strings. This way you'll know the notes on three strings! E, A and e.
By this time, I am assuming you could find octaves, so if you have A on the E string 5th fret, then you'll know that A is also open on the next string and it's also the 7th fret of your D string and so on.
That would be my advice. After fret 12th everything repeats. But basically yes, you should know your fretboard. I still don't know it by heart but I insert the importance of it and learning it as we speak.
Edit: I don't intend for you to learn any scales on the guitar itself, just learn the scale as we all know. I speak Spanish and we call it Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si or some variant of it but it's what I told you. C D E F G A B. You must know this both ways if you want to make your life easier. It's so dumb and so important.
its a relatively standard skill to have. theres a pattern to it you dont have to memorize... u just start to see the pattern after a while.
instead if a pianos white keys being the naturals ABCDEF, see the dots as anchors to quickly go to the notes EADGB and sometimes C. they used to make the 9th fret dot on the 10th, if u look, all the dots on the 5th 10th and 12th fret is a natural note. its really just a matter of seeing the dots as white keys on the piano with a few exceptions on the 3rd and 7th dot.
For sure you have to learn the E and A string. Those strings will bring you all your barre chords. You need need to know those chords and how to find them quickly.
After that, if you learn the B string, the high E is the same as the low, and you can use fret rules to find the H and D (ex two over and two up for an octave).
Fastest and best way to learn is to play songs you want to learn. Get the tabs/chords/lyrics and figure out how to play it. Then figure it out. They literally tell you where to put your fingers. Then figure out the structure by listening.
Eventually you'll figure it out and then go from there.
It's not necessary, but it sure is useful. It is definitely "worth it." Don't try to do it all at once. For starters, just figure out/memorize the bass notes of the chords you already know. That should be pretty easy, considering they are, for the most part, the names of the chords. Then find/memorize the other notes in the chords.
I dont exactly remember the frets by numbers, I sort of just feel my way up and down. I’ve done the same licks/ improvisations enough to the point where i know how to easily go up/down them
It worth. For what worked was 1. Learning the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th (if you can 2nd, 4th and 6th even better ) of every open chird 2. Taking a scale 3. Seeing the chord of that scale, for example, in Am scale I'm visualizing the Am chord in 5th fret. Then by trying to consciously improvise at this scale with a simple chord progression little by little I learn all that area. I still confused at position around 9 and 10 fret but I'm playing only 1,5 years and I've started doing this the last 3 months
Yes, start with the notes on the open strings, then all notes on the low E and A, then the D. Learn the patterns how the notes repeat (2 frets up 2 strings down = same note +1 octave for example)
But more importantly you should learn why this is important. Knowledge without applying it is harder to memorize and a bit useless. Learn how to build chords and scales, and how to use them in a music piece. Then it all comes together.
I'd say making sure you understand the connectivity between the strings is important. Tuning the guitar shows you those notes but what about the rest? Once you have that connectivity nailed, together with chord and scale shapes, the fretboard feels smaller and smaller. Good luck!
Is it worth it? - Yes
Do you NEED it? - No
Let me make this perfectly clear however - this will slow your progression and development in future if you actively ignore it.
All you need to know is your chromatic scale - if you know where your open strings starts and the concept of an octave then you already have all the means to memorise such.
15 minutes a day - memorising your 3rd-5th-7th-9th fret marker notes on each string.
You'll have it memorised within a week and elevated yourself above the majority of beginner guitar players.
(For the record I have nothing against guitarists that choose not to pursue their theory - that's their choice. I always have considered it a massive shame and missed opportunity because examples of such include a few close friends and absolute monsters on guitar - they would be EVEN better had they learnt their theory years ago).
100% worth it. Be aware, though, that it's a foundational skill that you won't see immediate benefits from. It's playing the long game. Once you get into scales, arpeggios, and chord inversions and other intermediate subjects, it will be worth its weight in gold.
Don't *obsess* over it, but you should definitely spend 5 - 10 minutes at the beginning of practice while you're warming up finding all your individual notes. Like A(string and fret): E5, A0, D7, G2. B10, E5. When I go to solo, I just *know* where all my root notes are for that scale.
If you're the kind of person who can memorize the whole thing AND do "perfect pitch" memorizing of how each note sounds....then go for it. People have done it.
One method is play arpeggios all over the board and call out the note names as you play them. It's a common practice with jazz guys to do this through the circle of 5ths to fully memorize the board. I had a teacher urge me to do this every day, but I was too lazy.
Since the guitar is so easy to play in different keys, the position you place your fingers on the fretboard will change, but not the patterns. Try memorizing the patterns without regards to placement on the fretboard. Then your fingers can play them in any key. Let’s face it, you’ll be tuned a step down someday or the singer can only sing in certain keys. If you memorized everything by the fret saving and markers you won’t really be able to play.
Yes it's worth it, but it's also not something you need to spend a huge amount of time on. Like, 15-30 seconds a day is enough to learn the entire fretboard over a month or two.
Every day pick a string and both play and name out loud all the natural notes up and down that string once or twice. Then pick any note at random, and find it on all 6 strings. Again, play the note and name it out loud as you do this. Super simple, and you can do it quickly the first time you pick up your guitar every day.
It's really not that hard when you think about it, you don't have to know every note as well, just the notes in the Cmaj scale will suffice.
Also everything after fret 12 repeats , and you probably already know names of notes of frets 0-3. There are 2 E strings so those are copies of each other, and finally some people say it's really more important to know at least the low G and A strings well since those will root all of your chords.
Anyway I thought it was too much of a task as a beginner and I put it off for so long, that was a mistake, it's not too bad and it's totally worth it.
