How long were you playing, before you knew the notes on the fretboard?

[GitFiddle]

Originally Posted by SgtStryker0331

...Of course I'm sitting here typing this and it occurs to me that I don't have to FIND the letters on the keys, it's completely natural to type without thinking. Maybe that happens with the fretboard too?

Good point. Does anyone ever practice guitar without the guitar?
Sometimes I find myself going over the fretboard in my head and visualizing how to play certain passages or progressions.

[180gROC]

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

If I sat down and thought about it, all of them, but when I'm playing, I don't think that way. I'm paying attention to intervals and relationships. Not what the note is called.

This ^

I had been a musician for 10 years when I started playing guitar. In the beginning what notes were where on the fretboard wasn't so much a problem as what to do with them.

Once I got into it, I found guitar easier than horns when it comes to intervals and relationships. The notes are all there, even when you're not playing it. You can point at a guitar hanging on the wall and say, "from there to there is a minor 3rd" With a trumpet there's nothing to look at. All you have is what the note is called, and how it's fingered. Trumpet I always had sheet music in front of me. Guitar at most is some chart so no one gets lost and usually not even that.

The first day I started playing guitar I asked the dude I was playing with where middle C was and he looked at me like I was asking him the secret of creation. His reply still makes me laugh... "There's a middle one??"

To this day 25 years later that guy doesn't know where middle, or any C is on his guitar. That baffles me. When he learns a new song it's like learning a foreign language, every single time. He doesn't do it very often. I set his guitars up for him and all his fret wear is on one string between the 3rd and 7th because he's played the same 5 songs his whole life and that's where they are.

When I brought it up he made a good point. "It only takes 3 songs for me to get laid, so I keep an extra two for emergencies"

[Thumpalumpacus]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

Good point. Does anyone ever practice guitar without the guitar?
Sometimes I find myself going over the fretboard in my head and visualizing how to play certain passages or progressions.

Absolutely. The first solo I ever taught myself, from "More Than a Feelin'", I had about 80% done in my head by the time I got home from school. Once I got that sus4 he milks in that solo, everything else fell into place, and I could close my eyes and match up a spot on the fingerboard to every discrete note Scholz played in that solo. I don't have perfect pitch, mine's relative, and I'd only been playing around three years at the time. But that's what I was talking about upthread ... knowing about intervals: how to hear them in your head, and then find them on the neck.

[Fettzau]

I grew up as a classically trained musician, i was a chamber cellist and concerto pianist for a while and one day I picked up the guitar and loved it, since my musical background it was easy to pick up the names of the notes fast so in a few days I knew them pretty well.

[AngryHatter]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

Good point. Does anyone ever practice guitar without the guitar?
Sometimes I find myself going over the fretboard in my head and visualizing how to play certain passages or progressions.

Humming the song IS practicing without your guitar.
Rule one - if you can sing it, you can play it. So when I hum a line repeatedly to get it right, I am practicing.
Once I can sing it, hear it correctly in my head, it is easy to play.

[AngryHatter]

Originally Posted by GitFiddle

Good point. Does anyone ever practice guitar without the guitar?
Sometimes I find myself going over the fretboard in my head and visualizing how to play certain passages or progressions.

Maybe this is why you guys like pictures more than clips?
Playing is not a visual art. Stop thinking in terms of seeing the fretboard.
HEAR the intervals.

[rockstar232007]

Originally Posted by android13

Knowing what you're doing doesn't hinder creativity. That's delusional. There's something seriously wrong with you if you lose creativity after learning the fretboard. It's not like you lose your ears after you learn where all the notes are.

Not what I meant.

What I meant was, that it's easier (for me) to be creative, when I don't have to think about all of the technical stuff. And, as I said, it's not that I don't think it's good to know. It's just easier for me, not knowing.

[zontar]

Originally Posted by Backstage

I can't tell how long it took but a long time because I started with piano and for some reason it was difficult to rethink.

Hmm, piano helped me, didn't help you--just goes to show--people are different--sometimes.

[BornToLooze]

It didn't take me long to learn them, there's only 12. Now knowing where they're at on the other hand, well, I know the open ones

[ed1996]

I know most of the notes on the fretboard but can't read sheet music whatsoever.

[Nay]

Originally Posted by zontar

Hmm, piano helped me, didn't help you--just goes to show--people are different--sometimes.

