Learning the notes on the fretboard.
1st, 2nd and 3rd positions
It is highly beneficial to know where the all of the notes are located throughout the entire fretboard of your guitar. Knowing the note names and positions can help you better understand chord structures and scales.
There is no “easy way”.
I have been teaching guitar lessons since 1996. How many times do you think that I have been asked, “What is the easiest way to learn all the notes on the guitar?” Honestly, I lost count a long time ago. My answer to this question is simple: “There is no such thing as an easy way to learn anything in music.” Everything you do in music takes unconditional commitment and a lot of practice.
However, since we’re talking about learning the fretboard, I have come up with a way for everyone to learn where all of the notes are located, from the open strings to twelfth fret. It all comes down to positioning. You need to memorize points of reference on the fretboard.
I have found that using and memorizing a little bit of basic music theory, applying the circle of fifths to understanding all twelve of the keys in music, and learning where all of the notes on the fretboard, will make much more sense over time.
Utilizing the circle of fifths.
Do your best to try to memorize the following line of 12 notes in this order:
C - G - D - A - E - B - F# - Db - Ab - Eb - Bb - F
This is the circle of fifths in a linear form.
Now, let’s put these 12 notes into learning the notes in the 1st position on the fretboard. Apply the list above to learning where all of the notes are located between the open strings and the 4th fret. There will be 30 notes total to memorize in this position.
Start off with the 6th string and work your way up to the 1st string. The first note we need to find is the “C” note. The lowest “C” is on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. As we work up to the next string, do we see anymore “C” notes? We have one more on the 1st fret of the 2nd string. Now, for the exercise, go through the above list of notes, find the location and play each one. Be sure to name each note out loud when you play it. This will help you memorize identifying each note.
Now, let’s do the exact same thing for the notes in the 2nd position.
…and the 3rd position.
All total, we have 78 notes on the fretboard to memorize. Learning the position of all of the notes in this exercise, is only one of many ways that you can learn all of the notes on the fretboard.
You can try one other technique by using the list of notes above and finding each note on each of the strings separately.
By the way, did you notice which note gets played the most in this exercise?
If you said the “E” note, you are correct. It gets played 8 times.
You might be wondering why some notes are white and some are black. If you notice, all of the notes with white background are “natural” notes. The notes with black background are the “enharmonic” notes. It’s sort of like looking at a piano, and how a piano has both white and black keys. The notes that are natural and enharmonic on the piano are the exact same notes on the guitar.
What are Enharmonic notes?
The notes with black background actually have dual names. To make things easy, I chose to use the notes listed above. All twelve of the notes are the names of all of the keys in music (at least for what we use on the guitar). Enharmonic notes have two different names, depending on which key the note is in. To understand this better, you will need to learn all twelve of the keys in music. Here is an article I wrote on keys.
There is no quick way, short way or easy way to learn the entire fretboard. You will need to practice learning all of the notes every day. This might take a few days, weeks or months. It can be learned and memorized. You just have to put in the time and the work.
I hope this exercise helps you learn the fretboard on your guitar.
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