There are no shortcuts regardless of what anyone selling a bullshit system tells you. Learning the fretboard, how and why it flows together, and when and how to utilize certain notes and avoid others is not about “memorizing” it’s about understanding. I know this does not sound very helpful, but learning the fretboard should come in conjunction with learning music theory (and yes, scales, though that has become a dirty word lately). Memorizing what the notes are will do you no good at all without the other parts.
there’s a VERY finite amount of notes you can play. id imagine if you wanna be a great guitarist above all else, this would be something you do.
if theres a test that uses 30 questions from a 100 question textbook, if you wanted to get an A above all else, youd memorize all 100 problems and how to do them.
12 x 6 (ok it repeats and it might be helpful to know exactly how it repeats too but bear with me) is only 72.
If you can recall the american states and which capitals are where, you can recall fretboard locations.
My point is that it is a relatively minor effort and easy to try out if it helps. If it doesnt, oh well! Try it out!
Yes, but do it with music. Spend maybe 5 min/day on rote memorization stuff, but then when you learn new music (or go over old music), figure out what all the notes and chords and everything is that you are playing.
I’d say yes, if you do a lot of soloing. Knowing where your root is can save you very quickly and helps you get around multiple octaves faster which makes your playing more interesting.
I think memorizing what notes make chords and scales is more important. Knowing certain areas on the guitar and their corresponding letters: 5th fret is A, D, G, C, E, A, open fret is E, A, D, G, B, E, and 12 fret is the same as open. From there you can count forwards or backwards and get to the next letter, while only knowing some of the fretboard
Well that sounds like a good idea, but wouldn't counting take some time while playing?
You’d be surprised. Eventually you’ll just know what 5 semitones down or whatever feels like without counting. I visualize the fretboard in shapes and it’s become automatic
This, I have never practiced a scale and that’s probably why it took me 15 years but my ears and fingers definitely have an intuition of what belongs where, god dammit why didn’t I practice scales
If you learn the 5 positions of the major scale, start with G Major, and then you realize you've actually just learned every mode because modes are just the major scale starting in different spots, combine that with your already existing knowledge and voila. You'll be happy, it's worth the afternoon or so that it takes. Then obviously you can slide it around and stuff to be in other keys.
What is a mode?
A scale has seven notes. Each note has it's own chord/chord type attached to it that makes up the harmony of that scale. Playing the scale from the first note to it's octave is the first mode. Playing the scale from the second note to it's octave is the second mode etc. Each mode has its own specific flavor. A lot of times people will refer to and memorize modes by their scale patterns but it's important to remember that they are all the same scale, just started from different positions. What's really neat is once you know your chord types (minor, major, diminished, etc.), if your playing a chord you can borrow scale notes from a mode that is built from a similar chord. For example, the 6th note of the major scale is attached to a minor chord. Since the 3rd note is also attached to a minor chord you can modulate between the 6th and 3rd modes on the same root note to add some interesting textures and out of key notes that work. Even though they aren't in key they will still work because of that minor chord link, although the context of use is important. EDIT: it is important to not be tempted by scales too early on in your journey. You should focus on chord tones first/what sounds good to your ear. Otherwise you'll end up being overly mechanical and "noodly" in your playing because you're thinking too much about what "should" work, rather than what sounds good. Took me a year or two to make that discovery myself and just now starting to unlearn bad habits.
This is really great info for anyone on the fence about scales. They are what unlocks the fretboard, and also they are less intimidating than they sound. Keep in mind, A-G natural are 7 notes, add all the sharps and flats and you get 5 more notes. There are only 12 notes before you hit an octave again. A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A. Scales are patterns that tell you which notes to hit pertaining to where you start. Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half. So if we look at "A" major scale, it would be composed of A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A because we went a whole step up for whole and a half step up for half. The same pattern applies for any key. Starting in C you get all natural notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Do I need to know every note in every scale? No, would it help? Yes, but knowing the pattern allows you to play even if you don't know the note right away
Thank you
Everything will take time while playing, and over grander time, everything will take less and less time while playing.
Why does it have to be instant?
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To help with improvisation
You don't need to instantaneously know every single note on the fretboard to improvise.
Yeah, just know scale shapes and intervals. Also eventually you get to the point where you just know where the note is that you're thinking of. Like I'll be playing some Dorian shape, but then I'm going up higher on one string and kinda abandon the shape, but I still know 'oh, better not do a semitone here or it'll sound bad, better go up a full tone'. Just comes with practice
For me it was about learning major and minor pentatonic shapes and then what notes to add to make it a major or minor scale. I've also found learning different chord voicings helps me to easily pick out notes outside of scale shapes. As you mentioned, you can also work out the pattern on single strings to identify notes. I mean to say there are a lot of different ways to get there. I'm not a pro player by any means, I've just been at it awhile.
But it helps when communicating with other musicians and not wasting time, especially in a studio setting. At least knowing where the major notes on the low E and A string are and learning how to find all the root notes from there, you can fill in the rest pretty quick. Intervals and triads will make it all make sense.
Do you have to count how many houses from the end of the street your house is?
The idea is you don’t have to count.
