How do you see the fretboard when playing?

guitarjack66 · March 2022

Probably one for our more experienced players here but all are welcome to chip in.

I've heard good players and professionals describe different ways of how they see the guitar fretboard when playing. Some say shapes,some say they simply see the notes or chords and I've even heard some use the term colours. As a rookie I just see learned shapes but still find myself not able to see a 'bigger picture.' Can anybody offer insight into this? Cheers.

fastonebaz · March 2022

I see shapes. And also I can hear intervals in my mind and translate that through my fingers to the right shape move

Tannin · March 2022

For me, it's not visual. I don't see it, I feel it - "feel" as in the kinesthetic sense, the sense you use to (e.g.) know when your arms are in front of you or by your side. It's all about what's under the finger and what I have to stretch for.

axisus · March 2022

In terms of improv I see box shapes. I always have to start in the same box, which I think of as position 1. I only use one scale and some of my boxes have missing info!

EricTheWeary · March 2022

I think basic shapes for me. If you said play a C major pentatonic around the neck I could do that and if you stopped me and said what’s that note my answer would be ‘erm, the fourth’ as I don’t have instant recall of note names in every position (unlikely to ever do so now!)but am okay at shapes/scales.

JMS96 · March 2022

I see cowboy chords all the way up the neck. C, G, A, E and D up all the frets.

Josh_Cosku · March 2022

I am trying to see all chords shapes (CAGED) at the position that I am playing with basic extension. Visualing some scales at the position for also connecting chords.

digitalkettle · March 2022

Chords and intervals connected by this:

...
---ef-g-- \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
---bC-d-- /
--f-g-a-  \
--C-d-e-  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
--g-a-b-  /
--d-ef--  \ 2 lots of -x-xx-
--a-bC--  /
--ef-g--  \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
--bC-d--  /
-f-g-a--  \
-C-d-e--  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
-g-a-b--  /
...

Well, that's what it would look like on an infinite fretboard tuned in 4ths...obviously, in the real world, you have to step around the G-B string transitions

Danny1969 · March 2022

I don't see it in shapes, I never did as a kid when learning guitar. Because there was no tab, no cage system or nothing to tell you where the notes were you had to use your brain and it's actually a far quicker method of learning the fretboard. To the extent I don't remember really spending much time learning it. A few weeks at best and I got it straight away because I could see the math.

So I knew the names of the open strings ... that's the beginning

Next I realised starting on the top E string the 7th fret is an octave of the string before it. Except the B string, it's 8th fret.

The 12th fret is the octave, that was obvious

Then I applied this simple rule, all notes have sharps except B and E and so just filled in the gaps.

That's how I teach it to my students and most of them grasp it within a couple of weeks. I firmly believe you can over complicate things in an effort to make learning easier when really it just takes a bit of common sense.

roberty · March 2022

I will see chord shapes if there are changes to track, otherwise I just think in terms of melody and intervals. By learning to play melodies by ear you also learn to play the melodies in your head

ArchtopDave · March 2022

I've learnt to know the notes of all the frets including an understanding that a note on the same string/fret can have different names depending on it's relationship to the underlying harmonic content of the music. I do use chord shapes and scalar patterns as well, but knowing the individual fretted notes is the most important thing to me.

I well remember in the early days of having lessons, that I was simply trying to improvise using A minor pentatonic whilst my teacher played some chords for me to play over. I knew the pattern at 5th fret level. I knew that I was perfectly capable of playing the pattern fretting with fingers 1,3, and 4.
Whilst improvising, I managed to fret the 7th fret on the D string with my middle finger, and became completely lost because the pattern I'd learnt didn't involve the middle finger. Panicking, I played the fret above with my third finger (it sounded horrid), so I then played the fret below with my index finger (again it sounded horrid). I just had to stop, and go back and restart on the bottom string playing A at the 5th fret. It taught me that I needed to know the fretboard properly.

CoffeeAndTV · March 2022

Sounds and intervals for me.

kelpbeds · March 2022

One of my favourite questions! I think very much intervallically. So over say Am7, I find an A on the fretboard (you need to know all the notes on the fretboard, that is a must) then visualise the intervals from that root note. So I can immediately see where the b3, 5 and b7 is and from there I might add in the 2 and the 6. This is very much the method that Tom Quayle uses when playing. This allows me to target the notes I want to hear precisely and also means I don't need to learn tons of scales I just need to understand the intervallic structure of any given scale to play it. It is a very powerful and musical method.

Roland · March 2022

Most of my rhythm playing uses partial chords. The chord shape depends on which notes I want in the chord, and the fretboard position is determined by the key. If the song has a bass riff then I might use a bass note or strings 5 or 6. If the bass player is mainly playing the root then I’ll avoid it.

Consequently I often think in chord shapes and intervals when composing solos. The rest of my soloing is either a memorised sequence of notes, remember I play pop covers, or it’s based on sounds I want to hear at a particular moment. Nowadays my fingers know how to find those sounds without me having to think about it.

djspecialist · March 2022

You position your laptop or mobile device so that it's in front of you while playing, and then open the browser app.