Starting on the bass after a few years of piano gave me a real edge in picking things up, but you have to think about a fretboard very differently to a keyboard, as the same note at the same pitch can be found multiple times.

How I like to see it is that each string is a continuation of the last string. They form this pattern diagonally accross the board, only disrupted slightly by the B string. The 12th fret on the low E is the same as the 7th on the A, and the 2nd on the D. This patten is the same almost everywhere. You have to be able to "visualise" (used loosely) where the string above will continue from (always 5 frets down, or 4 for the b). Once this sets in your head correctly you can sit and play within scales anywhere you want, rather than sticking to regurgatated patterns.

Knowing the notes however allows creative jumping all over the fret board. Imagine playing a riff in G that switches for 1/2 a bar into D. During that time you want to do a little solo-esque fill... Knowing theory will give an indication of available notes, but the ability to go from jamming around the 3rd fret on the low E (for example) to then just jump to notes within D right up at the top of the board...

Might not be applicable to everyone, nor does this method help everyone, but it helps me. As I said before, I know where most notes are, but some keys are still tricky for me to judge.

[kaatwang]

I know the 2 E's and the A string. So i can truly say I know half the notes.
Guess if I took off those pesky D, G, an B strings I could say I know all the notes. 35+yrs and counting

[Joeydego]

I know the fretboard in relationship to my comfort zone of that particular part of the fretboard. For instance, Im an e minor whiz. I can pock e minor ANYWHERE up and down the neck. So now, when I hit a note on the E string, 4th fret, my brain almost instantly knows its G#, because its a half step higher than E minors third. Sounds weird but it works for me.

[Leendrix]

About a year or two ago. Right now I'm training my ear to find what note is being played without my guitar in hand.

The guitar is tuned and built off of octaves. If you're playing the fifth fret on the 6th string, you'll get the same note on the 7th fret on the 4th string. And from there you'd go to the 10th fret on the 2nd string. Move that up and down the neck, and it in a way unlocks the fret board a lot more.

[Who]

Originally Posted by kaatwang

I know the 2 E's and the A string. So i can truly say I know half the notes....

Thanks! I guess I haven't paid attention to the High-E at all. You just made me realize I know one more sting than I thought!

[Petertherock]

I find this really helpful as I am trying to learn the notes too...

http://www.bluesguitarunleashed.com/...note-names.pdf

[paul1959]

I know all the notes on the fret board but not necessarily in the right order. lol.

[Mattyboy]

I know both of the E's and the A string. Still working on the other three.

[carydad]

Those are notes? Huh. That might help things.

[Brian in NJ]

Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus

The first solo I ever taught myself, from "More Than a Feelin'", I had about 80% done in my head by the time I got home from school. Once I got that sus4 he milks in that solo, everything else fell into place, and I could close my eyes and match up a spot on the fingerboard to every discrete note Scholz played in that solo. I don't have perfect pitch, mine's relative, and I'd only been playing around three years at the time. But that's what I was talking about upthread ... knowing about intervals: how to hear them in your head, and then find them on the neck.

yes! I've always been pretty good at figuring out chords while sitting with the guitar, but I'm getting better at just figuring it out in my head. Same with solos/riffs. I hear a song/riff and when I get to the guitar, my first try is usually pretty close.

I don't think it's necessary to learn where all the notes are, but I certainly hope to learn them someday. Once I start a solo I can stay on track - it's finding the right note to start the solo on that sometimes gives me a little trouble. I'll see which I end up learning first, the notes or the finger positions.

[JonR]

Originally Posted by SgtStryker0331

Of course I'm sitting here typing this and it occurs to me that I don't have to FIND the letters on the keys, it's completely natural to type without thinking. Maybe that happens with the fretboard too?

Exactly. After a while, you don't have to think about finding the letters, only about what you're trying to say (and how to spell correctly, maybe . Exactly the same with the guitar.

[Eric Smith]

Ok, I've been playing for 15ish...maybe 18 years, so I am guessing that it will be at least 16ish or 19 years. Heck, maybe more.

[UncleMonkey]

I've picked at guitars for about twenty years now and still have no idea...and still no idea how to play guitar either.

[hellraiser_666]

I used to try sit down when i played for like a year and try get all the notes memorized for good, and that never worked. so i just forgot about it and kept playing, after 3 more years, now, i know all of them.

but that still doesnt make me any better of a player than if i didnt know sh*t all on the fretboard. it just makes collaborating and song writing a much smoother and quicker process

[2themax]

I basically learned some chords and then progressions, then a few moveable positions and thirty years later I still don't know many the notes right off the bat. Although I have actually started working on it.