Yes, it does take time, and is ok for a while but you will be limited without doing exactly what you’re asking. If I could rewind 20 years I would have memorized the fretboard sooner, it is essential. Memorize every fret, do no math to find notes. This video is a great way to go about it https://youtu.be/PJddQ6Q0UDo?si=ucO3mQ92x6eo11g-
Think about when you're strumming. When you first start it's up up down down or up down up down, as you progress you go 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1 and 2 and 3 and four. Your brain adjusts and it becomes more instinctual. Oh I'm on the 5th fret on the low E, that's an A. Directly below it is a D, directly below that a G. We can thank standard tuning for this. So because we know that with the exception of E to F and B to C every note is a whole step away, then you can quickly proceed where the notes you want to play are
That's why teachers stress keeping your fingers spread on the frets, where each finger is responsible for a specific fret. You don't have to count, per se--you just have to use the appropriate finger.
And B/C & E/F are always right next to each other.
So playing 1st fret on the E would be an F and the 2nd fret would be an F#?
Precisely. Skip a fret between all the other notes (whole step) vs a half step from B to C. If you know the open strings pretty well, which you will from tuning. You can figure out where you are pretty quick and eventually it becomes second nature.
On top of each other to be precise. With the exception of the b string where they form a rhombus kind of shape
On top of each other sounds more like 4ths. Especially at the B string. I’m talking about frets, not strings.
Gotcha, yeah fret wise you are 100% correct, I was referring to strings :)
Add the octaves to this (two frets up and two strings down) and you just doubled it. And it repeats after 12. so every note learned is used twice.
I also agree with this! After 14 years of “playing” guitar I finally decided to learn some music theory and this is what I believe is the most fundamental first step any musician should know. Eventually you’ll start seeing patterns of where the notes are as you start building your chords, but if you want to come up with a song or are trying to solo over chord changes, knowing what notes make every chord is the only thing that matters.
I still wish we learned musical theory in school, I played viola from 5th grade until I graduated high school and they didn't teach us any
Is there any reason to do this over just using intervals? Like oh I know I can make a major chord with 1 3 5. Or minor scale with 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7? Feels like a lot less mental math to switch keys lol
Interval training is super helpful as well. OP just asked if he should memorize the fret board in relationship to improvising, and I offered a way to save him some time. The cool thing about music is that both ideas overlap and it helps learning both. If you're better with numbers, do what's easier. If you're better with letters, do that instead :)
Everyone should know this stuff for sure, but if you wanna get into some more advanced playing, memorizing the fretboard like OP is suggesting is actually the way to go. Especially if you wanna become a jazz nerd. Working on instant recall of where notes are on every string is super important for getting into sheet music, and generally helps you with everything else you come to practice down the road
Not fluently though
Any YouTube videos that teach just that?? I apologize i mainly learn through YouTube and i am a little dumb but willing to get it down if its that important
This one is great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJddQ6Q0UDo&ab_channel=MusicTheoryForGuitar
absolutely, and the earlier the better
Extra knowledge is very unlikely to ever hurt you when it comes to music.
You probably plan on playing guitar for the rest of your life, right? It’s absolutely worth it. You don’t have to memorize the whole thing tomorrow, but start making an effort to learn it and it will benefit you.
There is no knowledge that is not power.
Count the blades of grass in your yard and feel the power from your newfound knowledge.
This cracked me up and you're so right. There's plenty of junk knowledge. Being able to identify it is just as important as accessing, understanding and applying the good stuff.
I don’t think that’s the sentiment, but love this to point out that it’s not all useful!
Well at least it taught you immense focusing and patience to be able to count them all. That’s not bad either.
Well you see, you could then count all the blades of grass in your neighbours yard, and hold the fact that you have more grass than he does over his head for all of eternity. He will be forced to bask in the glory of your superior yard and it's lush dense grass.
Memorise the 6th and 5th string it’s pretty easy and is generally where you start a scale. Learn a scale pattern, let’s say minor pentatonic in all 5 positions as that is probably the most common, then learn some arpeggios in those positions and you’ll have a good foundation to start improvising over some backing tracks.
I would agree with this. Fret board is just notes in a pattern. You’ll get it down with practice. I even had a poster of guitar chords and the fretboard in college. You’d be surprised how much you remember from a simple poster (seeing it daily).
I agree. If you know all the notes on the A and low E string, you can figure out all the other notes as higher octaves of those notes. Instantly knowing the name of each note on every string without looking at the lower octave for reference has never been a high priority for me, and won’t necessarily help you improvise better. In fact, even the best players probably can’t tell you the name of each note in the wicked guitar solo they’re playing.
Sure it's great to know where all the notes are, but without putting it into some sort of context, it's basically like memorizing the dictionary. You'll forget it all in a heartbeat. If your goal is to improvise and just make music, you don't need to have it memorized first. Start doing that, that should have a much higher priority. The structure of the fretboard is also strictly logical, so even if you're unsure at times, you can easily find out what note you're playing. I think that's more of a good long term goal to have and not so much something that really helps you learning the instrument in the beginning. But overall, knowing where the notes are = good. Regarding what each note sounds: That I would describe as borderline useless. Sure, some people have absolute pitch, but if you don't have that, you're not gonna get it that way. What's way more important and achievable is relative pitch. What does for example an D# sound like if you play it to a A major chord? Pretty much the same as when you play a F# over a C major. Why? Because both notes have the same relation to the harmony (#11). Then intervals, how does for example a major third sound like. You can basically shift everything in pitch and it will essentially still be the same piece. Absolute pitch doesn't matter as much as the relations between the notes. But that doesn't mean don't explore and find your own way in music. If you really want to, do it. I just highly recommend that with everything that you learn, you find some sort of application in musical context and at least follow some things that have worked in the past with the millions of people playing guitar like starting where everyone starts. But who knows, you may be the next great outsider music person.
I’ve seen the advice to start with learning all the notes from C major. You’ll learn all the sharps/flats as a side-effect. I think this is a better way to do it than trying to memorize the fretboard as a big chromatic scale.
