Programs For Learning Notes On The Fretboard? Options

[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

Just seeing if anyone knows some programs you can buy or free ones that help you learn the notes of the fretboard.


Thanks:)

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[Rain]

Just seeing if anyone knows some programs you can buy or free ones that help you learn the notes of the fretboard.


Thanks:)

Honestly man, the best way to learn the notes on the fretboard is to learn a scale (My personal favorite is Eb Minor) that you enjoy the sound of and then learn those notes.

So - get a scale

Learn the notes of the scale...if someone said, "Hey, what's in the scale your playing", be able to tell the person the notes.

Next, find a note, say G, and be able to find it all over the fretboard...start off on 1 string and find both G's. Then do that for two strings...three, up to six.

Do that for all of the notes in the scale... This isn't a fun process...but it's rewarding in that you will understand the positions of the notes for the rest of your life (if you're a lifer anyway)!

Also, notice patterns on the fretboard... for example - on the 10th fret, there are no sharps or flats... so memorize those as you did the E A D G B E on the 12th fret.... The more ways you can "find" the notes - the faster it will be, untill you can just look at the fret and say "Yeah, that's a Bb or A#.... oh and here are the 20 other places to find the note"... that'll impress someone!

One thing that i also do when learning the notes, is to improvise and say the notes that I'm playing aloud.



There are many techniques to learning the notes. You don't need a program at all... just sit down with your trusty 6 (or 7) string guitar and read the fretboard for awhile... do this every day and you will have the notes down in no time!

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[Muris Varajic]

This isn't a fun process...but it's rewarding in that you will understand the positions of the notes for the rest of your life (if you're a lifer anyway)!

Yeah.

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[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

Honestly man, the best way to learn the notes on the fretboard is to learn a scale (My personal favorite is Eb Minor) that you enjoy the sound of and then learn those notes.

So - get a scale

Learn the notes of the scale...if someone said, "Hey, what's in the scale your playing", be able to tell the person the notes.

Next, find a note, say G, and be able to find it all over the fretboard...start off on 1 string and find both G's. Then do that for two strings...three, up to six.

Do that for all of the notes in the scale... This isn't a fun process...but it's rewarding in that you will understand the positions of the notes for the rest of your life (if you're a lifer anyway)!

Also, notice patterns on the fretboard... for example - on the 10th fret, there are no sharps or flats... so memorize those as you did the E A D G B E on the 12th fret.... The more ways you can "find" the notes - the faster it will be, untill you can just look at the fret and say "Yeah, that's a Bb or A#.... oh and here are the 20 other places to find the note"... that'll impress someone!

One thing that i also do when learning the notes, is to improvise and say the notes that I'm playing aloud.



There are many techniques to learning the notes. You don't need a program at all... just sit down with your trusty 6 (or 7) string guitar and read the fretboard for awhile... do this every day and you will have the notes down in no time!

Ah that was a great read. I think I will do that

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[Neurologi]

http://www.absolutefretboard.com/

Unfortunately, it ain't free though.

[EDIT] >> There's a lot to be said for interactive learning ... but I won't. Apart from that!

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This post has been edited by Neurologi: Sep 7 2009, 12:14 AM

[vampire18]

call me a robot but i just go string by string lol, e is the most fun cause you feel you doing half the work
and remeber you only have to learn until the 12 fret. or really the 11 so just 55 notes to memorize, thats a lot less than it seems. if you can do like a strting a day a week and your done

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[jafomatic]

The nice thing about doing this via scales is that you're also learning the scales. Even more importantly, because position doesn't matter, you can be reinforcing the scales' member notes and intervals if you're diligent. This could be laborious but at least more musical than pure (foolish imo) memorization:

- pick a diatonic scale
- pick a starting position
- write down or display somehow the notes and intervals
- start a metronome or drumbeat
- play and sing each note and interval through the scale until you can do it without reading

Beyond the regular memorization that will happen, you're also involving both brain hemispheres in an exercise like this, plus you're turning it into a song. Perhaps a really boring song, but it IS a song none the less and your mind will remember that, will thank you for that, and will reward you for that.

