Resource for learning notes.

[Drop1]

I'm at kind of at a weird interval in my playing. I know most common shapes and scales, but I never bothered learning actual notes.

I started playing before Google was a thing. I can find notes, but I can't jump to many specific notes when someone calls a note, especially above the 6th fret.

I've mostly played in cover bands and the original songs we did play, I wrote the lines for after the guitar rhythm parts when done and recorded. This made it very easy to just take my time alone and pick out the notes I wanted to use.

I learned mostly by listening and picking songs apart. We didn't have interent for my first several years of playing so I learned to play without reading music ir even having tabs.

I'd like to change that, but I'm having the same issues I've always had. Staring at note charts is not a good way for me to learn. It's feels super tedious.
I know the sound of notes and can almost always jump right in when someone else is playing and find the right scale, but I'd really like to know the notes more intimately. Every note perfectly without thinking eventually.

I'd like to be able to put a name to the sound of the notes as I'm, finally after a few decades of playing, trying to dive deeper into theory , but I'm finding that knowing the note names is kinda required.

It's kinda funny I have written and produced hundreds of songs on my computer without ever knowing a single note I was playing on the keyboard, but that is now holding me back.

So I'm looking for some kind of interactive way to learn notes. The teaching resource doesn't need to be free, just good and a better (less boring) than note charts.

I know this is super basic and I can just drill charts until I get it, but I know I'll get bored 5 minutes in and start doodling or ripping into my favorite lines (especially if i hear notes in order from a song while naming notes) lol which gets me nowhere fast.

There has to be a better way.

 

[SteveCS]

...
I'll get bored 5 minutes in
...
There has to be a better way.
...

I'm not sure anything is more effective than learning to sight-read using traditional methods. If you know you will get bored after 5 minutes, make a personal committment of just 5 minutes per day to focus only on reading. No matter how well you actually play, get hold of a grass-roots method book (Chuck Rainey Complete Electric Bass Player, Book 1 or Ed Friedland/Hal Leonard Bass Method, Book 1) and start on page 1. I would wager that after a week or two of meeting that daily 5 minute personal committment you will find yourself doing more than 5 minutes per session, and you might even be enjoying the experience!

Regarding apps and other training aids, I really don't think they come anywhere close to the 'traditional' methods in terms of making it stick and forging a connection between the music, your hands and the instrument. And don't forget to ditch the metronome!

 

[Drop1]

I'm not sure anything is more effective than learning to sight-read using traditional methods. If you know you will get bored after 5 minutes, make a personal committment of just 5 minutes per day to focus only on reading. No matter how well you actually play, get hold of a grass-roots method book (Chuck Rainey Complete Electric Bass Player, Book 1 or Ed Friedland/Hal Leonard Bass Method, Book 1) and start on page 1. I would wager that after a week or two of meeting that daily 5 minute personal committment you will find yourself doing more than 5 minutes per session, and you might even be enjoying the experience!

Regarding apps and other training aids, I really don't think they come anywhere close to the 'traditional' methods in terms of making it stick and forging a connection between the music, your hands and the instrument. And don't forget to ditch the metronome!

If the book is engaging , I will definitely spend more time doing this. I already know what the notes sound like. I can hear a line and if its not crazy busy, play that line right away. I just need to correlate what sounds belong to which note names. I already know what frets make what sound, I just need to get to a point when I can connect the sound with the note name. Then finding them on the board will be very easy.

 

[SteveCS]

If the book is engaging , I will definitely spend more time doing this.
...

Unfortunately it isn't always about being engaging or whatever - you have to apply the self-discipline to engage and trust in the process of study to bring results. Once you start to see results, as it you can open a simple score and play from it (either sight-reading in real-time or slowly and out of time), the motivation feeds itself.

 

[mambo4]

I'm a little unclear what your goal is
learn the names of the notes on the neck?
learn the names of the notes on the page?
learn the names of the notes in your head?

each is a different task

It sounds like the notes on the neck is what your after
I think pac-man's sure fire scale practice method is the best method

Back in the before times what I did was "memorize the dots"
I was able to commit the notes at the fret markers to memory quite quickly
after that it was pretty quick to mentally deduce the "in between" notes
combined with my study of theory ( intervals and scale degrees) at the same time
eventually I stopped needing to think about it at all


I don't think there is an interactive software nor a book that will compel you to overcome your own boredom. As @SteveCS says, you have to apply some discipline and trust in the process.

 

[Drop1]

I'm a little unclear what your goal is
learn the names of the notes on the neck?
learn the names of the notes on the page?
learn the names of the notes in your head?

each is a different task

It sounds like the notes on the neck is what your after
I think pac-man's sure fire scale practice method is the best method

Yes notes on the neck.

But not in the typical sense. I can almost always name the string and what number fret once I hear a note. I need to learn to put note names to the sound. Once I can correlate the name of a note with its sound, finding notes on the fret board will be easy.
This may may be kind of working backwards. I think most people learn what the notes are on the fretboard, THEN, learn the notes sound l, so I'm kinda learning note names in reverse.
I've just been listening to beginners tutorials while driving to and from work. This has helped me a ton already. I hear the tutor say the name of a note then they play it and as soon as I hear the sound, I know exactly where it is on the bass. I don't even need to look at the video.
If you've been playing a good amount of time or done learning by ear, I think you understand. After years and years you just know what frets make what sound. It's almost instinct at this point. I just really want to be able to find a note by name as diving deeper into theory kind of requires it.

 

[SteveCS]

...
I can almost always name the string and what number fret once I hear a note. I need to learn to put note names to the sound.
...

