Knowledge of fretboard

[fender]

I'm starting to learn jazz from a Jody Fisher book "The complete jazz guitar metod" vol 1. - Beginning.
I've come to conclusion that i don't know fretboard and have problems to go further in this book.
For example, if I press 3rd string on 7th fret, I can't spell whitch note that is. I must count and then I can tell.
And in reverse order, if I have to spell on whitch fret is C on 4th string, I can't do it wihout counting.

The only strings that I know are 5th and 6th.

How important is to know fretboard, to know every fret, every note without thinking?
And other question is - in this book there are examples in music lines and in tabs. Should I put more attention on music lines?

[ftz]

Hi Fender,

I was at the exact same point about 3 months ago. Then I started with William Leavitt book, and I'm now able to name any note up to the 5th fret on each string without a thought, and I also learned many standards always with the melody between the 7th and 12th fret (the most confortable area of the neck for me). I can also now play in this area with note names without problem. I can figure out between 5 and 7 quiet quickly now

The Leavitt books will now take me through the rest of the fretboard to connect all these parts and consolide this.

It's a bit of work, but I can think of a way to acquire this knowledge if you're using tabs. For me at least it wasn't working. I tried, but I was always "cheating" and not really reading the notation. I got quiet a good visual memory, and just a slight look at the tab would help a lot...

The Leavitt books are good for that, no tabs at all

It's really worth it, and really gives you more freedom to play on different places on the neck, add some notes that are in the correct scale/harmony, etc...

2cts..

[Ausjazz]

Hi Fender. I'm going through the Jody Fisher books too. I've finished book one and am chugging through book two.

While knowing the names of the notes may not be essential to the JF books, it is important for you to know the name of the note for your general playing. It'll help you think certain things out, and while there is some interesting debate on whether jazz needs to be thought out, I think that you need to know theory to help you get your ideas from your head to your guitar.

Here's some suggestions to learn the fretboard.

1) Write the notes out on some paper. This can be done anywhere, after a while they'll stick.
2) Learn them by the octaves (then thirds, fifths etc). It helps you think of them in places.
3) As you are practicing, name the notes out loud as you're playing them. Do this with all examples and you'll soon have them down.

As for notation, I've just started to learn to read music. I'm using the William Levitt Modern Method books, but when I'm learning JF I tend to look at the tab. Thinking about it, I should be learning everything from sheet music. So I'd suggest you do that. It'll take longer, but will help with your theory.

Hope it helps. Cheers.

[fender]

Thanks for Your quick responses!

That's what I thought - I have to know all fretboard without thinking and able to play notation on whole fretboard.
Now i can freely play notation only in first position using open strings.
Will find out method how to learn this. Each string separately or by positions - 0 to 5th fret, 5th to 10th... etc

[voelker]

It's very important to know the fretboard, but since the 1st and 6th string are the same, you actually know 3 strings. And if you know the 5th and 6th string you can easily figure out the 3rd and 4th string by knowing the octave shape.

(ex.)
3rd string, 7th fret is (D) the octave above the 5th string, 5th fret (D).

Now i've never used this book, so i don't know how basic or advanced it is, but if i was you i would make sure i understood intervals and diatonic chord theory before you get too far.

I’m sure you know the C major scale; CDEFGABC, can you recite it in 3rds? CEGBDFACEGBDFAC? This is the first step in chord building; figure out which intervals are major thirds (ex. C to E) and which intervals are minor thirds (ex. E to G). Then learn how each group of three notes creates either a major triad (ex.C=CEG), minor triad (ex.Em=EGB), or diminished triad (ex.Bdim=BDF). Print out some fretboard diagrams and write in the triads from the C major scale. Do this for all three inversion, on each set of three strings, all the way up the fretboard. Make sure you label them so that the note name is reinforced when you play them.

[bako]

"How important is to know fretboard, to know every fret, every note without thinking?"

Not knowing the fretboard is something that will hinder you in situation after situation till you decide to deal with it.

One exercise would be to pick a note and find it in every place possible.
With "C" on a 20 fret guitar there are 11 "C"s
E- 8/20
A- 3/15
D- 10
G- 5/17
B- 1/13
E- 8/20

Be able to play these in a steady rhythm. Slow at first to give extra thinking time and later at a medium uptempo quarter note. Play them in different orders.
Be aware of the tonal difference of the same note on different strings.
Be aware of the fret numbers.