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[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

The nice thing about doing this via scales is that you're also learning the scales. Even more importantly, because position doesn't matter, you can be reinforcing the scales' member notes and intervals if you're diligent. This could be laborious but at least more musical than pure (foolish imo) memorization:

- pick a diatonic scale
- pick a starting position
- write down or display somehow the notes and intervals
- start a metronome or drumbeat
- play and sing each note and interval through the scale until you can do it without reading

Beyond the regular memorization that will happen, you're also involving both brain hemispheres in an exercise like this, plus you're turning it into a song. Perhaps a really boring song, but it IS a song none the less and your mind will remember that, will thank you for that, and will reward you for that.

That sounds like a good idea. Seems like your killing two birds with one stone with that method.

I think I will try that aswell.

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[jafomatic]

Far more than two! It's like buckshot:

- notes within the scale
- shapes to finger the scale
- intervals within the scale
- notes on the fretboard
- rhythmic placement

And you can do it for ALL the scales and I don't think it will feel like memorizing if you put an interesting beat to it instead of a metronome.

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[iamblackmo]

Just seeing if anyone knows some programs you can buy or free ones that help you learn the notes of the fretboard.


Thanks:)

http://musictheory.net/

Its free and useful. I think there is a tool that focuses specifically on that.

Thank Ivan M. for this one.

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[Rain]

I'll add one more thing to my previous post here...

For the love of all things, don't memorize scales in terms of positions... It's good to be able to play a scale in X position, sure - but it's even better to already know where the notes are anyways...

I can't tell you how many countless times I tried to learn a pentatonic scale and just gave up because when I tried to "improv" I couldn't get out of the box without sounding like a fool. So, just learn the darn notes - don't learn the positions... you'll know the positions if you know the notes.

In my humble opinion, once you have the notes of the fretboard down, move on to Interval training, then scale theory.
To me, the ultimate goal of knowing your fretboard is to be able to say "I want something that sounds powerful" and be able to (1) know where the notes are immediately, (2) know your intervals, and (3) play the interval that sounds powerful to you... is the biggest step a beginner or even professional can take to becoming a skilled musician.

"I want to play this... *musician plays it*" should be one of the many goals of a musician to accomplish.

EDIT: Just so you know I'm not contradicting any of the other folks here...you need to pick a position to start, but don't memorize the notes in X position, then have to move to Y position to play another set of notes... just learn the notes of the scale and be able to play it from any fret position you like. What you'll notice is (and this sounds simple but escaped me for a long time) is that each "position" sounds just a bit different (higher or lower in pitch). You can use this to your advantage when you want to create a dynamic, flowing piece of music.

PS: Sorry about the really bad formatting in my posts, I'm still working on making things look a bit more professional.

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This post has been edited by Rain: Sep 7 2009, 04:08 AM

[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

I'll add one more thing to my previous post here...

For the love of all things, don't memorize scales in terms of positions... It's good to be able to play a scale in X position, sure - but it's even better to already know where the notes are anyways...

I can't tell you how many countless times I tried to learn a pentatonic scale and just gave up because when I tried to "improv" I couldn't get out of the box without sounding like a fool. So, just learn the darn notes - don't learn the positions... you'll know the positions if you know the notes.

In my humble opinion, once you have the notes of the fretboard down, move on to Interval training, then scale theory.
To me, the ultimate goal of knowing your fretboard is to be able to say "I want something that sounds powerful" and be able to (1) know where the notes are immediately, (2) know your intervals, and (3) play the interval that sounds powerful to you... is the biggest step a beginner or even professional can take to becoming a skilled musician.

"I want to play this... *musician plays it*" should be one of the many goals of a musician to accomplish.

EDIT: Just so you know I'm not contradicting any of the other folks here...you need to pick a position to start, but don't memorize the notes in X position, then have to move to Y position to play another set of notes... just learn the notes of the scale and be able to play it from any fret position you like. What you'll notice is (and this sounds simple but escaped me for a long time) is that each "position" sounds just a bit different (higher or lower in pitch). You can use this to your advantage when you want to create a dynamic, flowing piece of music.

PS: Sorry about the really bad formatting in my posts, I'm still working on making things look a bit more professional.

Honestly I could care less about the format of your posts, you provide useful information and for that my friend. I thank you, and the rest of the people that posted here.

I dont know why but until you said that, I never really though of scales in that way. It seems much more logical to learn the notes on the fretboard, then learn the notes to a specific scale, then apply it to any key you want or anything like that, and rather then having learned postitions, you can simply go anywhere on the fretboard and find your scale.

