Any Fretboard Wizard Experts here

[Loraine]

Hey Brandon. I’m not really sure what you’re asking. Many of us have taken the Fretboard Wizard course; some multiple times. I know I pick up on something new every time I’ve gone through it, but I definitely wouldn’t say I’m an expert. Give me a finance, math or economic issue, and yeah, I might say I verge on being pretty good and knowledgeable. It took me years to get there. BUT there are others that would share my love of those topics, but the fretboard comes easily to them. My opinion, It is something similar to muscle memory, in my opinion. The more you study and practice, the easier it gets.

[jorgemac]

I always thought that learning guitar theory would help me improve my picking. It did not help as much as i would have liked as my problems weren’t in that area but in actually playing the guitar.

This TAC course we are all taking daily, has definitely helped me become much more proficient in actual guitar picking and the fact that I am very knowledgeable in guitar music theory has just exploded my learning curve. i bought books and video’s regarding guitar music theory and have been able to lean back on all of that acquired knowledge and actually apply it to my guitar playing.

if you have strong guitar picking fundamentals you do need to learn guitar theory. If your fundamentals are week the theory will not change your ability to play fundamental guitar strumming or picking. Only practice will help you make chord changes and strumming patterns, and finger picking patterns.

So, if you can make all of the cowboy chords and can go from a C chord to and F chord to a Am chord to a G chord either strumming or in my case finger picking you are ready to learn more guitar theory. If you can make simple barre chords in major and minor chords you are ready for guitar theory. If not.

Set a goal to learn some simple chord progression and buy a guitar theory basic book.

Then you will be ready to take the fretboard wizard course or if you feel comfortable with what you have learned in a basic guitar theory book buy a more advanced book.

Lack of practice won’t help you improve your guitar skills to the point that you need to learn more advanced guitar theory.

Just my .02 cents thoughts.

[petelanger]

@BrandonK what were you wanting to ask? Your post seems to have been cut off mid thought. I don’t have FW. Please elaborate and someone more qualified than I will surely answer. Perhaps @jumpinjeff maybe, or @Skyman911

[BrandonK]

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to better understand lesson one and how to use the Patterns. I understand

1. E String Pattern 01 and how to use it.
2. E String Pattern 02 – I understand how to get it set up but not sure how to use it after that. and that goes the same for A String Pattern 01/02.

[jorgemac]

Where are these patterns located? What lesson?

[BrandonK]

First lesson @jorgemac in Fretboard Wizard.

[the-old-coach]

Been through both the first and second versions of FBW a total of four times now; by no means an expert on it– (I don’t think you’ll find one); and it’s been a year or two since my last time thru, so my memory of it isn’t recent- (but still pretty-good….. because the program itself IS that good)

My takeaway from FBW is that it is much more about learning… than actually playing. It teaches a lot about “background” knowledge- (hard to put into words– but kind-of “how to find things/ how to figure-things-out/ how to find what key you are in– by ear– and what goes with what”…. etc…. etc….. etc….. there’s a LOT in there!).

It’s not so much a course about playing something; it’s a course about learning how to play anything- (if that makes any sense).

It will definitely advance your guitar journey, and will make you a better player, but in a more indirect-manner—- by making you a “better-guitar-thinker”; by definitely making you “fretboard-smarter” …….. while you are playing……

Hope this doesn’t sound TOO confusing- (I’m gettin’ more confused as I write this!).

FBW is about learning…… not (directly) about playing.

Expensive?- maybe…….. worth it?- absolutely.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks ago by  the-old-coach.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @BrandonK , I’m glad to see that you’re going through the FW course, IMHO, one of the best gems here at TAC. So the “patterns” that Tony is teaching are ways to find the “same note” on other strings. The only problem I have with the way he’s teaching this is that it involves too much memorization – skip two frets and go down two strings, or is it go down 3 strings and skip 3 frets – I can’t remember all that and no wonder you’re asking for help. Now don’t get me wrong, this is an important and helpful concept to learn (and why Tony is teaching it) because it’s a foundational way to move around the fretboard. It’s a concept that I struggled to learn (with the way Tony goes about teaching it) until another TAC member showed me a different approach. When I saw this “different approach”, the lightbulbs went on and everything about this concept became much easier to execute. I’ll try my best to explain it – yes there is memorization, but not near the amount that Tony is teaching.

I’ll start with these letters – B A G E D. These letters are the string names on the guitar. Treat them like the musical alphabet, you can move forward or backward from any starting point on any string. The way they’re laid out (BAGED) is the way to find the next nearest same note (moving forward) going from the nut to the body of the guitar. Remember, you can start at any string and move backward as well. But that isn’t everything needed to find the next “same note”. We need to know how many frets to skip between strings, so now come the numbers – 1 1 2 1 2. Now I’m going to consolidate the letters and numbers which will yield B1A1G2E1D2B. For example, let’s start on the B string 1st fret (C note). To find the next nearest C note we will skip 1 fret (which will put us at the 3rd fret) and go to the A string, giving us the C note at the A string 3rd fret. From there, we’ll skip 1 fret and go to the G string, which will give us the C note on the G string 5th fret. From there, we’ll skip 2 frets and go to the E string (either loE or hiE), giving us the C note on either E string 8th fret. From there, we skip 1 fret and go to the D string, giving us the C note on the D string 10th fret. To complete the cycle, we skip 2 frets and go back to the B string, giving us the C note on the B string 13th fret.

To me, this approach is much easier and more clear than how Tony is teaching this concept. I hope you (and anyone else reading this) find the same clarity as I did with this approach for this foundational concept.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks ago by  Bill_Brown.

