Resource for learning notes.

[KenD]

This exercise can be helpful:



Rufus Philpot has a few also:

https://www.youtube.com/@rufusbass

It's drudgery and it takes time and repetition but once ingrained it does stick.

 

[HolmeBass]

Don’t look at a diagram representing the fingerboard that has all of the note names on it and try to memorize that. That does sound boring and counterproductive.

Just figure out the note names using reason and inference from a relatively small rule set.

You need to learn the rule about notes: there is a whole step (two frets) between each letter note, EXCEPT for between B and C and between E and F - those cases are separated by only a 1/2 step (one fret).

When naming notes not in relation to a key, accidentals’ names encompass both possible notes, e.g. the note between A and B is called A#/Bb.

A couple of other rules complete the picture:

The open strings on a standard 4-string, from lowest to highest pitch, are: E, A, D, G

The 5th fret note is the same as the next higher pitched open string

The 7th fret note is an octave higher than the next lowest pitched open string.

Know what the octave shape on the fingerboard looks like, and that all notes an octave apart have the same name.

With those rules you can determine, via reason, the name of any note on the fingerboard.

Just do that for a few months and you will *know* the fingerboard, but also if you forget you can figure it out in a matter of seconds.

For example, 9th fret, D string: that is an octave above the 7th fret on the E string, which is itself an octave above the next lower open string. If you have a 4-string it doesn’t exist, but use your imagination and knowledge you know it would be a B string, like a traditionally pitched 5-string bass.

OR your could notice the 7th fret E string is a whole step above the 5th fret E string, which we know is an A note ( the next higher open string is A). A whole step up from A (check A is not B or E…) is the note B.

OR brute force it up the length of the E string E - next note is F, only 1 fret up; then 2 frets to G (3rd fret), another 2 frets to A (5th fret), and a final two frets to B (7th fret, E string).

 

[matt holt]

It sounds like you have a great ear, which is the most important thing. It also sounds like (and I say this in complete seriousness) you might have some form of ADHD (it takes one to know one) and if you have not already, I would encourage to look into some of the methods that have helped others cope with it.

As per the particular question at hand, perhaps reverse engineer it; take a Simple Song you already know, and try to write down the names of all the notes.

I agree with one of the earlier posters that it will probably help to just set a goal of 5 or so minutes a day. Even if you just name one note a day, if you keep that up, I think you will be surprised by your progress in a month or so. As others have stated, it's less about Brute Force memorization and more about understanding the logic of how notes are named, and applying that to the fingerboard. As someone who has taught base lessons for 20 years, if you're going to go with a book, I would go with Ed freeland's complete bass method.

 

[InhumanResource]

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!!

There are play alongs on YouTube you could use too, they show a chord chart for you to follow along. This is a good intermediate step between where you are now and full blown reading from staff. Plus you can get as adventurous as you want in improvising based on your comfort level.

 

[P. Aaron]

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.

A guitar teacher many years ago taught me this: Cmaj7 scale and its notes: (Root: A-string, 3rd fret) C, D, E , F, G, A, B, C. Just the box scales. He then instructed us to learn it at 7 other places on the neck. Within a few weeks, I knew where the notes were on the fret board. Not just the C scale notes but, every other note. Then, do the same for Em and Am. Just keep it simple and basic and soon enough, you'll know stuff.

Enjoy this. Don't consider it work or you'll fight yourself learning it.

 

[hieronymous]

My experience was very similar - self-taught beginning in about 1984 - took a few years off between 1995-2002 or so. I know the first 5 frets really well, but I realized that my awareness above the 5th fret was severely lacking.

One thing I did was play those notes I do know, then find that note everywhere else (in various octaves). Another thing was just to play songs that I know, but force myself to think about the notes rather than rely on my intuitive knowledge. That area between the 9th & 12th frets is still a little vague, but I am much better than a few years ago! Good luck and have fun!

 

[oomo]

The way I learned was a bit slow and methodical, but really clicked, and helped me learn the cycle of 4ths/5ths too, I forget where I picked it up though:

1. Write/print the notes from the circle of 4ths out (C, F, Bb, Eb, etc.)
2. Set a metronome at some super slow speed (like 40-60 BPM)
3. Go through each note, and find it on the E string on each click

Spend a few days on just the E string (a few mins each day), slowly increasing the metronome speed when you find yourself finding the note with time to spare.