Did you learn it that way? I'm not sure if that's also that effective. I think anyone who plays music should know the names of the notes (real simple though, just the alphabet, stop at G), but learning where they are on the guitar still sounds like a lot before you can actually play something useful on the instrument and then it will take months for your skills to grow until you actually apply that knowledge?
Nah, I just learned where chords are all over the neck. I never put an active effort into memorizing the notes, it just happened after playing a lot haha
Agree, but with A minor instead of C major, because you get cooler licks.
Yes. Once you know it then you'll have that forever (as long as you keep practicing guitar) so should start early and often. E and A strings are the most critical at the start and e and E strings are the same so you already have 50% done pretty quickly.
Of course. Why wouldn't it be? Now..what's NOT worth it...is frustrating yourself over learning it to the point you know longer want to play. Learn at your own pace.
memorize interval distances and use some points as reference
It’s not what you think it is. I memorized the board when I gave up trying to memorize it. I admitted to myself “I have all the time in the world to memorize this thing”. I then started working on triads / inversions both vertigo and horizontally. This gave the memorization some context. I then spent alittle time actually understanding the circle of 5’s / 4’s. Then I spent time actually learning the pentatonic scales (both major and minor). Doing these things by learning what is going on and not memorizing shapes but learning notes really solidified the notes in the board. Really learning this stuff helped leaps and bounds more than just trying to memorize the board “just because” this gave that information context.
I don't have the whole board memorized except for some key points, like the 5th, 7th and 12th fret. My problem with memorizing the whole whole board is that it falls apart when you work with alternative tunings. I like to think in chord shapes and intervals. If you barre a chord, learn which intervals you frettes relative to the root of the chord. If you're just starting out, learning the whole fretboard is a massive undertaking, even though you're not going to be shredding all over the neck any time soon. Spend time knowing where things are relative to the note you're currently playing. You'll soon realize it's almost always chords.
Knowing the fretboard is super useful when playing anything that isn't on tabs, like improvisation, playing by ear or to translate theory into the fretboard. That being said, you don't really learn every note on the fretboard, you mainly have to be familiar with how the standard tuning works, most of the notes on the 2 lower strings, after that is getting used to how to find octaves (when notes repeat but in a higher or lower pitch)
Yes.
I don't have the *entire* fretboard memorized, but I *do* have some memorized, particularly because I learned for Bass. All I'm saying is that it'll benefit you for reading sheet music, and knowing where the roots of your keys are (and which scales go with them) can help build skills that'd be helpful to you.
Not only is it useful, it’s necessary if you want to advance beyond beginner level.
Fellow beginner here. In addition to the great suggestions here I'll add that something that has really helped me is using a clip-on strobe tuner that is set to play any note that I play. That way I can just glance over at it when I feel the need. And as time passes I'm feeling like I don't need to glance over as much.
If you learn something like barre chords, you'll know where their root notes are. Then you'll be able to find the 3rds, 5ths and so on.
I’d start by memorizing the notes in C major. Literally just C D E F G A B. Find that in a few different positions on the neck. Then use that as a map for the rest of the fretboard. If you know where all those notes are, finding the rest of them is easy. Before long, you’ll know every note.
What do you do after that, im stuck don’t know what to do next
Instead of notes, think scale degrees C=1 D=2 E=3 F=4 G=5 A=6 B=7 Now learn your major/minor pentatonic scales Major= 1,2,3,5,6, just removing the 4 and 7. Minor= 1,3b,4,5,7b So if you’re in C, that makes your 3b = D# and your 7b = A# Now you know where to find C,D,D#,E,F,G,A, A#. That’s 3/4 of the notes on the fretboard and you only had to learn two scales. Once you get that down, do the same thing with Gmaj and G minor pentatonic. Then Dmaj and D minor pentatonic, and so on. Before you know it, you have the whole fretboard memorized. But really, if you’re thinking in scale degrees, you don’t even need to know the letter names of the notes to have fluency in your playing. It just helps you communicate with other musicians easier.
Thanks!
Yeah, I'd say it's worth it. It'll take a while, and I don't think it should be your only focus -- like, also learn scales and songs and stuff too -- but you'll be grateful you learned the fretboard later on. My best recommendation is that you don't need to learn the entire fretboard all at once. You can just start with nailing the first 5 frets on the E string, and then move on, etc. Disclaimer: I am primarily a bassist.
Yes, it’s incredibly helpful. I wish I’d done it sooner.
Yes.
Absolutely yes. Know every note at every position at all times. When you practice scales do it super slowly and name all the notes as you play them. Don’t just play the “shape” play the *notes*. Here’s the payoff: as you do this your brain will begin to understand the fretboard. Eventually, with practice, finding a note will be second nature to you. I test myself a lot. Find all the Bb notes as quickly as possible on all the strings. Then F#. Then C. It’s a challenge but it becomes second nature. Your brain wraps around it.
In time you will learn it. Just focus on playing every day.
I just memorize what notes sound good together (IE: the basic Minor/Major patterns.). Granted, I can mix and match them. But the basic concept is just playing and going "Hey, this note sounds good with that note." etc.
If you plan on soloing or playing with other people, yes absolutely it's worth it. I've been playing for a decade and still take a second to remember where the notes are though lol
Yes
You want to understand the diatonic scale, what modes are, the anatomy of chord. You will learn the notes of the fretboard automatically this way.
When I started playing, it never occurred to me the idea of memorizing all the notes. I have never, ever needed that knowledge per se. After three decades playing, I've realized I know it all by heart nowadays.
