Guitar: How to Memorize the Fretboard
Quickly and Easily Learn the Notes on the Guitar Neck
Published by www.fundamental-changes.com
Copyright © 2016 Joseph Alexander
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Note Patterns to Map the Neck
Filling in the Gaps
Learning the Neck with Octave Patterns
Clarity and Blind Spots
Exercises
Conclusions and Further Study
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Introduction
When we look at a guitar neck, it can be a daunting proposition to memorize the location of each note. In fact, it is
quite a bit more challenging to learn the notes on the guitar than to learn them on the piano. A piano is linear; you
can only play each note at each pitch once on a piano, and the piano always ascends in pitch from left to right.
On the guitar we have six (or more!) strings. This means that we can play the same pitch in more than one location,
and that the pitch of the guitar can be raised by moving both along the neck or across a string.
On the guitar, the note (E), can be played in the following locations and be at exactly the same pitch:
Each of the above notes will sound at the same pitch, but will have a different tone due to the thickness and length of
the string being played. Try playing each of these notes now to hear how this sounds. Don’t worry if you don’t have
a 24th fret on your guitar, you’ll get the idea!
This complication adds a bit of difficulty to memorizing the guitar neck, but once you understand how the guitar
neck functions (and a few sneaky patterns), you’ll find that the guitar neck is quite easy to learn and that you can
quickly and easily find any note you want.
One concept is to imagine each string as an individual piano keyboard. The first thing to realise is that the guitar
always ascends in pitch in the same way as you move from the head of the guitar (left) to the body (right).
Each fret on the guitar is a distance of one semitone.
Two semitones are equal to one tone.
Because the distance between each fret is always a semitone, the pattern of notes on each string is always repeated.
Here are the notes of E and F marked onto the diagram above so you can see how this pattern begins. We will look at
this in much more detail in the next chapter.
Once you know how the patterns of notes work in music, you can quickly and easily find any note on the fretboard.
There are, however, many shortcuts and patterns that will make the recall of any note instant and confident in your
mind.
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Note Patterns to Map the Neck
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Scales, Tones and Semitones
A scale is a series of steps between two fixed musical points. These two fixed points are always the same note but in
different octaves. For example, these points could both be the note ‘C’, one being higher in pitch than the other:
While these notes are fundamentally the same, they are at a different pitch. A scale is simply a way to break up the
distance in between these notes.
One way to think about this is to imagine a ladder where the first and last rungs are fixed, but you can change the
spacings of any of the rungs in between. Some spaces may be smaller, some larger but however you arrange them,
after climbing the ladder, you will always end up at the same fixed place.
The rungs on our ladder are the notes that we play, and the spaces between the rungs are the distances between these
notes. The distances between notes are measured in tones and semitones. – two semitones are equal in distance to
one tone.
The most basic scale is one that contains every possible note between the root and the octave and is created by
ascending the guitar neck in semitones. This scale is called the chromatic scale and contains twelve notes. The
twelve notes between a low and a high C are as follows:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
This book isn’t about scales, but the previous diagram does teach us one very important thing: There is always a full
tone between every letter-named note (C, D, E, etc.) apart from E – F and B – C. You can see this on the white notes
of a piano keyboard. You’ll notice that there is a black note between every white one except for the notes E and F,
and B and C.
For example, there is a tone (two frets) between the notes A and B.
There is a tone (two frets) between the notes G and A.
However, the distance between the notes E and F is only a semitone. There is no note named E# that fits between E
and F.
The same is true for the notes B and C. There is no B# so the distance between the notes B and C is only one
semitone.
Look again at the previous diagram and make sure you can see that there is a sharp between each ‘letter name’ note
apart from E – F and B – C.
How does this help us learn the neck?
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Well, If we know the names of the open strings, we can quickly figure out where any note is on the fretboard.
The notes on the open strings from low (bass) to high (treble) are E A D G B E. You can remember this with the
rhyme, Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.
Now you know that the bass string of the guitar, when played 'open' (with no fretted note), is the note ‘E’. By using
our knowledge of tones and semitones, we can quickly find where all the other notes are on the E String.
As we know that there is only a one-fret distance between the notes E and F, and B and C, and that there is a two fret
distance between all other notes, we can quickly map out the sixth string of the guitar.
You also know that the first (highest) string is also the note ‘E’. This means that we now know the notes on the first
string too!
The next most useful string to map is the fifth (A) string.
Notice that the note on the open string (A) repeats at the twelfth fret and the pattern begins again.