If that is the case all you need is a mental fingerboard map, so that instead of hearing a pitch and thinking "3rd string 3rd fret", you just think "C". How reliably can your mental 'grid' distinguish "3rd string 3rd fret" from "4th string 8th fret"?

 

[Killing Floor]

Play some stock scales and sing the names as you play the notes. Forward and backward in different positions.

You say you can play. I’m not questioning that at all.

You need a mental trick to associate the names of notes to the location of your fingers. Sing them. Go as slow as you need.

Agreeing with @SteveCS and others that learning the language is valuable and irreplaceable. But I get it’s not something everyone wants to do. At a minimum you need to know the notes you play because that’s the expectation of anyone you’d play with.

Sing A, B, C …. know your sharps and flats. Worth it.

 

[Drop1]

If that is the case all you need is a mental fingerboard map, so that instead of hearing a pitch and thinking "3rd string 3rd fret", you just think "C". How reliably can your mental 'grid' distinguish "3rd string 3rd fret" from "4th string 8th fret"?

I can distinguish between notes on different strings very well. they are the same pitch, but they do not have the same overall tone. I use this a lot when producing. Sometimes it's better to play one or the other say, "A" for instance. Some times a fretted a fits better in the mix than an open a or vice versa.
You are exactly right the way you explained it though. I need to stop thinking in frets and start thinking in notes. I guess ill.just drill them till I know them. I was just hoping there was a more fun way to go about it. Some kind of interactive app or something.

 

[mambo4]

I was just hoping there was a more fun way to go about it.

It IS fun
It's all in how you look at it

 

[JRA]

There has to be a better way.

i'll just drill them till I know them.

the fastest, most permanent way! the cool part = there are only 12 of them, and then they repeat!

good luck!

 

[Drop1]

View attachment 5406786

the fastest, most permanent way! the cool part = there are only 12 of them, and then they repeat!

good luck!

The computer tech is there. I don't see a single reason why I can't feel an aux from the amp into the mixing desk. Wait, that just gave me an idea.

I can just pull up a tuner and it will show the note names as I play them. I can then play songs while watching the notes pop up. That will get them into my head better than playing charts!!

 

[JRA]

yeah, try that! good luck!

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Turn on your tuner! Play up and down the fretboard! Bonus points if your tuner has an always on feature and tracks fast. Then you get almost instantaneous note affirmation.

 

[coy garcia]

My unconventional advice would be to jam along to 3 chord blues or country tunes at home. Then do it again and again starting in a different position. For instance if the 1st chord is a C play it A string 3rd fret...2nd time use E string 8th fret. Keep changing it up and eventually you will know where they all are.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

This is a very effective lesson on how to learn notes on electric bass guitar:

 

[Drop1]

Turn on your tuner! Play up and down the fretboard! Bonus points if your tuner has an always on feature and tracks fast. Then you get almost instantaneous note affirmation.

I can just plug into my mixing desk and pull up any software tuner I want. Yay! I use my setup fir backing tracks anyway.

 

[Old gold]

This may not work for you, but before I started to learn to read, I learned patterns. I knew the pattern(s) for major and minor scales. To begin finding notes on the fretboard, I first learned where each C was located. Only four locations below the twelfth fret. Knowing the notes for the C major scale (C D E F G A B C), for example, I then used the pattern(s) to locate the notes other than C. I didn’t need a bass in my hand to do this. Once I had learned the location of the four C notes, I could visualize where the other notes should be. Once I learned where the C notes were located, the location of the D notes were easy. And so on. Knowing intervals helped too. At least it worked for me. The hard part was learning to read, but that opened a lot more music to play.

I don’t having your skill to identify notes by sound. Never have, never will. I envy people who can do that.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm at kind of at a weird interval in my playing. I know most common shapes and scales, but I never bothered learning actual notes.

I started playing before Google was a thing. I can find notes, but I can't jump to many specific notes when someone calls a note, especially above the 6th fret.

I've mostly played in cover bands and the original songs we did play, I wrote the lines for after the guitar rhythm parts when done and recorded. This made it very easy to just take my time alone and pick out the notes I wanted to use.

I learned mostly by listening and picking songs apart. We didn't have interent for my first several years of playing so I learned to play without reading music ir even having tabs.

I'd like to change that, but I'm having the same issues I've always had. Staring at note charts is not a good way for me to learn. It's feels super tedious.
I know the sound of notes and can almost always jump right in when someone else is playing and find the right scale, but I'd really like to know the notes more intimately. Every note perfectly without thinking eventually.

I'd like to be able to put a name to the sound of the notes as I'm, finally after a few decades of playing, trying to dive deeper into theory , but I'm finding that knowing the note names is kinda required.

It's kinda funny I have written and produced hundreds of songs on my computer without ever knowing a single note I was playing on the keyboard, but that is now holding me back.

So I'm looking for some kind of interactive way to learn notes. The teaching resource doesn't need to be free, just good and a better (less boring) than note charts.

I know this is super basic and I can just drill charts until I get it, but I know I'll get bored 5 minutes in and start doodling or ripping into my favorite lines (especially if i hear notes in order from a song while naming notes) lol which gets me nowhere fast.

There has to be a better way.

This might not be of much use, I took two years of music theory which included dictation. Learning the individual notes in each chord in addition helped a lot. As a guitarist, I'm sure you play Chords above the 6th fret. Like a Bb chord or a B or C chord.

Start with a bar chord C position up the fret board. You should know which note is the tonic (C) where the 3rd is (E) and the 5th (G) is. What I've found is that the most important thing is knowing where the tonic is. Work it out from there.

 

[lark_z]

What I picked up from a theory book (Ariane Cap's ?). Set a metronome. Play one note on the E string, then at the next beat, play the same note (or octave up/down) on the A string, then D, then G. Repeat with different notes.