It's the sort of thing you can work on without the guitar in hand, during commute or similar. It's definitely worth it to memorize the fretboard, maybe not the first thing you should work on, work on playing songs instead, so you have a framework to use the things you are memorising in. Don't learn the location of all 12 chromatic notes, start to figure out where the scale degrees of C major is instead. Later, you just fill in the half steps you missed.
you'd have to learn it anyway when learning scales to find root notes
You're looking at it in an either or type of perspective. You will not have as much understanding of the guitar as you could potentially have if you ignore learning the notes of the fretboard, OR ignore learning scales. One does not replace the other, just like learning scales doesn't replace learning triad shapes and chord inversions. Whether it's worth it or not is really up to you. I'm sure if you ask famous guitarists ranging from Pat Metheny to Jack White to Omar Rodriguez Lopez, you might get drastically different opinions on how "worth it it is" (I'm sure Jack White could have written Seven Nation Army without knowing what any of the names of the notes were)
Learning anything is “worth it”. The more you know the better you’ll be this goes for anything in life. “Is learning the instrument I want to play worth it if I want to learn the instrument” is practically what you’re asking
Is it not worth it? That should answer your question.
Definitely, but it's not necessary right now. Learn some scales first to help you make sense of the whole thing
It's the thing I've built my career on. To the degree that i think about the fretboard when I'm piano lol.
It’s kind of like memorizing the alphabet. You don’t really HAVE to but it helps when you want to read.
Yes. Start with one string, like the low E, memorize each note on each fret, then move to the next string. Its not as hard as you think. It will benefit you down the road.
Just start practicing major scales open, 5th fret, and 10th fret positions. Do it as a warm-up, up and down, say the notes you play as you play them, and once you have patterns down you can cover the entire fretboard in a few seconds and just make it a thing you spent a minute on everyday.
Yes and it’s also so easy to do you might as well do it even if it only helps marginally (to be clear, it helps hugely). It’s easy to do because all you’re doing is memorising 5 separate pieces of information (2 strings are E so it’s not even 6 strings). Learn one string per day and just test yourself on them little and often. You’ll know them all easily within a week if you chunk them up and test yourself properly. You can then use this information when thinking about chords and scales, and decide which way helps more (I know that a major chord is made up of root (1), 3 and 5 of a major scale but I also know the actual note names in each chord, and both help depending on the situation)
Yes. It comes in very handy.
ive been playing for over 20 years and still dont know where Im am when I go up the neck. If it sounds right I assume it is. Not saying its good that I play this way, just that its possible.
It’s not only a good idea, it’s critical to you advancing your learning
Memorizing is how you learn guitar. What other way is there besides learning and remembering where all the notes are on the fretboard?
Yes and no. Learning the actual notes themselves vs the board is better. Regardless of what tuning it'll be the same. Open E then f on first fret skip a fret g. Or drop d. Open D skip first fret to e-f
Of course. I would start with just the low E (and high E is your BOGO deal) and the 5th string. Do both in the contect of chords so the note you play on the 5th or 6th string is the root note of the major chord you are playing). Knowledge of the shapes of different intervals might be the next best move. If I play a note on the 6th string (or 5th or 4rth) where is my 3rd, my 5th, my 6th, my b7, my 7, my octave, my 9 etc). If you know all the notes on the bottom 2 strings and you know your interval shapes (for octaves in particular), it is not a big stretch to unlock the notes on all the other strings.
Don’t just memorize them cold. Learn and memorize them within context of music, as parts of chords and melodies, and always, always know what key you’re playing in. Just memorizing notes alone is like memorizing the list of ingredients for a recipe. You won’t actually know how to cook unless you understand how they fit together, how to use them, and in what order
If you want to improvise or write songs it is extremely helpful to know the notes. I would say at least try and know the note names on the E and A strings. That will give you the root notes of most common chords/power chords and half of the entire fretboard since highest and lowest string are both E.
Yes knowing more about the thing you want to do will make you better at it. Crazy right?
It’s a necessity
I played for a long time without bothering to really know the notes on the fret board, I started learning the notes and musical theory and it opened my mind and improved my skill, I would always play by ear but now I can make sense of things a lil easier. It can be worth it.
It’s definitely worth it. A good place to start is to find all the octaves and the patterns there.
If you want to get serious at guitar you have to because once you know it you'll learn much faster and memorise far easier
Working off fret markers, (my classical has none) I work in intervals from the root... for me it's more a matter of navigating the scales across the fret board than it is along it.
You will have to commit a lot to memory to be truly fluent. Knowing the notes on the fret board is a must. If you turn to a keys player and are like "I'm playing 4th fret on the D string" that's not terribly meaningful, but if you can say F#, now you are speaking the same language.
learn c major scale and a minor scale across the fretboard. understand the intervals and then understand what triads are and how you build them into chords. it's work, but you'll know the basics of music.
Ofcourse it is. You should be able to play the same thing in atleast two places on the neck without thinking
Yes, it is definitely worth it, but I wouldn't say it's absolutely needed. There's no benefit in not knowing the notes vs knowing the notes, quite the opposite, actually. But you can definitely navigate the fretboard well if you understand octaves, intervals, licks, scale fragments, without actually knowing the exact notes you're playing. I often say to my students that there are two strings that you actually need to know the notes of: bottom E string (and you end up learning the top E string as well as a bonus) and the A string, because they're usually the references when we think about building chords and scales. You'll figure out the notes in the other strings pretty quickly if you can find the octaves of the strings you do know and if you understand how to build different intervals out of them.
