For my money, learning the notes on the guitar fretboard is an essential skill to help you learn to play guitar quickly and effectively. If you’re just starting to learn guitar, and even if you’re learning guitar from tablature, knowing what notes you’re playing will be extremely helpful.
Knowing the notes on the guitar fretboard will help you to learn to play guitar in general, and learn to play specific guitar tunes. Here are a couple of reasons to learn the guitar fretboard:
Good Reasons to Learn the Guitar Fretboard
- When you learn “movable” chords, you’ll be able to quickly use those chord shapes up and down the entire fretboard.
- Learning to read standard notation will be much easier if you already know the notes on the fretboard.
- When practicing scales, the notes won’t just be dots on a chart. You’ll also start to learn the notes that make up the specific scale (e.g., C major, B minor, E major, etc.)
- When learning from other guitarists or teachers they’ll often refer to note names such as, “Play the B on the first string and the E on the second string.” Know the guitar fretboard and you’ll be able to find these notes quickly and effortlessly.
Learn the Guitar Fretboard With Fretboard Warrior
Learning the guitar fretboard is all about memorization. Luckily, there’s Fretboard Warrior. It’s a free, downloadable, application — like a game — that will help you to memorize the guitar fretboard.
You can download Fretboard Warrior for free, here.
It’s fun, easy to play, and it keeps track of your progress. You can challenge yourself to beat your best score.
Guitar Fretboard Warrior — Fun and Free
Watch a demonstration of Fretboard Warrior.
Fretboard Warrior is quite simple. There’s a fretboard. A dot appears randomly at a fret, and the note sounds. Your task is to click on that note name (e.g. A | A#/Bb, etc.). Fretboard Warrior indicates if you were right or wrong. If you’re right, it plays another random note. If you’re wrong, you get to try again, until you get it right.
You can set up the game for two, five, or 10 minutes sessions.
There are a variety of ways to learn the notes on the guitar fretboard. I’d encourage you to use Fretboard Warrior and any and all methods to learn the fretboard.
Troy Nelson, a celebrated guitar educator from Viroqua, Wisconsin, has significantly impacted guitar learning with acclaimed books like ‘Guitar Aerobics’ and ‘Fretboard Freedom’. His unique journey from Sports Management to leading roles at Hal Leonard Corporation and Guitar One magazine has shaped his approach to guitar education. Now based in Nashville, Nelson specializes in crafting effective guitar practice routines, enhancing players’ skills and technical mastery. His work is a treasure trove for guitar enthusiasts worldwide.
I need a mac version