Then repeat with the other strings.

The repeat with the cycle of 5ths to help learn the positions of sharp notes (cycle of 4ths should have taken care of flats).

Then repeat, but instead of one string, find the closest note on pairs of strings, then eventually all 4.

When you're up to all 4 strings, then limit yourself to an area of the fretboard. E.g. find the next note within the first 5 frets. Then 5th to 10th, 12th to 15th etc.

As a bonus, it helps learn the cycle of 4ths and 5ths really well.

 

[bassliner50]

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!

Ditch the metronome for practice? But why? I have found it to be a valuable tool.

 

[Slevage]

I am also in the belief that learning to read standard notation while playing the instrument is the most effective way to accomplish your goal.

My teacher in the early 70’s used Carol Kaye’s method books over Mel Bay.
My next gig is playing in the pit for a 90 member community chorus.
That gig would be impossible to do without reading standard notation.
My reading gets better the more I do it, although the process began over 50 years ago.

 

[SteveCS]

Ditch the metronome for practice? But why? I have found it to be a valuable tool.

When learning to read it is better IMHO/IME to play dry and 'correctly' (the right notes in the right order and with the right fingering) without the added pressure of sticking to a click. Practicing 'out of time' allows you to read and play at an appropriate pace, slowing down, pausing and/or going back as necessary. This is no different to how pre-school kids learn to read - one word at a time, slowing down or stopping to 'sound out' unfamiliar or new words by phonic or letter (phrases and notes), then going back. Eventually they lose the monotone and start adding expression, articulation and cadence when reading aloud. It is the same when learning to read music - the metronome creates relentless and unnecessary pressure to keep cadence. This pressure overwhelms the learning process and leads to mistakes in reading. Practice those mistakes too often and they become embedded. Expression, articulation, presentation and performance 'in time' can be added later once the music is 'learned'. It is perhaps a controversial view which is not shared by all, but there it is. YMMV.

 

[Low End Scum]

I would use quizzes like this during downtime in school or boring unnecessary "could've been an email" meetings. Fretboard Note Identification

Then printing out different scales and modes from studybass (Fretboard Generator & Printer | Tools | StudyBass)

 

[Drop1]

I would use quizzes like this during downtime in school or boring unnecessary "could've been an email" meetings. Fretboard Note Identification

Then printing out different scales and modes from studybass (Fretboard Generator & Printer | Tools | StudyBass)

Im.doing a bunch of different things. Playing thro

It sounds like you have a great ear, which is the most important thing. It also sounds like (and I say this in complete seriousness) you might have some form of ADHD (it takes one to know one) and if you have not already, I would encourage to look into some of the methods that have helped others cope with it.

As per the particular question at hand, perhaps reverse engineer it; take a Simple Song you already know, and try to write down the names of all the notes.

I agree with one of the earlier posters that it will probably help to just set a goal of 5 or so minutes a day. Even if you just name one note a day, if you keep that up, I think you will be surprised by your progress in a month or so. As others have stated, it's less about Brute Force memorization and more about understanding the logic of how notes are named, and applying that to the fingerboard. As someone who has taught base lessons for 20 years, if you're going to go with a book, I would go with Ed freeland's complete bass method.

I have add tendencies but not diagnosable add.
I just learned everything so backwards. I didn't learn basic shapes and scales until after I had been playing about 10 years. (The birth of Google) lol.
Now im.having to go back to what should have been the very beginning and it just feels so slow.
I need it though. I'm wanting to moving into writing more and away from covers. If I had stayed in cover bands I wouldn't even be thinking about this.

 

[Low End Scum]

I just learned everything so backwards. I didn't learn basic shapes and scales until after I had been playing about 10 years. (The birth of Google) lol.
Now im.having to go back to what should have been the very beginning and it just feels so slow.
I need it though. I'm wanting to moving into writing more and away from covers. If I had stayed in cover bands I wouldn't even be thinking about this.

