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Firstly, and most
importantly, do you know WHAT the fretboard is? Take a look at your guitar. It
is the flat section on the front of the neck of the guitar. You play your
chords on the fretboard. There are metal bars embedded across the board, which
divide it into several parts. These are called frets.
Now that you know what a fretboard is,
let's discuss learning the fretboard. It seems virtually impossible that one
would be expected to know every single note on every single fret. But one must
learn it. It is more difficult than a piano but with dedicated effort you will
soon know it. Although this might seem unimportant and appear to be mere
drudgery, it is very important.
There are various methods that have
been suggested for bettering one's knowledge of the
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guitar fretboard.
Some suggest that you must practice away from the guitar, in your
mind. Frederick Noad, in his book 'Solo Guitar Playing, suggests "mental
methods" such as "Learning by Equivalent Notes", "Transfer of Position" and
"Learning by Fret". You must keep memorizing the notes and positions till you
know them like the back of your hand. Position-to-note and note-to-position are
also mental methods. They simply mean that whenever you think of or see a
position you must know exactly which notes lie there. Similarly, whenever you
see or think of a note, you must know exactly where to play it on the fret
board.
You can also design yourself some memory games or download some that are
available online. These games usually consist of memory cards, which have on
them either the fret numbers, or the position, or both. You must look at each
card, and give the relevant information out of memory. For example, if you pick
up a card which says "Fret 3", you will have to say "G C F A# D G" out aloud.
You could play this with a partner on a regular basis and automatically know
your guitar fretboard much better than you thought you could.
Mnemonics are used for all sorts of learning. It can help you to learn the
guitar fretboard as well. For example, this one - An Emu was chasing an Ape
with a Drill but tripped over a Garbage can..out popped a Baby eating an
Earthworm, helps you learn the open notes (and fret 12 and 24). The capitalized
letters in bold are the open notes. If you are witty enough, you could come up
with your own mnemonics to make your learning more fun.
Hesitation is inevitable in all new learning, but your goal should be to
minimize and eventually get rid of all hesitation. Keep pushing yourself till
you don't hesitate anymore. Take one note or one position at a time, whichever
suits you, but make sure you eliminate hesitation altogether. Motivating
yourself to stop hesitating every time you try to play a note is an excellent
learning method. You need to practice extensively, but then "practice makes
perfect" right? It's vital that you know your 'sharps' and 'flats' very well. C
sharp and D flat are the same note right? But when you're playing, do you
remember that. It's essential that you do. You must know how it is played, both
ways, equally well. This will show that nothing can confuse you or make you
hesitate while playing the guitar, because you have a thorough knowledge of the
fretboard.
The fretboard has mother of pearl markers strategically placed, inlaid in the
wood. Usually, these markers are laid in the exact same positions in every
guitar. A standard guitar will have these markings on the third fret, the fifth
and the ninth. The twelfth fret has two markers because it is exactly one
octave higher than the open string. The fifteenth fret again has a single
marker. These markings are not only useful but important as well because they
will help you find and play the right notes on the fretboard effortlessly.
Learning the fretboard is an extremely time consuming and tiring task, but once
you learn it, you're on your way to becoming a better guitarist. Motivate
yourself by may be learning one fret a time. Set yourself a date by when you
will know every single note on the fretboard and play them naturally. You must
not neglect this task, and consider it a very important part of learning how to
play the guitar.
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