Who this is for
Guitarists, bassists and ukulele players who play shapes but cannot name the notes under their fingers. You only need the first keyboard program for half steps. Already know the whole neck? Test out on Day 5.
Best done after: The Keyboard. It is advice, not a rule: every lesson has short "rusty on…?" boxes for anything you skipped.
Why learn this
On a piano every note has one home. On a guitar the same note lives in several places, so it feels like a maze. Players who learn the maze can find any note, read a chord chart, build a scale anywhere and talk to other musicians in note names instead of finger numbers.
The good news: the neck follows one rule, a fret is a half step, plus a few landmarks that save you from counting. This program teaches the rule, the landmarks and the patterns, then drills them until the note names come back without counting.
What you will be able to do
- The six open strings, E A D G B E
- A fret is a half step
- Natural notes up to the 12th fret
- The 5th-fret rule and the G to B exception
- Sharps and flats on every string
- Octave shapes
- Finding every place a note lives
- The same ideas on bass and ukulele
The 5-day plan
- Strings, frets and half steps. Name the open strings and the natural notes in the first five frets.
- The 12th fret and the dots. Know the natural notes along the E and A strings up to the 12th fret.
- The other strings and the 5th-fret rule. Use the 5th-fret rule to connect neighbouring strings and find notes on D, G, B and high E.
- Sharps, flats and octave shapes. Name sharps and flats on the neck, and find all the places of a note using octave shapes.
- Test day: the whole neck. Prove you can name any note on the neck, and find every spot for a note.
How each session works
Every day follows the shape of a workout. It starts with a warm-up that reviews earlier days, then technique: a short, plain explanation with a small interactive tool to try it on. Then come the working sets, drills with instant feedback, and a finisher, a short test with a pass mark so you only build on things you can do. A cool-down recaps the day and previews the next.
Choose your split
The daily split is a session a day: done in a week. The easy split is a session every other day, with rest days between: two weeks, and a gentler pace. On your own pace there is no schedule. Nothing is ever locked, and you can change split at any time.
What comes next
Chord Shapes on Guitar and Ukulele: The 5-Day Program. See the whole training plan.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to learn the fretboard?
Most players get the natural notes on all strings in two to four weeks with five minutes a day. Instant recall of every sharp and flat takes longer, but the patterns make it far quicker than memorising 78 separate spots.
Do I need to read music for this?
No. You only need the note names (A to G with sharps and flats) and to know that a fret is a half step. The program uses no staff notation.
Does it work for bass and ukulele?
Yes. Bass is the lowest four guitar strings an octave lower, so the neck works the same way. Ukulele has four strings tuned G C E A. The fretboard trainer has bass and ukulele focuses, and Day 5 covers them.
Should I learn the fretboard before chords?
It helps, but you do not have to. Knowing the notes explains why a chord shape works, and makes moving a shape to another key easy. The chord shapes program builds on this one.