Many people put off learning all the notes on the guitar fretboard because it can seem like an overwhelming amount to memorize. This article will show you why you need to learn all the notes on a guitar. You’ll also be told about the universal note pattern that every single note shares that makes learning all the notes incredibly easy.
1. You’ll understand which notes make up a chord in a particular chord
When you can see all the note names across the fretboard you’ll instantly see which notes feature in the chords you are using. This is one of the best ways to get started with music theory for guitar because you’ll quickly memorize the notes in the standard chords that you use all the time.
2. You’ll be able to play chords all over the neck
Most people are stuck with playing the same old chords in the same old open positions. I’m talking about the the chords C, D, E, F, G and A. Some people progress a little beyond that and are able to play bar-chords. But did you know that any chord has 5 easy to play variations you can play in stead of the the standard open positions? You’ll see these chord variations appear all over the neck once you’ve memorized all the notes.
3. You’ll get better at soloing and improvising
When you know all the notes on the guitar you’ll instantly become better at soloing and improvising . You won’t ever be afraid of hitting a bum note again because you won’t be blindly flailing around on the fretboard. Don’t be one of those people that kids themselves that they can play only by ear. Don’t get me wrong, playing by ear is the essence of music but most people haven’t done any ear training and can only hear bad notes when it’s too late, after they’ve played them.
This also helps you avoid getting trapped in the dreaded ‘scale boxes’ because you see scales as a collection of notes rather than patterns.
4. Better communication with other musicians
I’ve found it much easier to communicate with other musicians while jamming and improvising now that I know all the note names on the guitar. I can tell people which notes are in my riffs and chords making it a lot less confusing than naming string and fret numbers.
5. More confidence while performing
I’ve noticed that since I’ve learned all the note positions that I’m a lot more confident while performing in front of people. I still make the occasional mistake but now I know the names of those mistakes and can investigate why it didn’t sound right (or why it sounded good, some mistakes can be positive after all) by analyzing how it fits into the overall piece of music. Doing this kind of theoretical analysis is much easier now that I know all the note names.
The Universal Note Pattern
The big trick (that not many people know about) that will make learning all the notes easy is knowing the universal note pattern. It’s a pattern that all notes share and is easy to see when you look at an image of the notes on the fretboard. It shows how within any 12 fret range a single note appears 6 times and only once on each string.
If you want to see an image of the pattern be sure to sign up for the Guitar Theory Revolution newsletter so you can download the free e-book: How To Learn All The Notes On The Guitar Fretboard.
About Neill Like many guitar players Neill struggled to understand music theory until he learned about the inherent properties of the instrument that in fact make it the best instrument for learning theory on. His specialty is helping people who fear they are too old to learn music theory. Visit the GTR Store to support his work.