Do the remaining 11 notes after C becomes effortless. At one note a week then knowing the rote location of all 12 notes would take 3 months to accomplish.

The octaves and unisons reveal the architecture of the fingerboard.
It gives you the tools to transfer anything that you already know to multiple locations and fingerings.
This would be another important exercise to do but maintain awareness of the note names at all times (when studying).

There are many angles to approach this subject that are valuable in addition to the two I suggest here. Jump on in.

[TommyD]

This was the way I approached it. (Tal Farlow and Bill Comstock helped me.)
I figured,
1. I know all the notes on the low E string, right? (Because of all the chords we play where the low E string provides the root.)

2. We all fool around with Wes Montgomery's octave playing, right? Well, Putting your 1st finger on the low E and your ring or little finger on the D string 3 frets up gives you an octave, right? So now you know all the notes on 3 strings: the low E, the D, and the high E strings.

3. And like everybody, your first little one-octave scale as a kid probably started on the G string and played up through the B string and the E string to the top of the one-octave scale, so you learned that 4 frets down on the G string from any E string note is the same note of that particular E-string note.

4. What's left? Notes on the A string and the B string. The A string is easy. All those chords we learn that have their root on the A string we already know, right? ....the C chord on the third fret, D on the fifth, Eb on the sixth, the F on the 8th, the G on the 10th, etc, etc, etc. They're given to you!

5. What's left? Well, as it turns out, if you use your noodle, the only string that you actually have to make a little effort to memorize is the B string! (And I'm sure we could figure out a little memory-aid here as well if we give it some thought.)
All the rest have been handed to you on a silver platter!

Ancillary lesson here? Don't make things harder than they are. We all do it and it's self-defeating.
Good luck in your studies, and God bless!
T/

[derek]

A fun way to reinforce it is the freeware game Fretboard warrior. Simply go to fretboardwarrior.com. I use this with students all the time, and used it myself when I was trying to get a better grip (pun intended) of the fretboard. Good luck

[BMaag]

Originally Posted by Ausjazz

1) Write the notes out on some paper. This can be done anywhere, after a while they'll stick.

This is a great way to learn the notes, especially if you can already count the frets and figure it out. What I did and still do is to go somewhere away from my guitar (I go to the diner and do this over a cup of coffee or 6 ) and think of myself playing something I already know how to play. I envision my left hand on the neck of my guitar playing this, and write it down on staff paper. It's a very slow process at first because you will have to count the frets in your head, but after doing it many times it will become quicker and will also solidify your knowledge of the note names on the fretboard.

I do this whenever I have free time, plus it gives you a written library of ideas you come up with, so it's "killing 2 birds with one stone" as they say.

[coolvinny]

Here's what worked for me: Play a Fmaj7 chord with the root on the low E string, the maj7 on the D string, the 3rd on the G string, and the 5th on the B string. When you look at this, you know that F is the root and it's on the low E string at the first fret, right?

Ok, now play the first inversion of this chord, which means the root is now on the D string. OK, so D string at the third fret = F.

Now, play the second inversion of this chord, which means the root is now on the B string. OK, so B string at 6th fret = F.

Now, play the third inversion of this chord...OK, so G string at 10th fret = F.

Practice this in all keys for about a month and you'll know your E string(s), D string, G string (pardon the pun) and B string cold. All that's left is the A string, which you can master through the same approach by practicing inversions on the A, D, G, B string set (though the first inversion of a maj7 chord is a bit of a stretch on this string set - consider using min7 inversions instead).

This is a good exercise anyway to practice for all chord forms, not just maj7.

I also highly recommend the book Guitar Journals: The Reading Book by Mel Bay Publishing. Much more digestible than the Leavitt books. Not as thorough as Leavitt, but my music-reading aspirations are quite modest so it suits me just fine.

[Sailor]

Great advice from TommyD! I also think that playing classical etudes helps a lot with note reading, position playing. Try Carcassi etudes or Carulli...relatively easy and NO difficult rhythms or syncopation!!

Also...lately my knowledge of the fretboard has increased dramatically by dissecting chords...when you start thinking about root -3 -5 -7 -9 -11 in all chords you learn a lot of notes and they have a CONTEXT. Very important. Also, play SIMPLE melodies in many positions and keys....and SIGHTREAD!!!

Sailor