So your not really a slave to those original postions you learned, your actually making your own . Very Cool Stuff.

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[kiendop]

Just seeing if anyone knows some programs you can buy or free ones that help you learn the notes of the fretboard.


Thanks:)

Try This site http://www.musictheory.net/
There are different trainers.
Have fun.

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[Eat-Sleep-andJam]

Try This site http://www.musictheory.net/
There are different trainers.
Have fun.

That site was mentioned earlier, but thanks for your reply:)

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[-Zion-]

i actually made a program that can give you a random note, that you then have to find on your fretboard..
it's gives you a random note, and gives you another after a certain amount of time (that you decide).

Here it is.

Remember.. it's not about being über fast (in the beginning), it's about getting them *RIGHT*. This is very important..

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[Neurologi]

Ok. Looks like the link I provided earlier for the Absolute Fretboard Trainer Pro was pretty much ignored. I guess because it costs money? Well I didn't want to hype it up with some kind of sales pitch and that is the result.

On that note, if any of you have heard of or even used the programs: GSM (Guitar Scales Method), GST (Guitar Speed Trainer) or GBET (Guitar and Bass Ear Trainer), then you will find that the same software house develops AFT (Absolute Fretboard Trainer).

In other words, they don't just give you an all-rounded method which works, they also make the learning process itself very fun. It is interactive and you can push your abilities as far as you care to where eventually it all becomes automatic. All the methods described above in this thread are great and have their merits but I bet they also lend themselves to highlighting strengths and downplaying weaknesses. Ones that I bet you are not even aware of. Unless your knowledge is automatic with instant recall, it hasn't really been learned at all. The litmus test is whether you can apply the learning in an improvisation ... as in real-time ... with other musicians ... ?? In short, just as you would need in say a Jazz context.

PS No I don't work for or represent the software vendor. Just some cool programs I found after years of research and finding out what is up to snuff and what is purely fluff. I like to think the above mentioned are of the former category.

Cheers.

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[JCJXXL]

The way I taught myself was to do the following:

1) Learn the notes on the LOW E and A string at the reference dots.
I learned these in pairs.

For example: 3rd dot is G (on low E) and C (on A)
5th dot is A (on low E) and D (on A)
7th dot is B (on low E) and E (on A)
9th dot is C# (on low E) and F# (on A)
and of course on the 12th brings us back to E and A

Now because you know what's at each dot you will now know the note to the left or right of each dot if you know the major scale (ex. 3rd dot is G, 4th dot is G#, 5th dot is A, 6th dot is A# (or Bb whichever you prefer)

You need to know the notes on LOW E and A anyway for barre chords.

Once you have mastered the notes on Low E and A at the reference dots you can now start learning the rest of the fretboard by using the following method (I think some call this the octave method).

The Low E string is related to the D string. Use the following formula:

1) On the Low E from the 5th reference dot is an A...Correct? From that location go down two strings to the D string and then go two frets higher on the D string. What note is that? It's an A. By following this formula you can pick any fret (note) on the Low E string and find the same one on the D string.


The A String is related to the G string. Use the same formula as you would for the Low E string.

1)The only difference is you would obviously use the A string fret (note) as your reference (starting point)



The B String is related to the D string.

1) Same formula as above but instead of sliding over two frets on the B string, you would slide over 3 frets on the B string from the starting fret (note) on the D string.

And of course E is the same as Low E.

As I said earlier, learning the notes on the reference dots for the Low E and A is something you need to help you with barre chords when you first learn them. But also by learning the notes on at the reference dots on Low E and A you are setting the foundation to learn the rest of the notes on the fretboard by applying the steps (formulas) I mentioned above.

Using the formula above I would recommend picking a note (for example A) and learn where A is at all over the fretboard. Take your time. Take a week or two if needed. Then move to the next note of your choice and learn it that way.

I know this is a long post but I thought I would share how I learned the notes. This method was very easy for me to understand and learn the notes quickly. I tried other methods (learning one string at a time,etc.) and not only was it frustrating it was very boring. That's probably why it was frustrating.

Well, I hope this helps.
Enjoy!

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This post has been edited by JCJXXL: Sep 20 2009, 03:48 PM

[Jesse]

to be honest... xD


The fret distance is A-2-B-1-C-2-D-2-E-1-F-2-G

So.. if you know that, you know all the notes, just get quick at thinking, and youll know them by heart soon!

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