Any opinion on whether the Fretboard formula actually speeds learning notes on neck?

[bcolins]

I just got an email notice that I could now buy The Fretboard Formula "Lite" version (I think you get the DVDs and CD but the workbooks are in PDF....which I guess you print out) For $88.

I have tried learning the notes on the neck several times........Im an old dude,....(60) maybe its true that you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

Just wondering if anyone here has found the Fretboard Formula helpful in learning the notes of the neck..........or if there was any other value you found..............and.........would it be a mistake to buy it with the manuals in PDF??

In his usual style...........sampson rambles on endlessly about all the wizz bangery of this system.......all that aside.....$88 seems like a reasonable price if it either insures or speeds up my learning of all the notes on the neck.........if nothing else. (Im tired of jamming with friends and when they tell me something is in a certain key.....I have to ask them to show me where it is often....embarassing)

I would prefer opinions from only those who have actually tried or used this course. (speculation is...just that....speculation)

Brian in Austin

[nortonrider]

I found that learning the fretboard for me was pretty much just memorization.
Much like learning the multiplication table.

no need to spend and money, just invest a little time and effort.

[JimmyM]

ya, you can learn that out of any decent beginning bass book for a lot less. there are no shortcuts. you just have to put the time in.

[greekorican]

Go up and down each string and name every natural note (no sharps or flats). Once you have that down, the sharps and flats come pretty easy. From there play major scales: on only one string, the patterns, try playing other fingerings for the major scales, open position fingerings. Think of the notes as you play them, it helped me to name them out loud at first when I was memorizing the fretboard. Also, you should memorize your major scale spellings. It will make naming each note far easier while you play scales. You have to move away from thinking of it as a pattern and thinking of them as notes. Learning the fretboard is very frustrating at first, but very soon it will start to get easier. I'm pretty sure I had it down to the point where I didn't have to think about it within a month.

Do you know a piano keyboard? You don't have to know how to play piano, but you should be able to play the major scales. Piano keyboard will teach you enharmonic notes, as well as what notes their are. For example, you need to know that B# and C are the same pitch.

I don't know how much theory you know, but there isn't much of a point to learning the fretboard unless you are gonna learn some theory. Once you get the fretboard down, you'll never forget it, and everything opens up from there. If you know the fretboard, you can apply theory and be able to read music. I taught myself the fretboard, but I'm sure a teacher would speed the process up. Why not take that $88 and spend it on a teacher, it will probably be much more helpful. Or just teach yourself, find some diagrams online.

I'm glad you're learning the fretboard, it bothers me when people (usually guitarists) teach you a part using fret numbers. In no time you can have your nose up in the air like me, scoffing at people who explain parts with fret numbers and use tabs to learn songs.

Hope I helped.

[MalcolmAmos]

Old dogs and new tricks. Less than a year with my bass and next month I'll be 75, old dogs can learn new tricks just takes us longer. At 74 I have the time.

Yes we need to find the notes. Does not matter which way we use, point is - if we need a note we gotta be able to find it.

Don't know anything about that method. If money is not an issue try it. I've got a stack of "how to books" over three feet high - no telling how much money is involved in that stack. Every book gave me at least one WOW any many hours of entertainment. I just looked, Fretboard Logic (for 6 string guitar) still has notes in the margins and papers sticking out all through the three volumes. I got my money's worth.

Before you spend $88 -- pick a note on your fretboard. Where is it's 5th? It'll be up a string and over two frets. It's 3rd will be up a string and back one fret, the 7th is up two strings and over one fret. If you are interested in the rest of the story just ask. I'll share for free, however, nothing like studying with a book in your hands. Highest price I've spent on a method book and CD $285 for Piano Magic. Yep, have to say I got my money's worth here also. If you want The Fretboard Formula "Lite" version - get it. You'll spend more than that amount taking the family out for Sunday lunch.

Good luck.

[CoffeeJanitor]

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

No need for a book to teach you stuff like this, man. You need only practice!

: + Read music. ESPECIALLY walking jazz lines.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by CoffeeJanitor

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

No need for a book to teach you stuff like this, man. You need only practice!

+1 on this. Practice is the key... and it costs nothing

"greekorican's" first paragraph above is similiar to the way I learned.

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

Old dogs and new tricks. Less than a year with my bass and next month I'll be 75, old dogs can learn new tricks just takes us longer. At 74 I have the time.

Good for you Malcolm - from another old dog learning new tricks every day (53 and three years with my bass). Never too late to learn IMO.

[Already In Use]

I'm brand new at playing the bass. I printed the fret board out and leave it on my desk so I see it all the time. Whats really helping me is playing triads and calling out the notes. I am learning one half at a time. When I have idle moments I visualize the fret board and go over the notes in my head. 4 weeks in and I have learned to the 9th fret pretty good. Keep in mind I'm 50 and dont learn like a kid any more!

Bonus...calling out the notes lets me recall what combos sound good together as I play above and below root notes.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Already In Use

Keep in mind I'm 50 and dont learn like a kid any more!

Yet another "old dog" learning new tricks. Good to know I'm not the only one.

[HaVIC5]

Save your money. There are no "tricks" that speed the process along, only practice. There are "light-bulb" moments, for sure, and those are incredibly gratifying and exciting when they happen, but that comes from personal exploration and understanding of musical concepts, not from any hack system that promises tricks to make you learn faster.

