Memorize all the Notes of the Guitar Fretboard

Memorizing the fretboard on your guitar is a big task, but as long as you realize it’s going take some time and you’ll need a practice routine and lot’s of dedication. Here is a four step action plan that you can use to get a jump start on memorizing the notes of the guitar fretboard.

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Step 1: The 21 day Note Workout

Studies have shown that if you want something to be come a habit, do it everyday for 21 days, so for 21 days take out pencil and a sheet of guitar fretboard diagram paper write out all of the natural notes of the finger board 3 times. One the first one, leave it as natural notes. One the second diagram write in all the sharps and on the 3rd one, write down all the flats. Physically writing down the notes will do wonders so, stay committed and you will see great results

Step 2:  Octave Pattern Geometry

On another piece of guitar fretboard diagram paper and write out all the octaves of at least 5 different notes. Then take out your guitar and memorize those octave shapes. Use a metronome to really drill in those notes. Afterward, make a study of every other note on the neck in the exact same way. For example, if the first note you choose is “G”, then write down the location of all the “G” notes on your fretboard diagram. Then play all those notes one at a time along with a metronome. This will really help you memorize where every G note is located. Do the same with every all other notes.

Step 3: Timed Fingerboard Note Scans

Pick a note and play that note using a metronome. Taking the G note again, play every single possible G note between the 1st position to the 12th position playing only one note per string. Repeat it over and over until it’s flawless. Do this with every note in the octave. It’s very important to do this with a metronome to help you dial in your accuracy. When you get better, you can speed it up.

Step 4:  Study and Master Music Reading

The last step involves a daily routine and commitment to learning how to read music notation across the entire guitar neck. Not tab, but notes. This may involve some guitar instruction such as private tutors or lessons or a few good books or online programs. If you choose to do this on your own we highly recommend an online course called Guitar Notes Master. Learning to read music and truly memorize the notes on the guitar neck will take time and commitment but will be a great achievement and accomplishment in the long run, pushing you from guitar player to true musician. Learning to read music will give you the ability to memorize and understand all the notes and all the rhythmic concepts as well.

So that is a four step process that you can use to learn all the notes of the guitar fretboard. It does require a good deal of memorization so stay committed. Here are some recommended books for learning notes of the fretboard and for learning to read music notation.

Learn to Play by Ear with this Audio Software

Riff Master Pro

If you’ve been wanting to learn your favorite songs or guitar solos, but are having a hard time, there’s a great software out there that could be the perfect solution.

How many times have to played a complicated solo on your mp3 player to try and learn it. You have to replay it over and over and it takes forever and you’re never sure if you got it quite right. This software called Riff Master Pro will help.

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Before we get into what it does, you should know that this software is available for PC or MAC and will work on your iPhone or iPad.

Riff Master Pro lets you play any audio file, such as an mp3 or wav file, and lets you slow down sections of the song so you can learn exactly how it’s played. It let’s you pick a section of the song that you want to learn and loop it, allowing you to practice it without having to fumble with your CD player or mp3 player. Spend more time focused on your playing.

It has an equalizer which allows you to zero in on a certain frequency. This will help you hear the parts you want to hear, such as the guitar solo, and help hide the parts you don’t want to hear. Plus, you can save the EQ settings.

So, to sum it up, you can loop the solo, slow it down to hear each note, play along with it at your own speed, set the EQ and save those settings, play an entire song at a slower speed so you can play along and gradually work up to real time.

This software will save you a lot of time and let you learn those difficult guitar parts on any song.

Learn more about Riff Master Pro

How to Play by Ear

If you want to learn how to play a song by ear there are a few little tricks you can do to help you figure out the basic chord progression to start off with. To learn the chords to a song start out by listening to the song several times and really concentrate on listening to the guitar parts, and to the bass notes as well. When you’re ready to start learning, have you iPod, or CD player within reach because you will be pausing the song often.

Your first step is to figure out what key the song is in. This can be done by playing a simple pentatonic scale while the song is playing. Play the scale in different keys on the fretboard until you find the one that matches the first chord of the song your listening to. Once you have figured out what key the song is in, you can start figuring out the rest of the chords.

For more experienced guitar players or musicians, the part comes a little easier. Basic music theory tells us that there are certain chords that naturally go together and are commonly played together. For instance, if a song is in the key of G, the chords C and D are likely to be in the mix. With experience you will be able to make an educated guess as to what chord comes next.

Another method, which still involves some guess work and listening carefully, is to pick out the bass notes or root notes of each chord change. Start playing a single base note as the song is playing and when you hit one that matches, then you’ll know what chord you need to play. The bass generally plays the root note of the chords played by the guitar.

Learn the guitar in sections. Most popular songs consist of certain patterns that include an intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge. Learn the song one section at a time and write down the chords as you learn it. It’s a good idea to print out the lyrics to the song and write down the chords making yourself a nice little lead sheet.

Once you learn the chords you can move on to focusing on picking patterns, solos and other intricate parts of a song. Before you know it, you’ll be playing it like a pro.