Here are the patterns for the fourth (D), third (G), and second (B) strings:
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Filling in the Gaps
We now have a reliable, if slightly slow way to find any note on the guitar neck, but what happens when we want to
know the names of the notes in the gaps?
An enharmonic note is a posh way of saying that a note can have two names. The reality is slightly more complex
than the following explanation, but it will do for now.
To show how to correctly name the notes in the gaps, let’s examine the notes G and A.
Generally, if you’re moving up from the note G to the note A, you will call the note in the middle G#.
If you are moving down from the note A to the note G, you will call the note in the middle Ab.
(As I mentioned, this explanation is oversimplified and often doesn’t really play out like this in real life. The note in
the middle is normally named in relation to the key of the music, not necessarily the direction of the melody).
The pitches G# and Ab are said to be enharmonic because the exact same note has two names.
When we fill in the gaps on the fretboard we can see the notes in either of the following ways:
or:
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We will look at some much quicker ways to locate any note on the guitar neck in the next section, but for now, spend
some time testing yourself with the following questions. To find each note, go to the open string and use what you
now know about tones and semitones to work your way up the string to the correct note.
Find the following notes:
The note A on the D string.
The note G on the B string.
The note D on the E string.
The note F on the G string.
The note B on the A string.
The note A# on the D string.
The note C on the D string.
The note Eb on the B string.
The note D# on the A string.
The note Gb on the E string.
Test yourself.
Make two sets of flash cards, one set with one of the twelve notes written on, and one set with the six strings written
on. Pick a note and then a string and see how quickly you can locate the chosen note.
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Learning the Neck with Octave Patterns
Now that we understand how the fretboard works in terms of tones and semitones let’s look at some patterns that can
help us quickly determine the name and location of any note on the guitar neck.
Octave patterns are consistent shapes that will reliably tell us how to locate notes of the same name on the guitar.
The first thing we must learn is the location of notes on the sixth and fifth strings:
Notes on the sixth string:
Notes on the fifth string:
If you already use barre chords in your playing, you may well already be familiar with the locations of these notes.
Remember, each note can be adjusted to become a sharp (#) or a flat (b) by shifting it up or down a semitone.
Now we can use simple shapes to find the same notes in the higher octave.
An octave can be played like this between the sixth and fourth strings, and between the fifth and third strings:
Notice that to play the same note an octave higher you always move across two strings and up two frets.
Using this information you can quickly figure out all the notes on the fourth and third strings.
You can also play an octave by skipping two strings. Here is the octave pattern between the sixth and third strings:
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If you know the note name on the sixth string you can locate the same note an octave higher on the third string by
moving across three strings and down three frets.
There is a similar, but slightly different pattern between the fifth and second strings. Because of the tuning
idiosyncrasy between the third and second strings on the guitar, the pattern must alter slightly:
If you know the name of a note on the fifth string, you can locate the same note an octave higher on the second string
by moving across three strings and down two frets.
Between the fourth and second strings, an octave shape will always look like this:
This is identical to the octave pattern between the third and first strings:
Finally, you may already know that the notes on the first string are identical to the notes on the sixth string, just two
octaves higher:
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An essential part of learning the neck is developing instant recall of these patterns. With practice, the neck seems to
get smaller, and it takes less and less time to play a musical phrase.
Test Yourself:
Pick a note out from the flashcards up made earlier and try to find every location of that note on the neck as quickly
as possible. Begin with notes that don’t include sharps and flats (accidentals) and later move on to trying this with
sharp and flat notes too.
Use a metronome to help you gradually get quicker at this task. Using a metronome forces you to think more
quickly. Try setting the metronome at 60 beats per minute (bpm) and give yourself four clicks to find each note. To
help you speed up, either gradually increase the metronome speed or reduce the number of clicks you give yourself.
These days there is no excuse to not own a metronome, as they are available for free on any mobile phone or tablet.
They are the most useful tool you can use as a musician as they help you measure your progress and push you to
become more fluent and quicker in your playing and thinking.
Used at a slower speed, a metronome will dramatically improve your sense of rhythm and time.
For more information on how to successfully use a metronome to improve your playing, check out my books
Complete Technique for Modern Guitar and Guitar Fretboard Fluency
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Clarity and Blind Spots
When you work through the octave patterns in the previous chapter, you tend to begin from a note on a lower string
and use it to locate a note on a higher string. This means that you quickly get much more confidence in knowing the
locations of notes on the bottom two or three strings. For this reason, the notes on the sixth, fifth and first strings (the
first is identical to the sixth), are quickly learned, and the notes on the fourth, third and second are often a little
weaker.
