Do you know the note names on the fretboard?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HangDawg
  • Start date Start date

Do you know the note names on the fretboard?

  • I know all of them instantly

    Votes: 90 19.3%

  • It takes 1-2 seconds

    Votes: 195 41.8%

  • I only know the open strings and the most common.

    Votes: 47 10.1%

  • More than 1-2 seconds. I use a known note and go from there.

    Votes: 104 22.3%

  • What are notes?

    Votes: 27 5.8%

  • What's a fretboard?

    Votes: 2 0.4%

  • Who are you calling a broad?

    Votes: 2 0.4%
  • Total voters
    467
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
If people would learn/ memorize the 60 chord system, they would be well on their way to learning the fretboard. Its simply a matter of desire to be a good musician.Of course, untill you learn the names of the notes at each fret of each string ...well, I submit you'll be stuck in "rote"/pattern land for the rest of your life.
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ya' know ........ I don't really totally disagree with you.
Obviously you'll be a better player if you know more.
But I know the names ...... I majored in composition .... but truth be told, I just don't think about it much. Often if you were to come up and ask me what key I'm in I'll have to stop and think for a second.
To some extent I think theory is something that, once you've really assimilated it, it kinda goes on in your subconscious and it doesn't really factor into my thinking much while actually playing.
 
Lt. Bob said:
ya' know ........ I don't really totally disagree with you.
Obviously you'll be a better player if you know more.
But I know the names ...... I majored in composition .... but truth be told, I just don't think about it much. Often if you were to come up and ask me what key I'm in I'll have to stop and think for a second.
To some extent I think theory is something that, once you've really assimilated it, it kinda goes on in your subconscious and it doesn't really factor into my thinking much while actually playing.
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Ditto, I've had to study a shit load of music theory and I agree totally.

It's kind of the same as me in the workshop and the stuff I know about musical acoustics and material science. It's important but only as an aid to creative process. The moment it becomes dogma is the moment you are just going through the motions. There are plenty of highly skilled craftsman that don't know jack about it. There have been for centuries and will be into the future.
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
Of course, untill you learn the names of the notes at each fret of each string ...well, I submit you'll be stuck in "rote"/pattern land for the rest of your life.
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But there are endless patterns that exist all over the fretboard so whatever key you happen to be in, it's not necessary to know the particular name of the note that you're playing at that precise moment. That's one of the keystones for many improvisers. On the other hand if you think of each note as you play it, fine. It's no big deal either way. Besides which, not thinking as you play does not at all mean that you don't know the names of each note on the fretboard.

And what about when one is using a capo ? :D
 
Know em instantly! No other way to go besides this. It's one of the simplest things to know on the guitar! Also vital to improvistaion, scales, modes, etc.

It doesn't hurt that I play lead in the praise band...need to know em all because of some of the secondary keys that these songs use. (non- G, C, D, E keys)
 
I play them I don't have to read them. All the strings names sure (easier than asking for a specific guage to say "I need an a# medium"), and the dots for my own transposition between strings, mostly, but sharps and flats and all that is just one way of referring to them, an outdated and arbitrary system. If I am explaining something to another guitarist, I'm not going to say "an A#" because there are lots of A#s, I'll say "1st string, 6th fret". It's more descriptive.
 
I'm not going to say "an A#" because there are lots of A#s, I'll say "1st string, 6th fret"
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hmmmm, well how ya gonna tell him how to play an F#13+5-9?:rolleyes:
 
I'll tell him "it sounds like this", and maybe tack on a bit about how math nerds miss the point and I never got any response when I sent my demo to play for an algebra class.
 
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I'll tell him "it sounds like this
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:rolleyes: Unbelievable. Ask him how long it took him to figure out where to put his fingers.


and maybe tack on a bit about how math nerds miss the point
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Thats's why you couldn't get a clue if you were dipped in clue musk and paraded around in a field of clues doing a clue mating dance.
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
hmmmm, well how ya gonna tell him how to play an F#13+5-9?:rolleyes:
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If you told me to play an F#13+5-9 my response would most likely be fuck off off you anal dickwad I'll play what I fucking well want to.

Knowing that shit does not make you a better player, I know because I know that shit. Telling people to play it makes you a dickwad though.
 
If you told me to play an F#13+5-9
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:confused:1. It wasn't about telling anyone to play anything dumbass. 2. That's why you don't have a clue. It was telling someone HOW to find it...dumbass.

my response would most likely be fuck off off you anal dickwad
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:rolleyes:The only thing anal is that thing between your ears, and it's covered in shit.

Knowing that shit does not make you a better player, I know because I know that shit.
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:laughings:

Telling people to play it makes you a dickwad though.
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Refer to #1.....dumbass.
 
you got a droid? iphone? **********? there are MULTIPLE apps that have every note, chord, and scale there is. did i mention free?
 
When I started playing Bass - I bought a Mel Bay Book - it had the fretboard layed out with all the notations.
I learned that sucker inside out - thinking that if i didn't know the scales yet - i'd at least be able to pick out the key and come up with something "like" a scale. - I never did learn to read very well - but learning my fretboard has come in handy every time i pick up my Bass.
 
Only 7 notes. Sharps or flats are just relatives.
Fretboards, be they 21, 24, or 64 frets, are just sets of 12. Same notes 0-11 as 12-24.
'G' is 'G' at 3, 10, 12, 15, etc. Same with all the others.
Learning will help, but it may not make you better. Not learning, that won't do anything.
:cool:
 
msb3671 said:
Learning will help, but it may not make you better. Not learning, that won't do anything.
:cool:
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* DING * DING * DING * DING!
We have a winner!


Captain Ego said:
I'll say "1st string, 6th fret". It's more descriptive.
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What about when you need to communicate with someone other than a guitar player?

At some point it's a limitation. Maybe not now but if you keep playing there will be a time when it would be useful to be able to speak in at least basic terms.
 
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