Exercise to learn your fingerboard

[Bassguy87564]

I made a short video of an exercise I use to learn all the notes on my fingerboard. I don't mention a few things i the video but I will mention them here. When I do this exercise I use all 12 keys and many different variations of leaping in 3rds or 6ths or what ever interval. I hope people find this video informing and give me your input to cause I always enjoy input .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-iGGGtHTE

[Nashrakh]

Favorite'd. No sound right now, so I gotta look at it later.

Thumbs up for creating a video like this though!

[fearceol]

My 2c worth :


The exercise tells us nothing about what the actual notes are. IMO, it would be much better to do your exercises much more slowly, while calling out or singing the notes. You dont know the FB until you know where each note is. The way I was taught how to learn the FB was to start on the open E, and play EFGABCD to E on the 12th fret, calling out the notes as I go. The sharps and flats can be learned later. Do the same on each string. Once you have mastered the E and A strings, the rest should come easy.

Also, it looks amateurish when you yourself make mistakes on your own exercises.

[Bassguy87564]

well its not my exercise as I say in the video but its not for learning the name of the notes its for know where all the notes are in that key or any key it is practice in. By the end of the exercise if played in all 12 keys every note that can possible be played by pressing down the string has been played. I would not hand this exercise to someone who has no understanding of the bass even though it would probably be much easy on there bass playing life starting early. Also you shouldn't just practice one section on your bass. Its cool to go up the fingerboard and name the notes but the bottom 12 frets do not play the same the top 12 frets or how many frets there are up there. If you want you can do the same thing with mine and call out the notes as they are played.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Bassguy87564

well its not my exercise as I say in the video but its not for learning the name of the notes its for know where all the notes are in that key or any key it is practice in. By the end of the exercise if played in all 12 keys every note that can possible be played by pressing down the string has been played. I would not hand this exercise to someone who has no understanding of the bass even though it would probably be much easy on there bass playing life starting early. Also you shouldn't just practice one section on your bass. Its cool to go up the fingerboard and name the notes but the bottom 12 frets do not play the same the top 12 frets or how many frets there are up there. If you want you can do the same thing with mine and call out the notes as they are played.

To me, "learning the finger board" means learning the notes (i.e. the note name ), how they sound, and where each and every one of them is located on the FB. It is not just "cool" to sing/say the notes, but doing this helps the brain to take in and store the information.

I'm not sure what you mean about the top/bottom frets. With my exercise, you can go above the 12th fret if you wish, as everything is repeated.

[Bassguy87564]

well to me learn the finger board mean knowing how to navigate the fingerboard and I never doubted sing the notes but I use that technique for remembering transcriptions and tunes. I would use your exercise to teach someone how to read sheet music. When I play and I am talking on a improv or jam aspect I don't like to think specific notes I think key. Even when I am reading off of a lead sheet. The thing is to really utilize this exercise you must know how to build what ever scale you want to use on this exercise.

[Mr wiggl3s]

If someone knows scales, why wouldn't they know the fretboard?

Youtube is hella slow right now. Maybe you expanded further into the fretboard

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Mr wiggl3s

If someone knows scales, why wouldn't they know the fretboard?

I was thinking the same thing.

OP : From the title of your thread, I assumed you were talking about beginners, as learning the FB is one of the first things a beginner does... or should do.

[Bassguy87564]

Well a beginner can use the exercise but they must really understand how a major scale or whatever scale they are using works. I should have made that clear you must know how to build what ever scale you want to build. I would never give this to someone who doesn't have an understanding on how to even build a basic scale. I just assumed as well that people would get that because I never explain how to build the scale and why it works. This exercise should be used with all different types of scales like melodic minor and harmonic minor to get all those altered scales. Depending on how someone practice there scales would tell you if they really know there fingerboard. If they are practices in locked positions of one octave then no the fingerboard is not mastered. If instead you go up the neck playing all the different modes in the right place all of them in a locked position you are learning the fingerboard but (This is just my personal opinion I'm sure other people have a different view of this) your bound by these positions. When you watch some of the greats solo or improv it doesn't look like they are moving by scale shapes on the base they flow with there note. I guess I should have named this thread developing flow on your bass. I just named it this cause as I said before to me learn the fingerboard is knowing how to navigate it but know the names of the notes is also apart of it.

[BillyIVbass]

Good video. Yes some things are implied, but eh if it gets people thinking about bass it's'all good. I think it gets people outside of the box more than it does teach the notes of the fretboard. Which is a good skill too. Helps create better melodic ideas or say you break a string, another goes out of tune etc.

[Michael Campbel]

Originally Posted by Mr wiggl3s

If someone knows scales, why wouldn't they know the fretboard?

One reason is if you learn them via number (or pattern) instead of note name. I can easily play any major scale starting from anywhere on the neck just by knowing the pattern and not the notes.

[Mr wiggl3s]

Originally Posted by Michael Campbel

One reason is if you learn them via number (or pattern) instead of note name. I can easily play any major scale starting from anywhere on the neck just by knowing the pattern and not the notes.

I'd rather know by notes instead of pattern, that way i'm not limiting myself by anything.

[Bassguy87564]

Yes BillyIVBass I imply a lot of things in this video I just gave a basic explanation of the exercise leaving a lot of self exploration.

Originally Posted by Michael Campbel

One reason is if you learn them via number (or pattern) instead of note name. I can easily play any major scale starting from anywhere on the neck just by knowing the pattern and not the notes.