I understand that, I did that too. Started on bass 13ish years ago. I learned covers using TAB and then just worked originals with musicians that ignored the handicap of me starting to find shapes but not knowing the notes or names of anything. Just keep at it.

 

[bassliner50]

When learning to read it is better IMHO/IME to play dry and 'correctly' (the right notes in the right order and with the right fingering) without the added pressure of sticking to a click. Practicing 'out of time' allows you to read and play at an appropriate pace, slowing down, pausing and/or going back as necessary. This is no different to how pre-school kids learn to read - one word at a time, slowing down or stopping to 'sound out' unfamiliar or new words by phonic or letter (phrases and notes), then going back. Eventually they lose the monotone and start adding expression, articulation and cadence when reading aloud. It is the same when learning to read music - the metronome creates relentless and unnecessary pressure to keep cadence. This pressure overwhelms the learning process and leads to mistakes in reading. Practice those mistakes too often and they become embedded. Expression, articulation, presentation and performance 'in time' can be added later once the music is 'learned'. It is perhaps a controversial view which is not shared by all, but there it is. YMMV.

Thank you for your explanation. IMHO the metronome can be slowed painfully slow even at a speed that music notation can be mentally processed helping to define measures and rhythmic subdivisions as they go by. I guess the best advice is "whatever can get you there" is the best approach.

 

[Drop1]

I am also in the belief that learning to read standard notation while playing the instrument is the most effective way to accomplish your goal.

My teacher in the early 70’s used Carol Kaye’s method books over Mel Bay.
My next gig is playing in the pit for a 90 member community chorus.
That gig would be impossible to do without reading standard notation.
My reading gets better the more I do it, although the process began over 50 years ago.

I had the opportunity to join the schools band program as early as middle school but didn't because I thought it was dorky. Not even a couple years out of school I was already regretting that.
Imo learning music is like learning a different language. It's much easier when you are young.
Now I'd kill to be able to read sheet music fluetly.
I didn't realize what I was passing up and nobody really told me anything. My parents were not musical people unfortunately.

 

[Drop1]

I just wanted to update this thread with what I find is working for me.

I've been taking the basic triad shapes and inversions (I somehow knew these already) and mentally calling out the notes as I play through the triad. Then I'll move through the notes of the traid to hammer it home.

So if I play the A traid , which is A, c sharp, E, I then play the c sharp triad, then the e, calling out all notes.
By starting with the other notes of the triad, this forces my fretting hand to move to the new note as a starting point which is super helpful. Using triads for to learn note placement is also beneficial for 2 reasons. They are more fun to play than 1 fret 1 note and using triads helps a lot moving aound the neck.
Ive been playing for a very long time now but learning these simple things is already making me a better, more creative player (which is why I'm finally forcing myself to actually learn where rhe noted are on the fretboard lol).

Im quite excited about this. I've spent most of the last 3 decades playing covers and have always wanted to get more into song writing. A couple days of running triads using different shapes has already led to the foundation for 4 new songs being created and learning a bunch of new fills. It's only been a couple days. I still can't jump to any note called at me, but I'll get there. That was one thing I could never do. I couldn't play in jam bands due to having to hear the notes played before I could join in. This stopped me from coming in on the 1.
I wish someone would have forced me to learn the notes a long time ago instead of just churning out covers.

 

[slagheap]

My reading ( notation ) skills are rudimentary but good enough - I learned everything from Dr. licks' Jamerson book. Listen to the tracks and then figure them out with the provided notation.

 

[thehindteet]

An exercise given to me a long time ago that helped tremendously at getting a mental model of the fretboard goes like this:

This is less tedious if you have some kind of play-along thing like iRealB that can make a background accompaniment for you. I probably have mp3s of it somewhere.

Starting with C major, we are going to play the scale ascending and descending. You're going to use the generic scale shape that starts with the second finger, but for the time being you are limited to starting and ending on the E string. So find C on the E string, put finger 2 there, and play the scale up and down.

Next you're going to move counter-clockwise on the cycle of fifths one position, F major. You're going to pick one of the Fs on the E string, move finger 2 there, play up and down the scale.

Repeat this process until you get back to C major again. The only other rule is that you don't start on an open string, so when you get to E you're going to play it at the twelfth fret.