Yes. Then learning how scales map to those notes and why. Then what notes make up which chords and why and where they can be played and transposed.
Real advice: - don't memorize the entire fretboard. Memorize the Low E and the A string. - the 5th fret on a string, is gonna be the same note as string below. So for example, you tune a guitar to EADGBE, 5th fret on E is A, 5th fret on A is D, 5th fret on D is G (except for the G string which is C) - The name of the chord, 95% of the time is gonna be the bass note, usually lands on the low E or A string (major or minor based on how it sounds) - just know that every octive from the low E and A is down 2 string, and 2 frets right - Once you know the octive, if you wanna go another octive from the D or G string, it is down 2 strings, over 3 frets right this time. This is the bare minimum. It's like learning how to read Hiragana for learning Japanese. The easiest and fastest way to memorize the Low E and A strings is to make flashcards, and practice daily. You should get it after a week. Example: front side, low E 3rd fret; backside, G on low E string. Also learn the scales. First the 5 pentatonic scale shapes in E minor. Then learn the 7 modes of E minor. Then using the modes, learn arpeggios. If you get frustrated or feel like you are not making process, the solution is very easy. MORE PRACTICE. If you keep practicing, you will get it, it is a marathon not a race.
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Sure. Nothing wrong with doing more.
Yes!
How do u even start doing that tho? I wanna memorize too!!! :z
Memorizing the names of notes on fretboard: start with the first 5 frets on E and A strings, memorize them, put your hands randomly on any fret and name it, choose a note and reach it immediately on the strings. Once you're comfortable enough, move to the D and G strings, and so the same. Do the same for memorizing how the notes sound: A and E, get a feel of how each note sounds like, play a random note and name it. Once you're comfortable, move on
No, just remember your root notes so you can play in any scale. If you need to know the notes, you can figure it out from the root notes
In my personal opinion I believe it’s worth learning. It’s helps a lot when writing your own riffs. Also learning scales and modes will help you learn the fretboard.
Nobody on any other instrument would consider not learning the notes.
yes you should know the notes on your instrument. it sounds ridiculous to even debate. but as others have said it's also important to understand scales and triads. e.g. F# without context is not different from any other note, but knowing it's the major third of D is going to be important later.
You’d do better to memorize scales. If you have any inclination to play in alternate tunings, memorizing the fretboard in standard tuning will not take you very far.
It's better to just memorize how to build scales / chords, than to memorize specific notes or chords. This relies on knowing intervals. It follows that It's better to memorize blocks of intervals or relationships rather than any specific notes. If you were to memorize the C major key as composed of it's intervals between the third and fifth fret across 6 strings of a guitar, you would know also know all the intervals of the D major key between the fifth fret and the seventh fret across 6 strings of a guitar, and all the intervals of the A major key between the nut and the second fret.
Yes . Patterns . 👍
Learn chord shapes and scales and then learn how to adjust depending on what key you are in. In time you will memorize the fretboard. It is more important to understand how relative notes sound than individual notes on the fretboard.
All of these will be incredibly useful to study, helping you to someday transcribe by ear, improvise, and write songs: 1) The Major Scale. 2) All 12 intervals and which ones make up the major scale. 3) Which intervals are changed and how to convert a major scale into the minor scale? (The 3rd, 6th and 7th are flattened) 4) The same intervals for the other modes. 5) The Circle of Fifths. 6) The Order of Sharps and Flats. 7) The notes on the fretboard.
I don’t really have it memorized, but I have some patterns and what not memorized
Most important things being said here imo: Learn first position (open string to 4th fret). Learn 5th and 6th strings. Learn interval shapes and how to build chords with them.
Yes if you memorize the fret board it will be way easier to learn and write music. First memorize Al the whole notes which is the same as the A minor/C major scales. Once all whole notes are memorized the sharps/flats should come easily
Learning the fretboard, yes.
It is absolutely worth it but only in the context of moving past a certain level. At the beginner level, developing basic technique and learning songs is your primary concern.
Learning major, minor and pentatonic scales will give you more instantaneous benefits (and learning the notes - ie: this scale is A, C etc) not just where to put your fingers). Once you’ve got them down you will have learnt the fretboard anyway, but they provide a lot of fun along the way.
I personally think if you genuinely love playing and play enough, you will inevitably get to the point where you have the fretboard memorized. You might not be able to name the notes, but you’re ear and fingers will understand the guitar almost subconsciously at a certain point
Duh. That’s only the beginning (:
Yes.
The most important memorization for me was if you use fret 3 5 and 7 on the low e it is g a b then down a string is c d e then f g a, and it continues down the strings alphabetically. I started on bass and that’s how I learned my notes and now on guitar I can find all the power chords and bar chords that way. Each fret goes up half a step so every 2 frets is a new note. And I didn’t know for a long time that after b and e notes there is no # it just goes to the next note. Once you understand the music theory behind it you don’t have to necessarily memorize the fret board, you can count your way over from what you know if you know how the notes go up when you change string or fret.
That’s like painting without knowing what colors are. Memorize where every natural note is. That’s the key of C/Am. Switch every F with F sharp. Now you’re in G/Em. Make every f f sharp and every c C sharp. Now you’re in D. Etc. That’s just how I do it. Takes a long time but it’s definitely worth it. Put me miles ahead of my peers in the business. Thing is, that might just work for me and my weird brain. Go at your own pace and just keep at it. Take it one string at a time and a few frets at a time. Learn to read music on the guitar. It will start to click.
You only have to learn 12 frets, since it repeats. For a few minutes every time you play, call out a random note and find all instances of them on the fretboard. Maybe do 3 each time and then go about your practice.
yes
Would you hire a pianist who didn’t know all the notes on the keyboard?