Griff Hamlin from the iPerform 3d online lessons sent out a freebie on learning the fretboard notes and it seems helpful. I try to practice it every now and then -

It's basically working up the first position scale strating at e and playing every e note on every string up to the 12th fret, then f, then f#, then G and so on... once you know where all the notes are across the fretboard (to the 12th) pick up some speed and its a good warm up moving across the fret board.

[straycat113]

Wow I am really shocked that only two or three guys know the notes on the fretboard! Sure early on everyone learns the notes on the low E and A strings so they can play bar chords or else you would be doomed. But the more you get into lead playing it makes things so much easier knowing every note. I know a lot of excellent players that do not know all of the notes and have the board figured out in there own peculiar way basically with scale patterns. But knowing what chord tones sound sweet or are the target notes will open up a lot of doors. You do not even have to have the guitar in your hand and can be driving or doing whatever and run them down. If you know the low E and A then make it your business to work on the D string and follow the notes in your head a few times a day and then go to the G and so on. For everyone that only knows the two low strings I am certain it is simple to descend a scale but am positive it is difficult to ascend if you have to start on the high B. We all have a brain so use it and push yourself into working on memorizing, in a month you will be glad you did!

[Mad Scientist]

Bout tree fiddy!

Naw seriously, about 30 years.

[bsruther]

First, fifth and sixth strings are a given. The D position helps me to remember the notes on the B string. On the D and G string I can tell the notes automatically, by fingering a bar chord. When I'm playing solo stuff, the roots are pretty much all I am aware of.
Knowing this doesn't keep me from sucking at any of it.

[Stratottack]

I'm a slow learner with ADHD so just listening works better for me. I envy you fellows that have sat and took the time to learn all of that but I'd have a melt down . I gave it a look about 30 year ago and even then said WTF.
I grew up around a Holy Roller, Honky Tonk style environment in my early years as a kid and we learned by feel.

[theWhiteKeys]

Originally Posted by Stratottack

I'm a slow learner with ADHD so just listening works better for me. I envy you fellows that have sat and took the time to learn all of that but I'd have a melt down . I gave it a look about 30 year ago and even then said WTF.
I grew up around a Holy Roller, Honky Tonk style environment in my early years as a kid and we learned by feel.

I am a slow learner as well, with what i suspect to be ADHD although never actually tested for it. I just always have trouble sitting still learning anything my mind will just wander, and ill think "f**k concentrate on this chord change not that its getting cloudy outside."

anyway I only have been practicing for 4 and a half months so far. Got my first guitar for x-mas. And I know all the notes up to the 12 fret(because it just repeats after that) on the E, A, and D strings. Working out G as we speak. You can point to any fret and bam itll just blurt out of me. I used several methods to memorize them, but i did it at times where i couldnt have my guitar in front of me so I was still learning when not able to practice. I just picked a string and would say it to myself all day at work then right down numbers 1-12 in random order on a post it and time myself to see how quickly i could write down what note would go to what fret.

Then when i got home i would try to not look at the guitar and move up and down the fret in random order play the note and listen carefully(i am now trying to ear train each note) Trying to associate the sound of the note with where it is on the neck. This is a lot slower than just memorizing what note is where. Ill have my girlfriend sit there and play a note and ill try to guess what it is. (really helps)

The next step would be to go from the 6th string to the 1st string playing all C notes,then G notes,then D notes. (as far as i got). I spend just 5mins before each practice session so it forces me to focus and get it right.

And as i learn more strings i started a new exercise i could do at work or when im killing time somwhere. Write fret numbers then go from strings 6 to 1 writing what notes would be on what fret on that string. having multiple ways to memorize the notes really helped me, maybe it will someone else.

A month or so ago i found a real easy way to memorize the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret for E, A, and D

E-string
3rd-G
5th-A
7th-B

A-string
3rd-C
5th-D
7th-E

D-string
3rd-F
5th-G
7th-A

notice how the chromatic scale just flows through those 3 strings? Realizing that made it impossible for me to forget those frets, and from there its just knowing the chromatic scale to jump to whatever note on that string. So thats how i learned the bottom 3 strings(and obviously the first string).

hope i didnt confuse anyone