Once you're through the cycle, do the same thing but starting on the A string. The do the same on the D string, but you'll be leading with your pinky and descend rather than ascend first. And so on for the G string.

Then do the same thing for the minor scale in all 12 keys, if you get bored of scales play the major and minor arpeggios, etc. It's important to do it with a metronome; the goal here is that, while you are playing a given scale, you need to think about what the next key in the cycle is and where it lays on the string. You can start by giving yourself 4 bars to go up and down, then as you get faster, do it double time in 2 bars. I think its probably ideal to start at a tempo where you are screwing up pretty often, and then increase the tempo pretty aggressively so that you are screwing up again, since the training is most effective when you are operating at your limit.

Its also best to have the backing chords, so that when you miss a shift, you want to force yourself to catch up to the train as it visits each key, rather than to pause and think about what to do since the goal is to train yourself to find these positions without having to think about it.

In practice, you will wind up spending a lot of time between the fifth and twelfth frets, which is sort of a no-man's land for a lot of players. Playing above the twelfth fret is comparatively trivial since its just a mirror of the bottom position.

Anyway hope that helps, I've used it with pretty much every student I've ever worked with and always found it to be effective. Plus if you haven't memorized the cycle of fifths you get that for free with this exercise.

 

[Drop1]

An exercise given to me a long time ago that helped tremendously at getting a mental model of the fretboard goes like this:

This is less tedious if you have some kind of play-along thing like iRealB that can make a background accompaniment for you. I probably have mp3s of it somewhere.

Starting with C major, we are going to play the scale ascending and descending. You're going to use the generic scale shape that starts with the second finger, but for the time being you are limited to starting and ending on the E string. So find C on the E string, put finger 2 there, and play the scale up and down.

Next you're going to move counter-clockwise on the cycle of fifths one position, F major. You're going to pick one of the Fs on the E string, move finger 2 there, play up and down the scale.

Repeat this process until you get back to C major again. The only other rule is that you don't start on an open string, so when you get to E you're going to play it at the twelfth fret.

Once you're through the cycle, do the same thing but starting on the A string. The do the same on the D string, but you'll be leading with your pinky and descend rather than ascend first. And so on for the G string.

Then do the same thing for the minor scale in all 12 keys, if you get bored of scales play the major and minor arpeggios, etc. It's important to do it with a metronome; the goal here is that, while you are playing a given scale, you need to think about what the next key in the cycle is and where it lays on the string. You can start by giving yourself 4 bars to go up and down, then as you get faster, do it double time in 2 bars. I think its probably ideal to start at a tempo where you are screwing up pretty often, and then increase the tempo pretty aggressively so that you are screwing up again, since the training is most effective when you are operating at your limit.

Its also best to have the backing chords, so that when you miss a shift, you want to force yourself to catch up to the train as it visits each key, rather than to pause and think about what to do since the goal is to train yourself to find these positions without having to think about it.

In practice, you will wind up spending a lot of time between the fifth and twelfth frets, which is sort of a no-man's land for a lot of players. Playing above the twelfth fret is comparatively trivial since its just a mirror of the bottom position.

Anyway hope that helps, I've used it with pretty much every student I've ever worked with and always found it to be effective. Plus if you haven't memorized the cycle of fifths you get that for free with this exercise.

I've ordered a poster with the fret board and notes, but it also has the circle of 5ths off to the side and something else. I don't remember what the tier chart is. I figured I can hang this in my practice area and easily see not only where the notes are but also the circle at a quick glance. Should be useful. If nothing else, referencing the chart should burn the image into my head over time.

 

[thehindteet]

I've ordered a poster with the fret board and notes, but it also has the circle of 5ths off to the side and something else. I don't remember what the tier chart is. I figured I can hang this in my practice area and easily see not only where the notes are but also the circle at a quick glance. Should be useful. If nothing else, referencing the chart should burn the image into my head over time.

My advice would be to memorize it as soon as you can. It's one of those things like North/South/East/West that comes up over and over again in harmony, and although the diagrams usually have a bunch of related stuff, like the major and minor key signatures for each key, if you start just memorizing the first bit, "C,F,Bb,Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,B,E,A,D,G", it'll take you a long way since that sequence of notes pops up all over the place!