Fretboard Alchemy

[Nuclear Guru]

Hey all - I just purchased the Fretboard Alchemy book. I want to get my fretboard knowledge together so I can solo confidently across and up and down the neck. It looks like a great resource, but: I'm not sure how to make the most of it.

For instance, the first section shows the patterns for the ionian/dorian/etc modes on one position across the entire neck (eg, octave and a fifth on a 4 string, two octaves on a 5 string, two octaves and a fourth on a 6 string). That's all well and good, but I want to go further than just seeing the shapes on the page and then replicating them on my bass.

Does anyone have experience with this book? What are some exercises and general practice methods that you recommend to get the most out of it?

Thanks.

[DougD]

I have the pdf version. I liked it. Very good for understanding modes and how to apply them and such and so on.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Guru

.....I want to go further than just seeing the shapes on the page and then replicating them on my bass.

IME, basics need to be learned/memorized and inculcated into your musical brain before moving on, just like we learned to read and write; basics first.

[MalcolmAmos]

I think I had at one time one of the demo copies of this. It's good for giving you all the "stuff".

I also at one time had all three volumes of Fretboard Logic, hundreds of pages of "stuff".

Neither ever got around to helping me play THE TUNE.

Those kind of books do help you get to know the fretboard and how to manover up down and over the fretboard, but, stop short of helping with the tune.

Use it for what it is intended to do -- teach you where the notes are on the fretboard. Which ones to use, well that is another story.

[JTE]

I hate this kind of stuff. If you understand music, and you take things in logical steps, you don't need this. If you're a visual learner, then MAKE these kinds of charts, but do it yourself because that's how you're going to LEARN it.

First you gotta know how the bass is laid out, but you don't need anything special. There's an A at the fifth fret of the E string, the open A string, at the 7th fret of the D string, and the second fret of the G string. Any note repeats 12 frets up, so there's an A at the 17th fret, the 12th fret, the 19th fret, and the 14th fret.

What's the fourth of A? (Learn music, not shapes). It's D. A fourth is on the same fret on the next higher string, or two frets lower on the next lower string. So work out for yourself where all the D's are. Then what's the fourth of D? Continue.

How to put them into scales? KNOW the scale- that is KNOW (understand as well as be able say the notes) that a major scale is W W H W W W H. Now, you know the notes on the fingerboard, and you know that a whole step from A is two frets to B. And a whole step from B is C# (and you know from learning MUSIC that its proper name is C#, not Db in this case); a half step from C# is D, a whole step to E, another whole step to F#, another whole step to G#, and a final half-step to A where you started.

Now, from learning MUSIC you know the notes in the key of A, and you already learned where the notes are on the fingerboard, so work out some fingerings for the A major scale- and understand that in real music you don't play from root to root, so you want to know how to play that scale anywhere on the neck. WORK it out for yourself.

Draw your own charts as memory aids, but get rid of them as soon as you can. And sing everything you practice- it locks the SOUND of the music in your head while your muscles are playing, and that helps your brain tell your fingers where to go for a particular sound- the ultimate goal of playing music.

John