Hey Friend,

Now that you have a set of patterns that can help you locate the key notes on the fingerboard, you can easily find any other note in a melody (or scale) simply by being aware of your position on the neck.

You know there’s an E note at the open position of the sixth and first strings, but you’ve also got E on the seventh fret of the A string, the second fret of the D string, the ninth fret of G (the third string) and the fifth fret of B (the second string).

    e |———————————12|

    B |————5———————|

    G |————————9———|

    D |—2——————————|

    A |——————7—————|

    E |———————————12|

But where are the F notes? What about the C notes? 

F is easy, as it is only one fret (a semitone) above E. C isn’t too bad either, as it’s four semitones below E.

Awareness is the key here.

It’s really easy to get tunnel vision when you practice. You can get so focused on the exercise that completing becomes the goal, rather than using it as a way to explore and internalize the sounds.

Don’t get me wrong - working through an exercise with the goal of completing it as perfectly as possible has merit, but also keep in mind that this can get boring pretty quickly.

Once you can get through playing an exercise, don’t be afraid to expand out a bit for other inspirations. 

For example, you see the E notes shown above. Now play all the F notes on the fingerboard. The play the G notes. Make it a game to ‘find' the notes on the neck. Then try playing a major scale from each position on the fingerboard.

There are all sorts of exercises you can create on the fly to help you learn and memorize the guitar neck. Just have fun with it!

Coming up, I’ll give you some new patterns to try out so you can play these scale notes anywhere.

Y’all have a good one!

Peace~

Dave