How to learn and understand the notes on the fretboard  (part 2)

Click here for part 1

If you haven’t yet seen it, and don’t feel comfortable with the notes on the fretboard then I highly recommend you go and look at part 1 of this fretboard series as it is the precursor to today’s lesson and will massively help with the information in it.

In today’s lesson, we are focusing on knowing all the notes on the 6th string up to the 12th fret. Once you know all the notes on the 6th string up to the 12th fret you can later work out the notes on the 1st string too and the notes on the same strings past the 12th frets which is something I show you in part 1.

Below is a diagram we used in part 1 to help you learn the notes on the 6th string.

To get the most out of today’s lesson you need to have a pretty good understanding of those notes.

How do you know if I am comfortable with the notes on the 6th string?

Let’s test you!

Well, firstly, I’ll test you.

On the 6th string/low E string, tell me what note is located on the:

• 5th fret
• 8th fret
• 1st fret
• 10th fret
• 7th fret

The answers are at the bottom of this lesson. If you got at least 3 correct and didn’t guess then you should be able to give today’s lesson a good go but the more you got the better. For everyone else who scored below 3, I highly recommend you at least take a look at part 1.

Okay, our first step is to fill in the blanks from the above chart and add in the notes in between the notes on the above chord chart.

You will notice there are three types of notes on the above chart.

• Naturals – this is a note without a symbol. eg, A or D
• Sharp (symbol is ‘#’) – this means one fret higher than a natural. e.g. A# is the note of A (5th fret) moved up one fret (6th)
• Flat (symbol is ‘b’) – this is the opposite to a sharp and means it is one fret lower than a natural e.g. Ab is the note of A (5th fret) moved down one fret (4th)

Study the above chart and ensure you get comfortable with where the notes are on any fret on the 6th string.

You don’t have to know them all perfectly right away but the aim is to soon be able to test yourself on any fret and get it correct.

Now, that is the first part of today’s lesson done.

What we will do now is apply everything we have learned so far and play a fun game with it….

Using a simple chord chart to help you practice your fretboard knowledge

One of my favourite lessons and one I go through on a regular basis with students is a wonderful chord chart which has been adapted from Joe Satriani. Take a look at the chart below…

 

At first glance, this chord chart doesn’t appear to be much but there are some awesome benefits to be gained from it and hopefully, just like my other students you will use it and see the potential benefit from it.

If you use it like I recommend you will find it beneficial for many years to come just like my other students have done.

How to use the chord chart to understand the notes on the fretboard

 

This chord chart is incredibly flexible and you can do a huge amount of things with it (which you will see in a future ‘In Focus’ lesson) but the first thing to do is use it to get really comfortable with where the notes are on the fretboard.

 

To do this, what I do with students is:

• I play all the chords on the chart using barre chords
• They play along with me just hitting the root notes where I change chords

It sounds pretty simple but is actually a little challenging especially if you are new to learning the fretboard.

 

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Technical Tip

 

What are root notes? If you are unsure, the root note is the note a chord is named after and nearly always located on a bass string (string 4, 5 or 6). For example, the chord of G Major has a root note of G which is located on the 3rd fret of the 6th/low E string and the chord of Bm has a root note of B which is located on the 7th fret of the 6th/low E string.

 

To be able to play along with me you will obviously need to have a good idea where some of the notes are on the 6th string of your guitar. If you don’t then refer back to part 1 and start to build up your knowledge of the fretboard and particularly the notes on the 6th string before attempting this.

Have a listen to the following track.

 

This track features me strumming the chords AND playing the root notes for each chord on the first beat of each bar.

The aim is for YOU to play along with it with you playing the root notes for each chord.

There are 3 levels for you to attempt. Each one requires you to play the same part but at different tempos. Level 1 starts off slow, and then level 2 is faster and level 3 is fast!

Press play on the following tracks, listen to the ‘four count’ and then use the above chord chart to play the root notes along with the tracks.

Level 1 Playalong – Slow

 

Level 2 Playalong – Medium

 

Level 3 Playalong – Fast

 

How did you do?

It may take you multiple attempts and at least a few days to play the single root notes along with the above recordings – it takes my one to one students a few lessons to really get it. Therefore, don’t worry, take your time and refer back to the above diagram if you need to.

 

Don’t mistake minors for flats (symbol of ‘b’) 

Many students get confused at first when they see the minors on the above chord chart. They get mixed up thinking the minors somehow equal a ‘b’.

For example, on the above chord chart, there is a Bm chord. This means B minor of course. The root note of this chord is the 7th fret as this is where the note of B is located.

Some students think it should be at the 6th fret as they think of B minor as Bb minor.

Useful Guidelines

These are the guidelines I give all students.

• Get comfortable with where all the notes are on the 6th string (obviously)
• Pluck just once at the beginning of each bar
• Count the beats if you struggle with getting the next root note in place
• Don’t get mixed up with #’s and b’s and Majors and minors
• A ‘# (sharp)’ symbol means you should play the note one fret higher than the natural
• A ‘b (flat)’ symbol means you should play the note one fret lower than the natural

No Cheating!

Don’t try to remember the order of the notes – the benefit comes from you sight reading the chord, analysing what the root note is and then finding the root note on the 6th string – all while keeping in time with the music.

This lesson is great not just for your ability to know where the notes are on the 6th string but your sight reading skills, your rhythm skills and your ability to play along with a recording. Those are all great skills to master for any musician.

In a future lesson, we will bring out this chord chart once again where I’ll show you just what else you can do with it to really help with all aspects of your playing.

Basically, every time you learn any new technique or idea you can use this chord chart to help you fully integrate it into your playing and learn it in all 12 keys. Stay tuned for that one. It will be awesome.

 

Let’s test you! ANSWERS

Here are the answers to the questions at the beginning of this lesson.

On the 6th string/low E string, tell me what note is located on the:

• 5th fret – A
• 8th fret – C
• 1st fret – F
• 10th fret – D 
• 7th fret – B 

 

• Click here for part 1