Never really notice notes problem

[loveguitar]

hi guitarists,

I have this problem (or should I call it a problem?):
When I play the guitar, I hardly take note of
what notes I play, as in whether it's an A or B etc.

I usually only use the scale as a guideline or
play where I want it to sound (I am not so good at this yet).

So if I press any fret on the guitar, I would have to
figure for a few seconds before I know what note that
actually is. Personally I felt uneasy about this tendancy but
is it a common thing among the non-classical guitarist?

It's tiring to always note what note I play everytime
I press a fret. Any suggestions to better playing?

rgds
loveguitar

[Dave]

Hi loveguitar! I think most everyone here would agree that knowing the fingerboard will only help you in the long run.

Here's a cool exercise from Satch I found in a magazine called "Finding The Note" that will help.

Decide on a note you wish to locate and set your metronome to 60 (Realistically, you would set it slower when just starting). With each click, locate that note on the 6th string in all positions including the open string. Then locate that note on the 5th, 4th string, etc.. Play on the beat. No cheating! I would start with A (or whatever), go from the low E to the high E string, and then continue with A#, B, etc., low E to high E string. Later you could try high E to low E string (or whatever works for you) to change things up. I used to practice this for 1/2 hr a day and you'd be surprised how quickly you've got things down. Satch says, "Do this exercise every day until you are so good at it you can do it in your sleep." Hope that helps!

Dave :)

[Koala]

Hey Loveguitar, well it actually is an issue i´ve come across very often.

Learning the fretboard will definitely help your playing, in my belief, in short and long terms. Once you look at the fretboard ad understand it its so much easier to build chords anywhere oin the neck, and to give your solos more color whilst playing outside the box.

I recommend you check out the ABSOLUTE FRETBOARD TRAINER software, think it´´s pretty handy when learning the notes along the fretboard, and it will help you with sight reading as well.

[loveguitar]

Thanks Dave and Koala, very interesting suggestions on
Satch's Finding the notes and the fretboard trainer software.

Cheers

[metaljustice83]

I'm gonna have to try that

[loveguitar]

Just thought it might be useful becoz it
quite works for me.

I am more familiar with the first twelve frets.
So using the 12th fret as a reference, the next
12 frets (or 10 frets for 22 frets guitar) can be seen
as a repetition or a duplication of the first twelve frets.

Seeing this way helps me to find the notes at
the high neck more quickly.
Just to share this way of looking at frets.

rgds