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I got an Android app (Fretboard Trainer IIRC) and just worked with it when I had a few minutes to kill. Got there in the end.
My experience is that there is more joy to be had from knowing this stuff than struggling to think about it every time you try to play. Nobody in their right mind would argue against your point that the joy comes from making music. But this 'buzz-kill' stuff is the enabler that makes the joy come easier, for longer and in greater variety and endless depth.
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Another method.
Does your bass have fingerboard position markers? If so, learn the notes there first.
A lot of basses have position markers at the 3rd, 5th, 7th & 9th frets. Take one string a day and work on it about 5 minutes. For example;
Day 1 -- E String: Open = E, 3rd = G, 5th = A, 7th = B, 9th = C#/Db
Day 2 -- A String: Open = A, 3rd = C, 5th = D, 7th = E, 9th = F#/Gb
Day 3 -- D String: Open = D, 3rd = F, 5th = G, 7th = A, 9th = B
Day 4 -- G String: Open = G, 3rd = A#/Bb, 5th = C, 7th = D, 9th = E
Repeat until you know these notes. Once you have learned the notes above, add the notes on the 1st & 12th fret to this routine and continue until you are comfortable with these. After that, it is just a matter of filling in the holes.
Does your bass have fingerboard position markers? If so, learn the notes there first.
A lot of basses have position markers at the 3rd, 5th, 7th & 9th frets. Take one string a day and work on it about 5 minutes. For example;
Day 1 -- E String: Open = E, 3rd = G, 5th = A, 7th = B, 9th = C#/Db
Day 2 -- A String: Open = A, 3rd = C, 5th = D, 7th = E, 9th = F#/Gb
Day 3 -- D String: Open = D, 3rd = F, 5th = G, 7th = A, 9th = B
Day 4 -- G String: Open = G, 3rd = A#/Bb, 5th = C, 7th = D, 9th = E
Repeat until you know these notes. Once you have learned the notes above, add the notes on the 1st & 12th fret to this routine and continue until you are comfortable with these. After that, it is just a matter of filling in the holes.
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I'm about 95% there with knowing my way around the fretboard - I know where the notes are, but not to the point where's all become automatic yet. For me, learning it has pretty much been what others have said – scales, single-string circle of fourths and lots of repetition – but one random little thing that seemed to help early on was noticing that the notes on the seventh fret spell BEAD. That became a waypoint when I was trying to find something between the fifth and 12th frets.
i started by saying the notes as i played them starting with E. i would play them chromatically up the neck calling each one out as i played one string at a time. then i would start with E and then do the same exercise but once you get to Ab you switch to the A string and so on. then repeat in all of the positions and always call out the notes you are playing
Learning the neighborhood, as @Papageno suggested, is a good metaphor for what is conceptually a mapping exercise. That is, a one-to-one correspondence of location to pitch. For learning the fretboard, there are many good suggestions in the thread, and an approach that includes a little bit of daily study over a period of time will yield good results. I would add that, once you think you have it memorized, continue the study in some way, such as practicing all intervals through the cycle of fourths, or adding extensions to arpeggios.
Evolutionarily speaking, mapping in our brains can be very efficient, particularly when it comes to survival (where to find food and water...). For tasks like learning the fretboard, patience and humor go a long way.
Evolutionarily speaking, mapping in our brains can be very efficient, particularly when it comes to survival (where to find food and water...). For tasks like learning the fretboard, patience and humor go a long way.
The very best way to remember what the note is for every string on every fret is to practice scales, but not by C,D,E,F,G,A,B. Do start with C, or any other note you prefer, and play every C* on the fretboard, the do the same for each note. Do this, of course, it half step increments.
This should be part of your daily practice session. You will need to start slowly and increase speed as you gain confidence.
There are no real alternatives.
*or other preferred starting note
This should be part of your daily practice session. You will need to start slowly and increase speed as you gain confidence.
There are no real alternatives.
