Notes on the fretboard, cheaters?

[Muaguana]

Originally Posted by Tommygunn

I left out the sharps and flats and just said whole step to simplify it.

Ignoring accidentals, even in a casual sense, is a very bad habit to get into.

How do you think cellists learn their fretboard? They don't have lines, markers, dots, nothing. It's just a matter of practice and getting the sounds ingrained in your brain enough to commit it all to muscle memory - something I'm still working on, but I found it much less distracting to let it "soak in" naturally through practical application than staring at my fretboard any more than I already do.

[Soverntear]

I've found just going through all the notes one at a time across the whole bass works. start with every E then F then F# etc etc. I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and its REALLY helping. it also helps to draw a little bass fretboard digram and tape it up to the wall in your practice area

[MalcolmAmos]

I'm a firm believer in charts, patterns, graphs because I'm a visual learner. If you want to paste something on your bass, just make sure you can take it off when you no longer need it. Those that are not visual learners put little faith in this method. Take your choice.

The following deals with what are we looking for on our fretboard, i.e. notes or intervals.

Finding sheet music for the music I play, pop, rock and country is very easy if I use a fake chord or lead sheet format, however, finding sheet music for those styles - with the bass clef shown is hard to come by. http://www.wikifonia.org/node/6450 So I rely upon the chord name as shown on those fake chord and lead sheets and make my own bass lines from that. I use the major scale "box" as a visual aid and then relate the box to the chord tones.

Be aware - this takes you down a road governed by interval numbers i.e. R-3-5-b7 and note names become secondary. As you will not be playing by rote - theory will enter the picture, i.e. you will be given the name of a chord and you have to know what notes are in that chord. http://www.smithfowler.org/music/Chord_Formulas.htm Yes we have to know our fretboard, however, we first have to identify what we are looking for, i.e. notes or intervals. Reading standard notation you need to find the note, reading fake chord or lead sheet music you need to find the intervals that make up the chord or scale you will be playing. If that did not sink in read it again.

Back to the "box".
Major scale box with note names shown
G-|----|--A-|----|--B-|--C-|----|----|
D-|----|--E-|----|-F#-|--G-|----|----|
A-|----|--B-|--C-|----|--D-|----|----|
E-|----|-----|--G-|----|--A-|----|----|

Major scale box with interval numbers shown
G-|----|--2-|----|--3-|--4-|----|----|
D-|----|--6-|----|--7-|--8-|----|----|
A-|----|--3-|--4-|----|--5-|----|----|
E-|----|-----|-R-|----|--2-|----|----|

Key of G place the root on the E string 3rd fret.
Where is your 2? Two frets up the neck - same string.
Where is your 3? Up a string and back one fret.
Where is your 4? Up a string same fret.
Where is your 5? Up a string and over two frets.
Where is your 6? Up two strings and back one fret, over the 3.
Where is your 7? Up two strings and over one fret.
Where is your 8? Up two strings and over two frets. Right over the 5. Look how R-5-8-5 becomes a piece of cake.

Place the root then those intervals are always in the same spot within the box and the box can be moved all over your fretboard. Yes, you need to put where they are within the box to memory.

Place your Root:
G root at the 4th string 3rd fret and you have G major scale notes waiting on you.
A root at the 4th string 5th fret and you have A major scale notes waiting on you. .
B root at the 4th string 7th fret yep, same thing.
C root at the 4th string 8th fret.
D root at the 4th string 10th fret.

Or use the 3rd string for the root. Move the whole pattern up intact from the 4th string to the 3rd string.
And your intervals are in the same spots relative to the root. Plus the Root is now on the 3rd string, the 4 is right above it on the 2nd string and the 5 is right below it on the 4th string. Is that neat or what. I IV V becomes very easy. You will find that some bass lines work best with the root on the 3rd string and others work best with the root on the 4th string. Sorry too much information.....

Again -- Be aware - this takes you down a road governed by interval numbers i.e. R-3-5-b7 and note names become secondary. Which begs the question; what kind of sheet music do you use. Are you looking for note names or intervals? If notes will you use first position or tonic root/scale location?

As always, have fun.

[omnimutant]

Whatever works. Everyone has their own way of doing things, what works best for them.

It's one thing to memorize where each note falls on the fret board, but the moment you change tunings your S.O.L. It might be better to just know the patterns of progression, and simply know that if said note is a B that two frets up is a C# or that kind of thing... I'm the last person to be giving instructional advice on this sort of thing, but it makes sense to me anyway.

[AMp'D.2play]

Ed Friedland comes through again. Dude can groove using only one note! Given enough time & practice, the fretboard will become 2nd nature to you.

Also, a +1 to the Hal Leonard Bass Method 3-book Complete Edition (again by Ed Friedland).

[ridgeback]

have a look here great place to start
http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord...-note-printer/

[J-B'ass]

If your brain has to work to retrieve the information then you will remember it much better.
It's easier and quicker if a label just tells you where you are, but if you actually figure it out then the knowledge is deeper and more permanent.

[Stumbo]

Downloadable interactive fretboard/note learning file utilizing Microsoft Excel or Open Office spreadsheet For 4 and 5 string basses

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Tommygunn

I know the notes are a, b, c, d, e, f, and g. I know b/c and e/f are a 1/2 step away when the rest are a full step. This knowledge alone is indeed useful but I still find it hard to learn the notes of the fretboard. A while back (08) I was in austin with my brother at his friend's house and he had a squier pbass there that he had put the notes of each string on each fret under the string. A little piece of paper that had the notes he taped to the fretboard.

