How well do you know the fretboard?Chess masters can play chess in their mind without having chess board at sight, but how many guitar players have a clear picture of all the notes on the guitar fretboard? Too say the least many have no idea what notes are there on the fretboard even when they are looking at it. Visualizing fretboard is a great exercise that can be done literally at any time and any place. It is not easy at first, so take your time. Start with a single string on just one fret (remember open positions!) and build your fretboard step by step going from fret to fret and from string to string. Practice visualizing scale patterns, chords, arpeggios, riffs, solos, anything you can think of. When you feel comfortable with naming the notes, try to learn degrees of the scale (interval from the root) as well. That will come in handy for many things like building chords. Sing what you play and play what you singOne of the greatest ear training exercises is to sing all the notes you play. Do not worry if you don’t have a great voice. Hitting the notes (signing in tune) is good enough. You do not even have to sing outloud, humming will also do. So sing anything you play, from simple melodies to scales to improvisations. This kind of practice brings your ears and hands together. Another thing to practice is singing the notes and then playing them. The ultimate goal is to be able to play what you hear in your head. Remember it is not as hard as it seems! Just give it a try! Start slow with something simple, and gradually build up the speed and complexity. Learning Guitar Notes on the Fretboard: Satriani ExerciseHere is a great exercise for testing how well you know the guitar notes on the fretboard. It comes from Joe Satriani (aka Satch)’s Guitar Secrets book, which is a treasure chest for any guitar player. » Guitar notes on the fretboard: full-Color Fretboard DiagramKnowing the notes on fretboard is essential for any guitar player and fretboard diagrams come in handy for this task. Here is a nice full-color fretboard diagram with all the notes you need to know.
Here is a simplified diagram that does not look so dreadful. It shows only diatonic notes (the ones with no sharp and flat), the ones you should learn first! » Work on your deficiencies“I’m a firm believer in working on your deficiencies. Once you master a technique that gives you trouble, other areas of your playing improve dramatically”. “Practice what is weak, not what is already easy” Blank Guitar Fretboard Diagram
When learning notes on the fretboard, scales, sequences and chords, it is very good to draw on guitar fretboard diagram. Such fretboard studies will help find some system in notes organization and also serve you as great fretboard visualization tool. Good this about the diagrams is you can practice using diagrams even when away from your guitar. » Hello guitar world!
Welcome to a very special guitar blog, Guitarrr!. How is it so special, you might wonder? It is special because its author is not guitar teacher, but rather a fellow student, someone who has not yet achieved proficiency on guitar, but only pursuing it. My name is Michael. I started playing guitar when I was about 14 years old, so I am on my way not as a beginner. However until recently 99% of my practice where all together unsupervised and completely unsystematic. Now I am almost 29. I became smarter wiser, so I am taking guitar practice much more seriously. Besides I have family, baby, job, so I do not have that much free time. So I am striving to achieve the most of my practice. |
