Fretboard Memorization

[Guitarzan]

I was fretting http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/clown.gif about learning all the notes on the fretboard until I came to a realization.

In Lesson 2 Stone gave us an assignment to memorize the location of all the C's below and above the 12th fret (8-3-10-5-1-8 below). That info coupled with an understanding of the chromatic scale and I realized by learning one note I actually knew 3 (B C C#).

Unless I'm missing something, if I memorize the locations of C, D#/Eb, F#/Gb and A, I'll have the whole fretboard!!!!!
B C C#/Db (C=8-3-10-5-1-8)
D D#/Eb E (D#=11-6-1-8-4-11)
F F#/Gb G (F#=2-9-4-11-7-2)
G# A A#/Bb (A=5-0-7-2-10-5)

Ain't this boogie a mess!

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[MrSamson]

I have found that soloing in different keys has REALLY helped me the most when trying to learn the different notes...especially when I attain resolution....

This is very unusual for me....because I am usually a systematic person....so one would think that I would have a "system" for memorizing the fretboard...but I do not...

Another thing I do...and I will mention this whenever (not really any time soon, unfortunately) I write up the "Make your fingers bleed lesson"...but when I "systematically" practice right-hand hammer-on techniques...I say to myself what I am actually playing....

So...for example...when I tap the following triad...

(3rd string-G)
(frets) 4-8-11

I am tapping a B maj...so...getting two birds with one stone...I practice tapping...and my brain learns where the B note is on the G string below the 12th fret....

I tried flashcards...but that really did not work for me...

Any other ideas out there?

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[StoneDragon]

Then Fido said.... this is the dog talkin'

When you are actually playing, you won't really have time to be worrying about what note you are hitting. But knowing where the notes are located all over the fingerboard is one of the tools that will help you to see how scales and patterns lay out across the fingerboard in a holistic way instead of only seeing one pattern at a time.

Associating notes with other notes... or using the fret dots as markers... or seeing octaves etc... are all good ways to help you get those notes mapped out in your mind and under your fingers. After a while, you will not really need to rely on gimmicks anymore and you will start seeing each note by itself. Until then... use whatever helps.

What Samson suggests is one of my own "secrets". If I need to work on picking exercises (for example) I use a scale... that way I'm not only working my right hand, but I'm working my knowledge of the fingerboard and training my ear to hear the scale too.

When I was first learning the major scale... I would physically practice the pattern until it was flowing smoothly, and then I would go take a walk and while I was walking, I would visualize the pattern that I had worked and verbally name each note to myself by what string and what fret it was on. I was able to "kill two birds" by learning the pattern and learning the notes. My focus was really on learning the pattern... but when I got home and played the pattern again, I found that some of those notes that I had been naming in my mind were now sitting on the guitar, plain as day.