Whats your feelings on this? Thanks

there are no shortcuts....sit down,work out the chord tones in all the keys,practice them saying each note out loud as you play it,and listen as you practice......two hours a day for six months and you'll know them

[Pottish]

I obsessed over this for a while when I just started learning theory.

Everyone has different style of preffered learning. I like to write things down it helps me remember best. So I'd drew fretboards when I was bored.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before but there's a way I learnt it that made things easy.

Imagine the A string. From Open A to twelve. All the other strings start the same they just start further down the line.

(Can't find my sharp key character so excuse the ^ instead of sharps.)


-------------------E F F^ G G^ A A^ B C C^ D D^ E
A A^ B C C^ D D^ E F F^ G G^ A
--------------D D^ E F F^ G G^ A A^ B C C^ D

(Imagine the top and bottom line as starting on open strings)






This looks wierder in life than in my head I'll grant you lol. But my idea is you just start the A scale(in your head, playing every note) instead of on A but on E or D or G for each string. So if you know the note names, and know where they are on A your just doing A but starting on a different note. Obviously this doesn't work in keys like major or minor just if your playing chromatically using every note.

Took real effort to learn the note names for me, took time and tedious repitition of writing it down. But now I can name them fairly easilly.

Also the rhyme Big Cats Eat Fish helped me remember not having sharps between B-C and E-F

Dunno if I'm helping of just confusing lol.

[jazzmonkey]

It took me forever to get this as well. My key to success was the dots on the neck, the natural vertical sequence of notes and a couple rules of thumb.

For me, the most important thing to realize was the vertical sequence and how it repeats.

E
A
D
G
C
F
A#
D#
G#
C#
F#
B
E
A

One way to think about the sequence is that it is the same sequence, only a half step higher the second time through. This is only to demonstrate how the cycle repeats itself, there is some slight overlap here just for illustration purposes.

B C
E F
A A#
D D#
G G#
C C#
F F#

May seem obscure, but trust me once you know this cycle of notes, you can start at any dot, and know which notes are under you, or above you depending on where you start. Memorize the notes on your low E or your Low B if you play a 5 string and you will just have to remember the sequence to know what else is at that particular fret.

For instance, 3rd fret dot starting at low E is:
G
C
F
A#

5th fret dot is
A
D
G
C
and for 5 string you just add the missing low note from the sequence like this

3rd fret dot
D
G
C
F
A#

5th fret dot
E
A
D
G
C

Rules of thumb:

1. 2x2 rule - whenever you play a note, for instance G, the next octave G is 2 frets up and 2 strings up.

2. 3x3 rule - just like 2x2 only 3 frets DOWN and 3 strings up, and the note is in the same octave.

3. Adjacent notes are always adjacent, sounds silly, but this really helps in remembering notes, if you are playing C, the same fret on the string under you is G and above you is F, this never changes. I guess this is kinda implied by the sequence itself, but sometimes it helps to have things spelled out to realize it.

With these 3 rules it is easy to find where the same note can be found as well as the adjacent notes.

While this focuses on the dots primarily, once you know the relative dot notes, then finding the accidental or non-dot notes is a piece of cake since you only have to move a half step away, typically.

This helped me to remember where the notes are, and once you get to playing a bunch of songs, you will just remember the note locations without even having to think about it, but you will always have the sequence and rules of thumb to fall back on. Ultimately it is about memorization though.

Hope this helps,
JM

DISCLAIMER - I am not saying this is any better a way to learn this than any other, just that this is what helped me to memorize the notes on the neck.

[sheebes]

Buy yourself a cheap keyboard and label the keys. Everything will make sense

[kenfxj]

That's how Paul Simonon of The Clash got started.

"In the beginning Mick was teaching me guitar, but it took me a while because of the extra strings. Bass is a good thing to start off on, and to make things simpler, I put stickers on the fretboard with the notes written in so when Mick would call out a note, I could see where to put my fingers straight away. After a little while, I remembered where E and F were and the stickers went away. It did amuse some people in the early days to see me onstage with the letters on the neck, but I didn’t care, because I was onstage playing. "

[Tommygunn]

Ha see not a bad idea. I got some deal Stumbo sent me linkls to that I'm working with. I see improvement already!

[Already In Use]

Originally Posted by Tommygunn

Ha see not a bad idea. I got some deal Stumbo sent me linkls to that I'm working with. I see improvement already!

+1 on Stumbo!

[lowendfriend]

Originally Posted by Tommygunn

Ha see not a bad idea. I got some deal Stumbo sent me linkls to that I'm working with. I see improvement already!

You really want to work thru the basics on http://www.studybass.com Andrew Pouska has put on one of the best basic guides in learning bass available and it's free.

I also used Workshoplive but found it a bit limited, but also helpful as a beginner....paid subscription, tho.

[DrowninSymphony]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

Downloadable interactive fretboard/note learning file utilizing Microsoft Excel or Open Office spreadsheet For 4 and 5 string basses

Dude, you are awesome. I started trying to teach myself theory a week ago, and this diagrams will help me SO much in finding my way through the fretboard. Also, all the links you have in your other post . Thanks for helping us newbies!!!

[A tempo]

You might also be interested in Ricci Adam's Musictheory website which has an excellent fretboard trainer, among other things.

[Already In Use]

Originally Posted by A tempo

You might also be interested in Ricci Adam's Musictheory website which has an excellent fretboard trainer, among other things.

Sweet site AND fun! Would be perfect if the notes sounded. Thanks.

[StrangerDanger]

I learned the fretboard by playing major scales and calling out the notes as I played them. That also taught me to play by the Nashville Number System.