[Chupacabra]

Is the Fretboard Formula you're talking about this...http://www.fretboardformula.com/? If it is, I wouldn't waste your money - just the design of the site is a big give away, there's loads of "get rich quick", "beginner to pro", "gain 6 inches" etc scams that use that exact design layout.

Like Havic said, there's no shortcut or top-secret method for learning. You'll get more familiar the longer you're playing. In another thread you made about this same product, someone offered to sell you their copy of it, they also mentioned they never used it - or at least didn't find it particularly useful.

Learn the music alphabet - A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab - as the basics.
You know the names of your open strings, therefore you know the names of the notes at the 5th fret of each string & the 12th frets, you probably know a few others too. From there, any notes you're unsure of you can just use the alphabet to work out where you are. Over time more & more of the notes & their positions will be memorised.

I wouldn't know the "going rate" in the U.S, but I'd imagine $88 would get you something like 2 or 3 lessons with a music teacher. One small part of one of those lessons could be devoted to showing you a/some method(s) of learning the notes on the fretboard.

I would prefer opinions from only those who have actually tried or used this course. (speculation is...just that....speculation)

I haven't used it, I wouldn't be daft enough to blow hard earned cash on it though, either

[FranR]

I've ordered from Alex before and it isn't a scam; his material is pretty good and in depth. I'm actually a very happy customer. If you check his blog you see a bit more about who this guy is.

In short he just gives you some extra tools to easily recognize notes on the fretboard - ie, you don't have to mindlessly memorize all of them; just a few helpful hints or roadmap to find them. I only used his stuff for a week, but I already know a heck lot more about the fretboard than I did a week ago and it didn't include memorizing the entire fretboard.

You can maybe compare it to try and memorize all the individual notes vs recognizing patterns.

and well if you don't like how things are written then maybe his method isn't for you.

ps.: I'm using his older course the bass guitar secrets; and I know of at least one other person here on the forums who uses the fretboard formula and seems to enjoy them. check the newcomer section of the forums.

[kesslari]

No really, there's a shortcut. Send your money... all of your money.. to ME.
It will take a LOT of money. Start sending...
I'll GUARANTEE that you're better than Wooten in a week.

small print:
"better" in this case means "in better health".
"Wooten" in this case means "Wilhelmina Wooten", an elderly Lithuanian lady who suffers from emphesema
"a week" does not specify the start and end date of the week - could be a week sometime in 2047.

[FranR]

Now it's just getting plain silly. Have any of you actually read the poster's question?

Originally Posted by bcolins

I would prefer opinions from only those who have actually tried or used this course. (speculation is...just that....speculation)

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by FranR

Now it's just getting plain silly. Have any of you actually read the poster's question?

yes i did. but i am a 30 year professional musician and i've seen stuff like that a million times, and it doesn't cost $88 to learn it. for $14.95, you can get a method book that will tell you all that. and if you poke around on the net long enough you'll find everything you need to know about the fretboard for free. this method may work just fine, but you're not going to get any more out of it than stuff that's way cheaper. trust me.

[bbmagic]

The advantage you may find with it is that it is a DVD course. If you are a visual learner, it'll work wonders for you. If you're the kind of person that does better by reading something, then a less-expensive book will work for you. It's all in how your brain prefers to process information.

I played bass back in the early 90's for about 5 years and I only knew a few notes on the fretboard. I had a collection of bass books that never seemed to teach it to me in a way that made it click, or not seem like a mountain of work.

Alex's stuff isn't for everyone, but it made things click for me when I dusted off my bass last year. Are his ads corny? Yes! Is he trying to swindle? I don't think so. For $88 you get 7+ hours of video instruction. It'll cover learning the fretboard (2x2, etc), intervals (what's a 3rd? a b7th?), arpeggios (and inversions), modes (Dorian, etc), and so on. There's drum tracks to play along with and loads of exercises.

Alex doesn't pretend that this stuff will make you a pro overnight, he expects you to put in a lot of work, and includes weeks and weeks of exercises.

It's the exact same stuff I fumbled through nearly 20 years ago, but this time it made sense. I think a lot of the negative opinions are from people who are turned off by the advertising and haven't actually seen the product (and the advertising is B-A-D!).

Incidentally, you learn about 90% of the same information in his Bass Guitar Secrets course. But again, that's for those who learn best by reading. And all that information could, truthfully, be obtained in some standard music theory books.

[bbmagic]

Plus he's having a birthday sale this weekend. Stuff is 30% off, I think. I got an email about it and I'd be happy to pass along the code if you're interested.

[JimmyM]

well if he's going about it the right way, then that's cool, but still, $88 is a lot. 30% off, though, and it looks a little more attractive. but holy geez, that website is like the ads in the back of gossip magazines!

[bbmagic]

The highlight of the whole package was his reaction to a loud thunderstorm outside while he was recording. He explains, wide-eyed, how frightening it is! Dude was seriously scared! You won't find that in a book!

[Stumbo]

Here something free that was designed by a couple of your TB buddies:
Downloadable fretboard learning file utilizing Microsoft Excel or Excel file reader

If you're into standard notation/sight reading, here's something cool that translates the bass cleff to the fret board: Bass clef to fretboard translation.