The notes on the fourth string will normally be learned quite soon after the first octave pattern is mastered as the
shape between the sixth and the fourth string is quite easily to visualise.
The blind spots for most students are the notes on the third and second strings, especially higher up the neck between
the seventh and twelfth frets.
This area does normally require a little extra work so let’s look at some strategies to master this particular area.
The first strategy is to quickly work backwards from a note you already know. This works great for the notes around
the tenth fret. Remember that the open string note is repeated an octave higher at the twelfth fret:
This fact means that we can work backwards from the twelfth fret to find the notes on the tenth:
One tone below B is the note A.
One tone below G is the note F.
One tone below D is the note C.
Another way to use the natural characteristics of the guitar is to remember that we often tune the guitar using open
strings.
In the following diagram you can see that a note played at the fifth fret is always the same as the adjacent open string
with one exception:
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The note fretted on the sixth string, fifth fret is the same as playing the open fifth string (A).
The note fretted on the fifth string, fifth fret is the same as playing the open fourth string (D).
The note fretted on the fourth string, fifth fret is the same as playing the open third string (G).
The note fretted on the third string, fourth fret is the same as playing the open second string (B).
The note fretted on the second string, fifth fret is the same as playing the open first string (E).
This information gives us another way to find the notes in the middle of the neck. Knowing where the open string
unisons are givews us a solid point we can memorise and use to figure out the notes around it. The notes above and
below each tuning unison are:
Spend some time memorising these note locations as they will greatly speed up your pitch recognition on the guitar.
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Exercises
The following exercises will help you to build your visualisation skills and memorise the guitar neck more quickly.
Repeat each exercise multiple times.
1) Copy out a blank fretboard diagram and as quickly as you can, circle every instance of a particular note. For
example, the following diagram shows every ‘A’ note on the neck up to the twelfth fret:
2) Copy out a blank fretboard diagram and add five random circles. See how quickly you can find each note using
octave patterns and tone/semitone patterns. Try to focus more on the middle strings. For example:
3) Find each ‘flat’ (b) note by moving down a semitone from a pitch. For example, here are all the Gb’s located by
moving a semitone down from the note G: -
4) Find each ‘sharp’ (#) note by moving up a semitone from a pitch. For example, here are all the F#’s located by
moving a semitone up from the note F:
5) Use an octave pattern from the sixth and fourth strings to find a note on the second string. Here’s how you find the
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note G:
6) Use the octave pattern from the fifth to the second string to locate a randomly chosen note. Here is how you find
the note F:
Use your flashcards to help you keep the notes you are finding random, and use a metronome to help your brain
gradually speed up each process.
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Conclusions and Further Study
This book has shown you the quickest and most common approaches to finding notes on the fretboard and
memorizing their positions, however, there is no substitute for regular practice and a logical approach to learning.
I suggest you begin by memorising the notes on the sixth (and, therefore, first) strings, before tackling the fifth and
fourth strings. From there, use octave patterns to help you access the notes on the second and third strings.
With repeated practice, and by using a metronome to help you speed up, you will soon find that you can locate any
note on the fretboard without thinking. The ‘octave-shape’ will become unconscious and gradually the notes on the
neck will become more secure in your mind. If you think about it, this is how you learned to read and write… a ‘d’
started off as a backwards ‘b’ until you just simply knew what a ‘d’ was.
This process of conscious learning quickly becomes unconscious and one day soon you will look at the eighth fret on
the second string and simply know that it is the note G.
If you really want to secure your fretboard knowledge, then I highly recommend you learn to read music (standard
notation) on the guitar. The process of taking a note off the page and finding its location on the guitar will help you
form a deep bond with the guitar neck. It’s tricky at first, but it’s also a highly regarded and useful skill that helps
you understand the guitar neck and communicate with other musicians.
If you want to get more into sight reading, I recommend my 100+ page book; Sight Reading Mastery for Guitar.
This mini book has been a focused look at how to memorize the guitar fretboard, but we also publish full-length
guides to playing the guitar. Each book is over 100 pages and includes hundreds of audio examples that you can
download for free.
We’ve sold over 120,000 books on Amazon and are the highest rated, most popular guitar books available. The
following is a selection of our most popular titles. Click the images for more information or go to
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Have fun,
Joseph
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