Knowing the Fretboard

[MirageBass]

Okay, so I'm not going to pursue music professionally. Since my priorities are elsewhere right now (studying Game Design and a minor in Japanese), I don't think I'm going to get much out of taking the time to learn how to sight read, especially when I won't be pursuing music as a minor - however, I still love to play, and that means jamming. I pick up little techniques and patterns by playing songs by my favorite artists and picking them apart to use the concepts therein, but I think I could at least take the time to learn to get acquainted with my fretboard - I don't really think it should take too long to learn where the notes are. I have a diagram of the fretboard, but does anybody have good tips on learning the notes on the fretboard, barring rote memorization (which never helps me learn anything)? Plus, any tips on learning a way to apply them to more strings? I'm currently on a four-string Ged, but I have a Dean Edge sixer fretless in the mail.

[Depth_Charge]

My teacher gave me an exercise to kill a few birds with one stone, including the bird you're asking after.

Turn on your metronome to a decent tempo (I started at 60bpm)
Using the 1-3-2-4 finger pattern (fretting hand), play each note on the E string, then the octave of it on the D string (2 frets across, so open E's octave is 2nd fret D string).

Say the note each time you play it. Go up, then down the fretboard...same fingering (so 4-2-3-1 going down). Except on the way down, call them by their flats instead.

Doing this to the metronome improves timing, rythm, fretboard memorisation and left hand fingering.

And whenever doing anything for practice, choose stuff you can't do well. I spent 10 years doing all the stuff I could and since having lessons I realise I just wasted the time. I am much better after one lesson and 3 weeks of challenging myself than I ever was on my own doing the easy stuff poorly!

Good luck.