C: Exercise 1 of 4
Memorizing the fretboard
Date posted: 17 November 2023
Purpose
Absorb a mental-mapping of the C-major scale: [i] in groups of 3-notes per-string across the 6-strings, vertically; then [ii] chaining together groupings of those 6-string chunks across the fretboard, horizontally.
Requirements
- Sing/speak every note-name aloud while (or moments before) plucking them †
- Play in-time with a metronome ensuring zero errors ‡
†: this is the ingredient that builds the neurological/brain link, assigning the exact fret a "name" to later remember & visualize it by. It's as challenging to do as it is effective; without this, it renders the exercises and fretboard memorization method fruitless
‡: an analogy is lifting weights, where the tempo you can: (a) speak note-names aloud and (b) play in-time, is the achievable "weight" to bench-press. Pushing the "weight-limit", aka increasing the tempo, determines how firmly the neurological/brain connection of the fret<-->note-name is achieved.
‡: an analogy is lifting weights, where the tempo you can: (a) speak note-names aloud and (b) play in-time, is the achievable "weight" to bench-press. Pushing the "weight-limit", aka increasing the tempo, determines how firmly the neurological/brain connection of the fret<-->note-name is achieved.
Tips
- "Get it off the paper".. practice without having to read the sheet music
- Start with a tempo (bpm), any tempo, no matter how humiliatingly slow, to immediately satisfy the 2 requirements
Estimated time
1 week
Note reference