*or other preferred starting note
Everybody indeed is different. I have no sense of direction irl and often turn the wrong way on the right street and I don't know the street names either. It's another defect or challenge of mine along with old age, concussions, tinnitus, arthritis, sinusitis, no early musical training, laziness, desire to neck noodle instead of learning stuff I need (like the fretboard!). Some good tips here, thanks. I need to get beyond TAB but I'm grateful for it.
As it is I'm just mentally saying the the TAB fret number (and on which string is always a question) when I could learn the board and mentally see the note instead of the TAB nbr.
But I can find any excuse. I shouldn't be addicted to tiktok blues for hours. And I should not then neck noodle for hours, edit, then post it to tt. Granted, not good enough for many views, but fun.
I've gotten much better just at playing by posting my student lesson videos to tiktok too, so even a tiny online audience experience can help.
Recording jitters, timing close to 60 seconds, multiple takes, editing, lighting, sound etc. So much talent out there these days and usually encouraging to hack elderly student duffers too. Plus TT is ultra easy to use.
Along with pretty good artist matching AI algorithms to find tunes and players you like- though before it learns your likes it's like Jerry Springer or Maury Povich, so hang in there until you find yer blues.
E string. 0, 1, then dots. So 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12
see, once there was an ELEPHANT walking through a field, and he stopped to reach down and pick some FLOWERS. while he was looking at the flowers, he spotted his friend, the GIRAFFE. the giraffe was carrying a nice tasty APPLE it had just picked. as they walked along, they saw the craziest thing. a BANANA sitting next to a CHEETAH PLAYING TIC TAC TOE (#). the cheetah asked if he could play a game with, you guessed it, the ELEPHANT.
E open, 1st fret, 3rd fret, 5th fret, 7th fret, 9th fret, 12th fret
Elephant, Flowers, Giraffe, Apple, Banana, Cheetah #, Elephant
E, F, G, A, B, C#, E
see, once there was an ELEPHANT walking through a field, and he stopped to reach down and pick some FLOWERS. while he was looking at the flowers, he spotted his friend, the GIRAFFE. the giraffe was carrying a nice tasty APPLE it had just picked. as they walked along, they saw the craziest thing. a BANANA sitting next to a CHEETAH PLAYING TIC TAC TOE (#). the cheetah asked if he could play a game with, you guessed it, the ELEPHANT.
E open, 1st fret, 3rd fret, 5th fret, 7th fret, 9th fret, 12th fret
Elephant, Flowers, Giraffe, Apple, Banana, Cheetah #, Elephant
E, F, G, A, B, C#, E
It's really not very hard. There's very little to actually memorize beyond the first root positions, and then you learn that there are octaves to those notes throughout the fretboard at specific positions.
Once you memorize the first root positions you will also notice that the relative fourth for each note is a relationship that stays the same no matter where you are on the fingerboard. So, for example, if you play a G somewhere you will always have a C next to it, and an F next to that. Play a fifth from the G; the D will always be two frets up on that next string (or on the same fret if you play the string behind it), so you always know how to find a D from there. And so on. There's actually very little to memorize; it is a combination of some initial memorization and then observation. If you then play enough it all sticks with you so that you always know where to find the notes you need.
At least this is how I did it, and it wasn't difficult.
That seems way harder than just remembering where they are
If you don't already know where they are, as is the case with OP, then it's impossible to remember. You can't remember what you don't know.
This trick helped me memorize 4 strings in 30 minutes, and they've stuck with me for 20 years.
You can select "Bass Tunings" to exclude guitar-only strings.
Guitar Learning Software | Master Chords, Scales, Fretboard
Guitar Learning Software | Master Chords, Scales, Fretboard
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Scotts bass lessons had a course on fretboard memorization and you could buy a book with all the exercises written out it's really good at 364 pages. The book is called The Fretboard Accelerator complete course book, I dont know if you can buy one without being a member but it's worth a try the book is that good.
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