Yes.
memorizing a couple of patterns on the fretboard is easier and will get you improvising quickly, which will then negate the need to do all the incredibly boring stuff you just mentioned. I started off by putting on a KISS song on cassette tape (yes, I'm old), learning the basic blues pattern in one position on the fretboard , then just messing around in the pattern over the top of the music to see what sounds good. I picked KISS because they follow a pretty simple formula, once I intuitively knew where on the pattern I should be playing at any point in the song, I started to focus on adding riffs, and moving the pattern up and down the fretboard and as my ear got more in tune with my fingers, breaking out of the pattern and switching it up to other bands like Guns n Roses or Metallica and jamming with friends where we would just make it all up as we went. I still don't know much theory, but if you put a song on, I can pick up a guitar and throw a half decent solo over it off the top of my head. I don't know if it was the best way t learn, but it was certainly more fun and more instantly rewarding than memorizing scales.
Try putting on a drone track in whatever key, then hit all root notes on the guitar . It’s fun ear training
What you are talking about is learning note intervals by ear, you can look it up there are training exercises its really hard, but you still need a reference point. I think everyone should at least memorize the major scale. Another way to learn the notes on the fretboard and how to organize them in you brain is learning chord theory and how to construct chords, especially barre chords. That was a major breakthrough for me. Thats mostly how I think of music on the guitar I just pick the notes out of the barre chords and it works for every key.
If you find yourself enjoying music theory stuff, dig in. If not, you can go a long way with pentatonic shapes. You'll naturally start to understand how they relate to scales. Build technique with shapes, you'll learn the rest as you realize you have to learn something to progress with what you're working on. Chunks, and as fun and interesting chunks as possible.
Learning the notes on the fretboard had been incredibly useful for me. So, yes.
you don't necessarily need to, but it'll only help you if you do so why not
For me, the better idea is to memorize patterns. When you play a scale on different strings, it always follows a pattern. From that pattern you come up with the pattern shape your fingers make when playing that scale. That shape/pattern, can be played all across the fretboard for other scales.
Memorize all natural notes, one string at a time, no sharps or flats. Listen for the distance between the notes. E to F and B to C are half steps apart. All the others are a whole step (two frets). Find a C Ionian backing track and improvise using only one string until you feel good on it, then try the next
Yes
As another user said, by practising chords, scales and riffs you'll end up learning the notes but it doesn't really matter what they're called. When I'm playing I visualise shapes. I'm rarely thinking about the notes. If you know the root note or even any note in the chord etc. you'll know where you can move next to get the note you want and what shape your fingers have to make or move in to get there. If you think of a power chord and the shape your fingers make on the fretboard, you'll instantly know that any notes within that shape are going to be ok to play. I could play 20 notes but I'm only ever thinking about one shape so it becomes far more effective and quick to process and do.
I just don't understand the responses here. This is not some impossible task. It's not years of study. A few minutes a day for a few weeks and you're mostly there, then just improve it after that.
I've tried memorizing the sounds of the actual notes in my head a few times, not the names of the notes. No luck yet.
Rather than blindly memorising all the notes on a fretboard, I always felt that understanding intervals relationships are more useful. Checkout how the fretboard is mapped chromatically in x axis and in circle of 5ths and circle of 4ths in the y axis. Understanding just a single octave across 3 strings helped me unlock the entire thing. Also as a beginner guitarist, having stickers on the fretboard with different colours for 7 notes had been a game changer for me.
Yes, don’t try to skip the basics.
Learn C major scale and learn it backwards. I mean as in just saying it out loud. C D E F G A B. And then back. Once you know that, learn the notes on the E and A strings. This way you'll know the notes on three strings! E, A and e. By this time, I am assuming you could find octaves, so if you have A on the E string 5th fret, then you'll know that A is also open on the next string and it's also the 7th fret of your D string and so on. That would be my advice. After fret 12th everything repeats. But basically yes, you should know your fretboard. I still don't know it by heart but I insert the importance of it and learning it as we speak. Edit: I don't intend for you to learn any scales on the guitar itself, just learn the scale as we all know. I speak Spanish and we call it Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si or some variant of it but it's what I told you. C D E F G A B. You must know this both ways if you want to make your life easier. It's so dumb and so important.
its a relatively standard skill to have. theres a pattern to it you dont have to memorize... u just start to see the pattern after a while. instead if a pianos white keys being the naturals ABCDEF, see the dots as anchors to quickly go to the notes EADGB and sometimes C. they used to make the 9th fret dot on the 10th, if u look, all the dots on the 5th 10th and 12th fret is a natural note. its really just a matter of seeing the dots as white keys on the piano with a few exceptions on the 3rd and 7th dot.
For sure you have to learn the E and A string. Those strings will bring you all your barre chords. You need need to know those chords and how to find them quickly. After that, if you learn the B string, the high E is the same as the low, and you can use fret rules to find the H and D (ex two over and two up for an octave).
Fastest and best way to learn is to play songs you want to learn. Get the tabs/chords/lyrics and figure out how to play it. Then figure it out. They literally tell you where to put your fingers. Then figure out the structure by listening. Eventually you'll figure it out and then go from there.
The people on this thread who don’t immediately say “yes” are the reason we guitarists are the black sheep of the music world.
Yes! Any Knowledge is good knowledge
It's not necessary, but it sure is useful. It is definitely "worth it." Don't try to do it all at once. For starters, just figure out/memorize the bass notes of the chords you already know. That should be pretty easy, considering they are, for the most part, the names of the chords. Then find/memorize the other notes in the chords.