I would not do it this way you are getting trapped in the pattern. I do agree with thinking number or scale degree which makes transposing much easier.

[Fergie Fulton]

Good video and i'm sure you learned a lot from it yourself about presenting information for the next one you do. All i would add is that you have to present the information with confidence and show the techniques slow and precise, there can be no error in this part.
If you come across as sloppy or unsure, then what does that say about what you have learned from it?

The more you do the better you will become at explaining the information you have to offer.
That is teaching, that is what the best teachers do, they explain and show the information with the minimal of fuss that is easy to understand.

One reason is if you learn them via number (or pattern) instead of note name. I can easily play any major scale starting from anywhere on the neck just by knowing the pattern and not the notes.

I'd rather know by notes instead of pattern, that way i'm not limiting myself by anything.

The two quote above are true, but learning by patterns is the safest and best way to approach reading music.
Having less options means having less chances of making mistakes....and in reading jobs you want good reactions to the score you are reading.
This is not limiting, this is making sure you handle the playing with ease.

Also in learning, teaching the patterns reinforces the teaching and finding of notes on the bass, the two are not to be separated.
I can teach one major pattern, use C major as the root, and expect a new player to play every major scale from it in minutes. He cannot name those scales, that's a different lesson later, but he can play them all, so now he has one job later... that is name the scales, therefore the notes he is playing in all his patterns.

That as a lesson takes ten minutes to teach patterns, but the student will have weeks working out the rest, and working it out on his own, therefore it is further reinforced as a lesson.
I find using patterns far more productive for new players as it gets them playing faster and they are easier to remember by students as they are a physical visual reference to the neck, not a mental one.

[Bassguy87564]

Thanks Fergie yeah I am really new to this teaching concept but I need to get better at it cause I hear thats where the steady pay is. I think I also need to pre-plan what I am going to say to for the next one but thanks for your input I will put it to good use.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by Bassguy87564

Thanks Fergie yeah I am really new to this teaching concept but I need to get better at it cause I hear thats where the steady pay is. I think I also need to pre-plan what I am going to say to for the next one but thanks for your input I will put it to good use.

All i can add is that if you understand the info is basically all the same, i that it's tried and trusted, so it is how you present it that is what you will be judged on.
In schools there are thousands and thousands of teachers all teaching the same syllabus, so what makes the difference between them?
Answer is simple, its the presentation, its how they engage their students, make them think, and most off all make it easy to understand and use.

Pre production (the pre planning) is where the hard work is. Setting it out, making it, easy to view, follow and understand.
Let each section build on the previous so that if it needs to be paused to allow a student to work on a section it can be. This means lots of shots and angles to be taken. In post production (the work after shooting is done) is the artistic part. This is putting together the footage you want to use with audio to explain what you are presenting. Truth is most of what you shoot will never be used, but always better to have to much rather than to little.

Good tip here, in show fingerings use many angles and close ups, shoot lots of different takes to edit, and do not speak. Add the narrative later...as the close ups and angles will be of the bass, the hands, the fret board, not of you talking. So you can add the commentary as and when you need it....and of course in as many takes as you want.

Good luck with the next one, now you have your feet in the water so to speak.

[dpbass66]

One great exercise I did early on in my bass education (ive been playing 30+ years) was to learn my scales as follows:

1) think of a scale (ie C Major)
2) figure out the lowest note on your bass that exists in that scale (ie ona a 4 string bass low "E")
3) play the scale starting on that note (in this case "E") all the way up to the last note on the finger board that exists in the scale.
4) no metronome... play slowly, if you get stuck stop and think about where you are going, what note you want next and where it is.
5) once you can do this fluidly (without stopping) with the particular scale you are working on, then add the metronome

This is a no excuses "pattern buster" exercise that really requires you to know the scale fingering and it forces you to get the sound of the scale in your head. I know some would argue that this is really an "E" phrygian scale, and this is true, but you are thinking and hearing C Major. Ive had students play a backing track (say using Band In Box) playing a repetitive C Major groove to this, which really makes it musical and de-emphasizes the Phrygian sound, while emphasizing the C Major sound. If you are working on one of the modes of the major scale then think that mode sound in your head or again, play a backing track with that mode sound.

Another exercise is to play the chosen scale, starting on the root this time is OK, but start with different fingers. So, try and play a C Major scale from the 8th Fret on the E string but starting with your pinky...where do you go? what is the next logical fingering? where do you have to shift to?

Last exercise is a variation of the first: lock yourself into one position on the fretboard, say first finger is at 5th fret on the E String (note is A). without moving from that position play all 12 major scales. Again a pattern buster, you really cant do this without actually knowing your scales and how they sound.

You can do these exercises with any scale (obviously) and to take it further you can do it with arpeggios, and patterns of arpeggios. To really get crazy, start playing a walking bass line, say a blues and force yourself to stay in one position on the bass...no shifting around. This is only for academic purposes, of course you'd never play this way since it would likely sound unmusical....ie the note "G" sounds different all over the bass, but these exercises will definitely get you to know your scale notes AND sounds.

I actually think of scales as "sonorities", or a particular kind of sound, not JUST a group of notes that make a pattern on my fingerboard. It is MOST important to understand the sound of a particular scale and to make what you play on your bass have the given "sonority" at any given moment.

Cheers!!