Fretboard King
Learn / Memorize the fretboard
How to memorize the guitar fretboard
A method that works in a few minutes a day, with a 4-week plan.
You don’t memorize the fretboard by staring at a chart of 78 notes. You learn two strings properly, use the inlay dots as anchors, and then use octave shapes to carry what you know onto the other four strings. After that it’s practice: finding notes until you stop counting frets.
If you haven’t seen the whole neck laid out yet, start with the fretboard notes chart.
Step 1: Know the musical alphabet and its two gaps
There are seven note names, A B C D E F G, and then it starts again at A. Each fret is one half step, and most neighbouring notes are two frets apart, with a sharp or flat in between. The only exceptions are B to C and E to F, which are one fret apart. With those two gaps you can work out any note by counting up from an open string. Counting is slow, which is why the next steps exist, but it’s your safety net.
Step 2: Learn the low E and A strings first
These two strings matter most. The root notes of barre chords, power chords and most scale shapes sit on them, so you’ll use them constantly. Learn only the natural notes to start with. Sharps and flats are then just one fret above or below.
Bonus: the high E string has the same notes as the low E on every fret, so this step teaches you three strings, not two.
Step 3: Use the inlay dots as anchors
Instead of counting from the nut, memorize the notes on the dotted frets and work out the rest from the nearest dot. On the low E string the 3rd, 5th and 7th frets are G, A and B, and the 12th is E again. On the A string they’re C, D and E, and the 12th is A.
So if you need an F on the low E string, you don’t count from the nut: it’s two frets below the G at the 3rd fret. Need a C on the A string? It’s right on the 3rd-fret dot.
Step 4: Carry the notes across with octave shapes
Once you know a note on one string, an octave shape finds the same note on another. From the low E or A string, go two strings higher and two frets up. From the D or G string, it’s two strings higher and three frets up, one fret further because the B string is tuned differently.
This is how the D, G and B strings stop being a mystery: you don’t learn them from scratch, you reach them from the strings you already know.
Step 5: Learn one note everywhere
Pick a single note and find it on every string, low to high, without stopping. Then do the same with another note the next day. This joins everything up and is the best test of whether you really know the neck.
A 4-week plan
- Week 1: low E and A strings. Natural notes only. Say each note name out loud as you play it, then quiz yourself in random order.
- Week 2: the inlay anchors. Find any natural note on the low E or A string by starting from the nearest dot. Add sharps and flats at the end of the week.
- Week 3: octave shapes. Use them to find notes on the D, G and B strings. Check yourself against the chart when you’re unsure.
- Week 4: one note everywhere. Each day, pick a note and find it on all six strings, as quickly as you can.
Five minutes a day beats an hour once a week. Short, frequent sessions are what make the notes automatic, and speed matters: aim to find a note in under two seconds, without counting.
Mistakes that slow people down
- Only ever counting from the nut. It feels like progress but never becomes automatic. Use the anchors.
- Learning shapes but not names. Knowing where the scale box is isn’t the same as knowing which notes are in it.
- Practising in order. Saying E, F, G, A up the string turns into a recited list. Quiz yourself in random order.
- Doing it silently. Saying the note name out loud links the sound, the name and the position.
Related guides
- Guitar fretboard notes chart: every note from the open strings to the 12th fret, with a printable PDF.