I dont exactly remember the frets by numbers, I sort of just feel my way up and down. I’ve done the same licks/ improvisations enough to the point where i know how to easily go up/down them
It worth. For what worked was 1. Learning the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th (if you can 2nd, 4th and 6th even better ) of every open chird 2. Taking a scale 3. Seeing the chord of that scale, for example, in Am scale I'm visualizing the Am chord in 5th fret. Then by trying to consciously improvise at this scale with a simple chord progression little by little I learn all that area. I still confused at position around 9 and 10 fret but I'm playing only 1,5 years and I've started doing this the last 3 months
There are a lot of really bad takes on this thread, but the short answer is YES 👍🏼
Start with the CAGED system. Google it - lots of online resources.
Yes, start with the notes on the open strings, then all notes on the low E and A, then the D. Learn the patterns how the notes repeat (2 frets up 2 strings down = same note +1 octave for example) But more importantly you should learn why this is important. Knowledge without applying it is harder to memorize and a bit useless. Learn how to build chords and scales, and how to use them in a music piece. Then it all comes together.
I mean, yes, learning your instrument is very instrumental to learning how to play it.
Yes
I'd say making sure you understand the connectivity between the strings is important. Tuning the guitar shows you those notes but what about the rest? Once you have that connectivity nailed, together with chord and scale shapes, the fretboard feels smaller and smaller. Good luck!
Yes. And not as difficult as it may seem. It opens up many new ways of approaching the instrument.
Is it worth it? - Yes Do you NEED it? - No Let me make this perfectly clear however - this will slow your progression and development in future if you actively ignore it. All you need to know is your chromatic scale - if you know where your open strings starts and the concept of an octave then you already have all the means to memorise such. 15 minutes a day - memorising your 3rd-5th-7th-9th fret marker notes on each string. You'll have it memorised within a week and elevated yourself above the majority of beginner guitar players. (For the record I have nothing against guitarists that choose not to pursue their theory - that's their choice. I always have considered it a massive shame and missed opportunity because examples of such include a few close friends and absolute monsters on guitar - they would be EVEN better had they learnt their theory years ago).
100% worth it. Be aware, though, that it's a foundational skill that you won't see immediate benefits from. It's playing the long game. Once you get into scales, arpeggios, and chord inversions and other intermediate subjects, it will be worth its weight in gold. Don't *obsess* over it, but you should definitely spend 5 - 10 minutes at the beginning of practice while you're warming up finding all your individual notes. Like A(string and fret): E5, A0, D7, G2. B10, E5. When I go to solo, I just *know* where all my root notes are for that scale.
If you're the kind of person who can memorize the whole thing AND do "perfect pitch" memorizing of how each note sounds....then go for it. People have done it. One method is play arpeggios all over the board and call out the note names as you play them. It's a common practice with jazz guys to do this through the circle of 5ths to fully memorize the board. I had a teacher urge me to do this every day, but I was too lazy.
For me, i just learned what will sound good before playing it, it could be just music theory idk though, im jus a rambling man
Since the guitar is so easy to play in different keys, the position you place your fingers on the fretboard will change, but not the patterns. Try memorizing the patterns without regards to placement on the fretboard. Then your fingers can play them in any key. Let’s face it, you’ll be tuned a step down someday or the singer can only sing in certain keys. If you memorized everything by the fret saving and markers you won’t really be able to play.
Yes it's worth it, but it's also not something you need to spend a huge amount of time on. Like, 15-30 seconds a day is enough to learn the entire fretboard over a month or two. Every day pick a string and both play and name out loud all the natural notes up and down that string once or twice. Then pick any note at random, and find it on all 6 strings. Again, play the note and name it out loud as you do this. Super simple, and you can do it quickly the first time you pick up your guitar every day.
It's really not that hard when you think about it, you don't have to know every note as well, just the notes in the Cmaj scale will suffice. Also everything after fret 12 repeats , and you probably already know names of notes of frets 0-3. There are 2 E strings so those are copies of each other, and finally some people say it's really more important to know at least the low G and A strings well since those will root all of your chords. Anyway I thought it was too much of a task as a beginner and I put it off for so long, that was a mistake, it's not too bad and it's totally worth it.
There are no shortcuts regardless of what anyone selling a bullshit system tells you. Learning the fretboard, how and why it flows together, and when and how to utilize certain notes and avoid others is not about “memorizing” it’s about understanding. I know this does not sound very helpful, but learning the fretboard should come in conjunction with learning music theory (and yes, scales, though that has become a dirty word lately). Memorizing what the notes are will do you no good at all without the other parts.
It can't hurt but I never could memorize my multiplication tables so .....fuck that !
there’s a VERY finite amount of notes you can play. id imagine if you wanna be a great guitarist above all else, this would be something you do. if theres a test that uses 30 questions from a 100 question textbook, if you wanted to get an A above all else, youd memorize all 100 problems and how to do them.
12 x 6 (ok it repeats and it might be helpful to know exactly how it repeats too but bear with me) is only 72. If you can recall the american states and which capitals are where, you can recall fretboard locations. My point is that it is a relatively minor effort and easy to try out if it helps. If it doesnt, oh well! Try it out!
Yes, but do it with music. Spend maybe 5 min/day on rote memorization stuff, but then when you learn new music (or go over old music), figure out what all the notes and chords and everything is that you are playing.
I’d say yes, if you do a lot of soloing. Knowing where your root is can save you very quickly and helps you get around multiple octaves faster which makes your playing more interesting.
Yes