Memorize the Notes on the Fretboard Using Octaves
Overview
The task of learning every note on the fretboard seems daunting. Many guitar players defer this task out of laziness, but you can't learn the guitar without learning the notes.
Rather than attempting to memorize all notes, a smarter goal is to start by learning methods for figuring out the notes.
Stage 1. Memorize names of open strings and the chromatic scale.
Result: You can figure out any note by starting at the open string and counting up.
Stage 2. Using stage 1 method, memorize the notes on the sixth & fifth strings.
Result: You can figure out how to play most barre chords because their root will usually begin on the 6th or 5th string.
Stage 3. Learn all fingerings for octaves.
Result: Unknown notes can be "moved" to another octave that the player is familiar with, creating a method of quickly retrieving any note's name.
Stage 4. Remove the scaffolding.
Result: When you no longer depend on these methods to recall the names of notes, that means that all notes are memorized.
REMEMBER: the more methods you have available to figure out a note's name, the faster you'll find yourself memorizing all of them.
This lesson deals with the use of octaves to quickly identify the names of notes by comparing those notes to other notes that are already memorized.
Two-Octaves
Octave between low E and high E string
The first octave is familiar: any fret on the low E string will share the same note as the fret on the high E string.
Octaves From the Low E String
The next two octaves are similar. First, the octave above a note on the low E string will be two frets higher and two strings higher. Thus, once the E string is learned, the names of the notes on the fourth string can be easily visualized.
In addition, the same octave can be found on the third string, but three frets lower.
Octaves from the Fifth String
The fifth string octaves look very similar to the sixth-string octave:
The octave from the fifth string to the third string is the same shape as the one found before—two frets higher, two strings higher.
The octave with the 2nd string and the 5th string looks slightly different. Now that we've crossed over into the B string's territory, our intervals have to be made larger by one fret to retain the original value. This is because the B string is "offset" by one fret when compared to the other strings.
Octaves from the Fourth String
The octave from notes on the fourth string looks similar to other octaves we've encountered before, except this time it appears to be one fret larger than usual. That's because we have stepped onto the "B" string and need to adjust up by one fret to compensate for the lost half step.
Octaves from the Third String
This octave is the same octave we've seen on all of the other string pairs, but like the previous one, it is elongated by one half step to compensate for the missing half step going from the G string to the B string. Remember: if your first note is underneath the B string, and your higher note interval steps onto or above the B string, you've "lost" a half step and must adjust by making the interval a half step larger.
Coda
Learning the octaves on the guitar is very important and will give you the first tool you need to learn all of the notes on the guitar.
Key Tasks
- Pick a single note and locate all of its octaves.
- Try using the octaves melodically; play your favorite melody using both octaves together.
- For more fretboard memorization, see the next lesson on fretboard memorization.
