Memorising the Fretboard

While I don’t think that totally memorising the guitar fretboard from scratch is a useful thing to do (you’re much better off learning where to play chords and scales), it’s sometimes helpful to have a reference when working out the notes. This is why I’ve created this .pdf file and made it available on my website.

There is a link to the file in the right sidebar in the main site (i.e. not the blog). The idea is that you can use it as a guide when trying to figure out the notes on a guitar for sight reading. I don’t recommend using it all the time, however, as you really want to be learning where the notes are for yourself.

Finding Your Way Around

The diagram is basically a picture of the fretboard, with the nut at the top and the 12th fret at the bottom. This should be all you need to work out all the notes, as the pattern repeats after the 12th fret. So if, for example, you wanted to find a note on the 15th fret, all you need to do is take away 12 (15 minus 12 is 3) and that fret (in this case, the third fret) on the diagram will give you the note name you’re looking for.

I’ve also colour-coded the notes, so each note of the same name is the same colour, because I find this helps with remembering.

To get the file, you can click this link and save it to your computer. You can then print it out.

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Rob.

April 12, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Practicing and Practice Routine | 2 comments

2 Responses to “Memorising the Fretboard”