what helped me was just knowing how the letters worked... E F F# G G# A A# B C D# E of course, the #s can be flats of the higher letter... but thats besides the point. so on the bottom E string... open is E so the first fret is F then you just keep counting down each fret. 2 is F# 3 is G and so on... after a while of doing that, i just started to remember where each one was.

- Learn all the notes on the Big E (6th String) first. EF-G-A-BC-D-E (This should be memorized and recognized without thought)

- Next learn the notes on the D (4th string). Tip: if you know the notes on the big E then all you have to move up two frets on the 4th string and you are at the same note. So 6th string 5th fret is "A" then 4th string 7th fret is also "A".

- Next learn the notes on the B (2nd string). You will know these notes by moving 3 frets over from the same fret on the 4th string. So 4th string 5th fret is a "G" then so is 2nd string 8th fret.

- The 1st is identical to the 6th string. So no additional learning there.

- Now learn the notes of the A (5th String). D-EF-G-A-BC-D (This also should be memorized and recognized without thought)

- Now learn the notes of the G (3rd String). you will nkow these notes by moving 2 frets over from the same fret on the 5th string. So 5th string 5th fret is a D then so is 3rd string 7th fret.

This is how I learned the fretboard. It looks difficult when written out but it's easy to find notes based on strings 5 & 6.
To simplify, Matching notes are two strings and two frets away except for the B string wich is two strings and three frets away.

Learn to recognize your notes while holding your guitar and looking at the actual fretboard... not by reading a chart on the computer screen. It makes a difference.

awsome. cheers both of ya. any reason why you missed out the strings richochet? or is that just cos its easier to learn it with the octaves two frets higher?

at this point in my life, i don't really care much for music theory. i just let my ears and fingers do the walking......

Norway,,

I just found it easy to remember that way. I guess the only draw back is that I still don't immediately recognize every note on the fretboard instantly. Strings 5&6 I just know but the others I spend maby a second or two figuring out the note based on what I explained.

I'm sure I could learn the fretboard more thoroughly but I havn't experienced the need to recall notes any faster than I currently do so I'll be content to spend my time making more music than memorizing the fretboard any further.

well ive spent a happy few years content with playing with out knowing too much of what im playing but its got to the point where my solos are boring and im using the same old licks so i figured id learn the fretboard and learn some more scales.

One other thing I like to do is make a chart of every possible note on the fretboard for a given key. Then I look for patterns among those notes that I can jump around to when soloing. This keeps me inventing new stuff rather than playing the same little chunks over and over (but I still play them over and over anyway). It's cool when you begin to see paterns in the chart and transfer that to the fretboard then hear it come alive when you iprovise within those patterns over a backing track for that key.

I hope you understand what I'm saying because I just read what I wrote and I have no Idea what I'm talking about. I'm sure someone will come along and post right behind me to tell me how rediculous this all sounds.

I learned them from standard notation... =D I used to play piano when I was a kid.
Download an image with the fretboard complete, an learn form there.

Check out the "Education" area of this site (link at top of page).
Click to sort them by popularity. My tips on this subject should then be right on top of the list.

Also, before you sort them there is a lesson for chords on top of the list, in which I show some charts I find useful.