Learn How to Play Killer Guitar Solos

For those of you who have been playing guitar for a while and have moved passed the beginner level and into something a little more complicated, there are a lot of different online lessons to choose from. You can pick lessons that fit the style of music you want to play be it rock soloing, blues, jazz improvisation or country flat picking, there’s something for everyone.

Buy the Guitar Scale Mastery Course Here!

But one thing every guitarist needs to know, especially if you want to play some killer solos, and that’s scales. Your guitar solos will improve tremendously if you can play scales over the entire fretboard in a fluid, effortless way. If you want to blow them away, then playing scales has to become second nature.

One of the best courses for learning to conquer the scales is called Guitar Scale Mastery. It’s a web based online course that you can log into any time day or night and learn all the scales of the guitar step by step at your own pace. And NO, it’s not going to be a bunch of boring exercises that will put you to sleep.

Sometimes learning scales can be overwhelming. There are so many different types of scales and in different keys it can drive any guitar player crazy. Also, once we learn scales we often don’t know how to put them together and use them in our solos.

The Guitar Scale Mastery course focuses on 5 essential mastery skills; Ears, Eyes, Fingers, Intellect and Application. Training your ears to hear what the notes of the scale should sound like so you can recognize a particular scale just by listening. Eyes teaches you the ability to visualize the scale over the entire fretboard, not just on one group of frets. Fingers; this is your technique or your ability to physically play the scale anywhere on the fretboard. Intellect is you theoretical understanding of the scale. Once you truly understand what the notes are in the scale, scale degrees and where the scale can be used, then you are using your intellect to play. And lastly, is Applications. This is your ability to actually use what you have learned and put it into practical use. This means, where you’re jamming with your friends or your band, and it’s time for your solo, you will kill it with confidence!

Another benefit to the Guitar Scale Mastery course is the fact that it is an online course. There’s no software to download and no books or CD’s to buy. It is a member based site that you will log into and get your lessons. What’s great about this is the fact that, if there are new lessons added, or updates, you have access to those lessons and updates. The course gives you a 3 year membership to the lessons, and if you can’t learn everything you need to know in those 3 years, then, hmmm.

There are a few things that you should already know before you jump into this course. These lessons are for intermediate guitar players. Meaning, you should already know the basics on how to play the guitar. You should already know the basics of how to read tablature as many of the solos are written out in tab. You should have a basic knowledge of scales; know a few scale patterns. Most importantly you should already have the intelligence to know that mastering scales is going to take hard work and practice.

So, if you already play guitar but you want to blast your skill level up ten fold, if you want to be able to play any riff in any key any time, and if you want to be able to play at advanced levels, AND, if you want your friends or your audience to be in awe of your guitar playing, AND if you want to save time and a ton of money on private lessons, then guitarwomen.com highly recommends the Guitar Scale Mastery course. There’s so much more information than we can put on this page, so go find out for yourself and read more about it here.

Best Beginner Guitar Lessons Online

If you’ve finally decided to take that step and learn how to play the guitar then you’ve come to the right place. First of all, congratulations on making that decision.

There are a number of really good online guitar lessons for the beginner and a few lousy ones too. Here’s one that has proven to be very popular and is getting a lot of good reviews.

Jamorama

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Jamorama is arguably the most popular guitar course on the internet today. They’ve been teaching this course online for over 6 years and have provided this course to over 200,000 people. That tells you something. Unlike some online lessons that throw out jumbled bits and pieces, leaving you to figure it out, Jamorama gives you a learning plan. It takes you through the course starting as a beginner, and gradually builds you up to an advance guitar player; step by step; lesson by lesson. If you’ve never picked up a guitar you won’t be frustrated with this method. It shows you everything from day one, in different ways such as video, chord charts, images and audio. Lessons are laid out very clearly and they are easy to understand even for the complete beginner.

Here’s a look at what the video lessons look like. This is only a one of the features you get with this online guitar course.

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This online guitar course if packed filled with high quality audio and video lessons, games, chord progressions and guitar TAB. It includes 250 pages of step-by-step lessons. It’s videos include multiple angles and show you exactly what your right hand and and left hand are supposed to be doing when you play. It also visually shows you a chord chart along with strumming and picking patterns right on the screen as it’s playing. This takes the guess work out of the lesson. You’ll never be asking yourself  “Am I doing that right?” because the video shows you exactly how to do it.

The course gives you some cool bonuses too, such as a metronome which really teaches you to be consistent with your rhythm. This is a must have if you ever plan to play in a band or with other people. It has other bonuses such as an electronic tuner that uses your computer’s microphone, a chord book with chord charts and pictures of every guitar chord imaginable, and two games that will turn you into a true musician.

And the last really cool thing you should know about Jamorama is that you can order it and get access to it immediately! The software will be available for download as soon as you purchase it and it has a very easy installation process. It’s also available for both the PC and the Mac which makes the Apple users happy.