[BrandonK]

Thank you @Bill_Brown for your response, would you be open to doing a zoom call to show me. I am more of a visual learner?

• This reply was modified 2 weeks ago by  BrandonK.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @BrandonK , yes I would be happy to show you. But I do believe that you should pick up your guitar and go through the example I gave so you can get a “feel” for it and actually see the “patterns” on your own guitar.

The most important thing to memorize is B A G E D (very similar to the word CAGED). Once you have that down, then you need to keep in mind that these letters (BAGED) work like the musical alphabet. If we start on the A string (any fret), the next closest same note will be on the G string (moving forward toward the guitar body) or on the B string (moving backward toward the nut). Likewise, if we start on the E string, any fret, (either hiE or loE – it doesn’t matter which), the next nearest same note will be on the D string (moving forward) or on the G string (moving backward).

The second most important thing to remember is 1 1 2 1 2. This sequence of numbers are the number of frets to skip between the letters BAGED. So between the B & A strings, you skip 1 fret, whichever way you’re moving, from the A string to the B string or visa verse. If we want to move between the G & E strings, you skip 2 frets, whichever way you’re moving.

I find it easier (for me) to remember the letters (BAGED) and numbers (11212) separately. But by combining them (B1A1G2E1D2B), you get a better picture of how this approach works, with the string names and number of frets to skip between those strings.

I think with a little effort, you can do this on your own. But I can do a zoom call if you need to.

[BarbaraM]

At first your explanation seemed very confusing so I tried it on the guitar. But if I fret the 3rd fret on the A string for example (C note), one fret toward the body on the G string is B, not C. and going down one fret to the B string is a C#. So now it’s more confusing?! What am I not understanding?

• This reply was modified 1 week, 2 days ago by  BarbaraM.

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @BarbaraM , thank you for your feedback. Allow me to explain that 1 1 2 1 2 are the number of frets to “SKIP”, or in other words, the number of frets “in-between” notes on the strings B A G E D B. In the example you posted, you’re not “skipping” the number of frets, you’re traveling that number of frets, that’s why you’re coming up short (by one fret) of the C note. If you want to count or travel the number of frets between notes, just add 1 to each number above, yielding 2 2 3 2 3. When this approach was presented to me, I was taught to “skip”. But the way you’re doing it (“traveling” or counting the number of frets between strings to the next note) works just as well, but the numbers then are 2 2 3 2 3.

Hope this explanation clears any confusion, have fun.

[BarbaraM]

Bill, thank you for that explanation! Makes so much more sense to me now.

[the-old-coach]

Bill- (old pal!)–

Your explanation here is quite interesting indeed. Thru our “guitar-travels”- (some together)- I have never seen this. It’s pretty cool! I have memorized the pattern-shapes into my brain– but this is a really easy way to accomplish the same thing, for sure.

In my own brain, I had to put some kind-of “space” after the B starting point.. just to tell my brain that (in your example) the B is the starting point– (not really a “step” in itself).

I’ll keep monkeying with this as far as different root-notes, different starting points within the 5 letters- (starting, say, at the third letter “G” instead of the B), and also going both directions– (working up…. and down….. the fretboard).

Anyway– hope all is well in your world– good to “see” ya!

[Bill_Brown]

@the-old-coach , great to hear from you my friend! Hope all is going well for you (and yours) out there on the Left Coast (LOL). I think it was the 2nd class that Mike taught – the summer you did a lot of traveling – when he introduced the approach of C(B) A G E D. I believe he laid it out that way because the word CAGED was easy to remember, but in actuality it’s BAGED that’s the order of strings. The number of frets to “SKIP” between strings (1 1 2 1 2) was a way to help complete the concept.

[jorgemac]

Huh, it was so long ago that i don’t remember how I organized my learning process of learning the fret board. I know one of my practice tools that i still use and also incorporate in my riffs and walk ups to following chords is double stops of each note all the way up to the 15th fret.

Open treble E and 2ndfret D for an E double stop and just walked that position up the neck calling out each double stop note position. Same with 1st fret B string and 3rd fret A string, C double stop walked up the neck.

Or 2ndFret G note A and open A string walked up the neck.

3rd fret B string D note and open D string.

That was One of my methods of learning the fret board.

[petelanger]

Not sure if this is the same topic as @BrandonK‘s original request regarding FW:
E String Pattern 01 and
E String Pattern 02

but I found this video very helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSq-_KtuGN8&t=290s

youtube.com

[petelanger]

@BrandonK @BarbaraM

I discovered this YouTube Short today and it just blew my mind! This has to be the easiest way to start memorizing the fretboard. I spent 10 minutes and already have a pretty good handle on it.

Since we already know the G and C on the third fret (if not, now is a good time to learn them), it’s a great springboard to visualizing a large portion of real estate without a lot of memorization.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JJtd4dC0kTU

[BarbaraM]

Very helpful! Thanks, Pete!

[petelanger]

I thought so as well! It was a watershed moment for me, the screen that was hiding the fretboard disintegrated and I saw the notes for the first time!

Once you have that first pattern under your fingers and etched into your brain on all strings:
G …|……|A…|……|B
C …|……|D…|……|E

then add in the 2 notes that follow on the next fret (half step):

G …|……|A…|……|B…|C

C …|……|D…|……|E…|F

Now you have all the natural notes and filling in the accidentals (the sharps and flats in between) is a piece of cake.

[jorgemac]

Thanks Pete, that is a very simple and easy to follow explanation. All of us that work past the 5th fret know this info and don’t even think about it because we use it so often. It is also great to know this info when developing riffs in keys close to expanded chord shapes. Very helpful info.