10 Steps to Learn the Guitar Fretboard, for Total Beginners

It goes without saying that once you learn the guitar fretboard, life as a guitarist will be easier in every way. Yet, most guitarists never do learn the damn thing. Whether out of laziness or lack of system, and with a heck of a lot of excuses to back them up, they just never get down to the dirty business. But you will learn the guitar fretboard, in and out, won't you? ;-) If you do, you will already be miles ahead of most...

If you were looking for ways to learn the bass guitar fretboard, click here instead.

There is a lot to say about the fretboard. Truly mastering it is no mean feat. But you will never do it if you don't start someplace. So I've compiled the 10 basic steps to learn the guitar fretboard that will change your status from total beginner to beginner-with-a-future in just a few days. Enjoy!

The 10 Steps

1. Stop feeling confused about it. Just do it!

2. Understand that when divided in half, a string produces the same note, but an octave higher.

3. Understand that there are only 12 possible tones on a guitar. They repeat in lower and higher registers, but a C is a C whether high or low.

4. Link tip 2 and tip 3 together: The octave is subdivided into 12 steps. Each is represented on the guitar by a fret. If you keep counting after 12, 13 will be the same as 1, but higher.

5. Understand the "distance" between the strings (the fancy word is intervallic relationship. Each pair of adjacent strings is separated by a perfect fourth, except for the 3rd and 4th strings. If you have problems understanding intervals, go back to that, and come back then ;-)

6. Learn how a major scale is played on any single string. For now it does not matter if it sounds good. Just focus on where the notes are.

7. Say the names of the notes out loud as you play the major scales we've just discussed.

8. Sing everything you play. This will engage your sense of hearing at a far deeper level. It will help you grasp the fretboard from an intuitive point of view.

9. Visualize all of what you have learnt in your mind's eye. Form a clear mental picture of it, and picture yourself going over all the steps. Practice this for 5 minutes a day, until the image is clear and sharp.

10. Move on to the fretboard in depth section of this site (But please don't rush, take things one at a time. Don't move on to the next step until the one you are at is perfectly clear).

Guitar Fretboard in Depth

The whole section outlined as follows is dedicated to learning the guitar fretboard. It is divided into a logical sequence. Follow the articles, one at a time, taking the time to really digest the information. Each leads logically to the next. By really absorbing this, you will have a great starting point that will open up many paths to explore!