The member support from Jamorama is fast and friendly. They won’t take your money and just leave you to figure things out. Their web site includes a forum where you can exchange questions and answers with other users and get help or tips if you need it.

Jamorama is a great product at an incredible price, great service and will save you a ton of money on traditional guitar lessons. You can get started now and impress your friends in just a few weeks.

Which is best, Private Lessons or Online Lessons?
Some people may argue that private lessons are the best way to learn an instrument, while other say that online or computer based lessons are best. Well, both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. With private lessons you have the opportunity to get one on one instruction and that means your tutor can immediately correct any bad habits that you may be developing. An instructor can teach you proper technique which is so important with any style of music you play. Really, nothing can be the personal attention you recieve with a private music teacher. But, there are some drawbacks to private lessons. First, they can be expensive. A typical lesson will run between $25 to $50 for a half hour lesson. Second, finding a really good teacher can be a challenge and if you are serious about your playing, a good teacher can make all the difference.

An online or computer guitar lesson can give you an advantage over private lessons. First, the price is much more affordable for most people. Most programs will cost less than $100 and contain hundreds of lessons. Many people learn well by watching and listening so video lessons are perfect for people who prefer that learning method. Online lessons also contain music that can be printed allowing you to learn to read music and tabulature. Because both methods provide benefits of different kinds, the best way to learn guitar is by combining the two methods, private lessons and online lessons. But if you can only choose one, select the one that is most convenient for you and matches your learning style. Try online lessons first before committing to a tutor. Or go the other way around. Learn proper technique from a teacher, then speed up your learning with online lessons. Either way you go, the more you play the better you get.

Simply known as Orianthi, she was born in Australia in 1985 and grew up surrounded by music. Her father was a musician and had several guitars laying around the house, so it was only a matter of time before young Orianthi picked one up and learned to play.

Oranthi can be seen playing a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe cutaway which is her favorite acoustic and you’ll also see her playing PRS or Paul Reed Smith electric guitars.

Orianthi has two famous people to thank for her musical career, Carlos Santana and Michael Jackson. When she was 11 years old she saw Santana in her hometown and was so inspired she moved on from the acoustic guitar to shredding on the electric. Nine years later, when Santana came back through town, she was invited to help to a sound check prior to the concert. Carlos was so impressed with her talent that he invited her to play on stage and she ended up playing for 35 minutes which included a solo in front of a home town crowd. That was step one in getting her name and talents out to the masses.

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Her second big break came when she auditioned for Michael Jackson’s “This is It” tour. Out of over 100 guitarists, she was chosen to play with his band and tour the globe. Unfortunately, Jackson’s death put an end to that tour, but it still gave Orianthi the exposure she needed and she is featured in the movie “This is It”. It seems everyone wants to know who that girl is that played in that movie.

Since then, she has had a couple of hits and has played with some big time guitarists and can hold her own with the best of them. For her solo career producers have played on her young attractiveness and decent singing voice and turned her into a typical pop star. One difference is that she’s not stuck just playing rhythm guitar, but she shreds the solos in all her songs on stage. Let’s hope she is able to continue focusing on her guitar playing and not turn into just another girl singer with a guitar around her neck.

Being young, in her mid twenties, I’m certain we will see plenty more of Orianthi and we can look forward to hearing her team up with musicians all around the world.

Jennifer Batten

Michael Jackson’s Guitar Player. Jennifer Batten was Michael Jackson’s solo guitarists in the 90′s and completed 3 world tours with him and his incredibly skilled band. Being chosen to play in Michael’s band says a lot, simply because he insisted on perfection in his music and had an incredible work ethic and drive to get the music sound just the way he wanted. Jennifer was chosen out of a group of 100 guitarists for Michael’s “Bad” tour in 1987 and went on to do the “Dangerous” tour and “HIStory” in the 90′s. She also played with him during his Super Bowl half time performance with was viewed by billions of people all over the globe. Jackson changed Batten’s look and gave her that trademark crazy blond hair that is so recognizable now, although she doesn’t wear her hair that way anymore. But, hey, it was the ’80′s and big hair was the thing back then.

After her stint with Jackson, she jumped on a solo career and put out an album called “Above, Below and Beyond”. She also played guitar on numerous hit songs in the late ’09′s and went on to tour for 3 years with Jeff Beck.

Jennifer Batten has a very eclectic playing style and lately has been experimenting with technology and multi-media to enhance her playing. She uses a multitude of Digitech equipment to get a bucket load of effects into her songs. You will see her do a lot of finger tapping which gives her that incredible speed while maintaining a clean sound. So many guitarists who play speed guitar can only do so with a ton of distortion which hides your mistakes,  but Jennifer has perfected her tapping technique to the point where she blasts through a pentatonic arpeggio scale and record speed without missing a note. She doesn’t just play guitar, but she knows music theory inside and out and can apply her knowledge to her musical creations. I you ever get a chance to listen or see her live, don’t pass it up. She one of the best electric guitar players around, male or female.

That’s my opinion. What do you think?