Oh ... you mean the *actual fretboard* ...

Lestratcaster · March 2022

In intervals and chord shapes. As I know all the notes well across the fretboard I can link scales and chords pretty easily as I know how far apart certain frets are to make an interval (e.g major thirds).
I started out on acoustic and know chords really well so that helps with the CAGED system.

greejn · March 2022

Chord arpeggios mainly.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

Very interesting answers so far,thank you all.
I am quite good with notes on the fretboard as I have some mnemonics and patterns for the octaves that help. I also know scales going up and down strings but not across as well. I am not sure how we classify vertical and horizontal on the fretboard but I have no problem going per string but still struggle in the way we do pentatonics,across as I call it.

hollywoodrox · March 2022

guitarjack66 said:

Very interesting answers so far,thank you all.
I am quite good with notes on the fretboard as I have some mnemonics and patterns for the octaves that help. I also know scales going up and down strings but not across as well. I am not sure how we classify vertical and horizontal on the fretboard but I have no problem going per string but still struggle in the way we do pentatonics,across as I call it.

Would you call it linear going across

kelpbeds · March 2022

guitarjack66 said:

Very interesting answers so far,thank you all.
I am quite good with notes on the fretboard as I have some mnemonics and patterns for the octaves that help. I also know scales going up and down strings but not across as well. I am not sure how we classify vertical and horizontal on the fretboard but I have no problem going per string but still struggle in the way we do pentatonics,across as I call it.

This is a bit of an issue in the guitar world. Lots of people do things differently as you can see from the responses to your question, and they will often tell you that their's is the best method - even thought it may well not be. It's also very true for technique, which can vary wildly between guitarists.
You need to look at the systems and decide which is the most efficient and easy to manage over a range of applications.
I could present a very strong argument for the system I use but others would disagree.
Slightly different in the classical world where things are taught a lot more uniformly.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

hollywoodrox said:

guitarjack66 said:

Very interesting answers so far,thank you all.
I am quite good with notes on the fretboard as I have some mnemonics and patterns for the octaves that help. I also know scales going up and down strings but not across as well. I am not sure how we classify vertical and horizontal on the fretboard but I have no problem going per string but still struggle in the way we do pentatonics,across as I call it.

Would you call it linear going across

I suppose you could call it linear. Do we class it as horizontal going from the tuning pegs up to the sound hole as we are playing it?

HAL9000 · March 2022

A couple of things - I see shapes/boxes but try not to be limited by them. I also see chord shapes so know where the roots, thirds, and fifths are.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

HAL9000 said:

A couple of things - I see shapes/boxes but try not to be limited by them. I also see chord shapes so know where the roots, thirds, and fifths are.

I am more of a 'get the answer' then work out the method type of person. So remembering the shapes then prompts me to find out and remember where those roots,thirds and fifths are. I am a bit like this in general life. I like to know the answer so I can then work out how I need to get there.

Devil#20 · March 2022

I manage to hit all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order.

Devil#20 · March 2022

digitalkettle said:
Chords and intervals connected by this:
...
---ef-g-- \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
---bC-d-- /
--f-g-a-  \
--C-d-e-  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
--g-a-b-  /
--d-ef--  \ 2 lots of -x-xx-
--a-bC--  /
--ef-g--  \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
--bC-d--  /
-f-g-a--  \
-C-d-e--  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
-g-a-b--  /
...
Well, that's what it would look like on an infinite fretboard tuned in 4ths...obviously, in the real world, you have to step around the G-B string transitions

I only partially understand that. The forward/backward and vertical slashes represent brackets. However, what do varying number of leading and trailing dashes mean? You seem to think of patterns from high e to low e. I think of them from the low e to high e. I learned the E and A strings first because it was easier to transpose barre chords sooner.

digitalkettle · March 2022

Devil#20 said:
digitalkettle said:
Chords and intervals connected by this:
...
---ef-g-- \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
---bC-d-- /
--f-g-a-  \
--C-d-e-  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
--g-a-b-  /
--d-ef--  \ 2 lots of -x-xx-
--a-bC--  /
--ef-g--  \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
--bC-d--  /
-f-g-a--  \
-C-d-e--  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
-g-a-b--  /
...
Well, that's what it would look like on an infinite fretboard tuned in 4ths...obviously, in the real world, you have to step around the G-B string transitions
I only partially understand that. The forward/backward and vertical slashes represent brackets. However, what do varying number of leading and trailing dashes mean? You seem to think of patterns from high e to low e. I think of them from the low e to high e. I learned the E and A strings first because it was easier to transpose barre chords sooner.

@Devil#20 ;Yeah, I couldn't think of a better way to illustrate it in text ;-/

That's right: I've tried to group the lines to show the three distinct patterns and that they repeat.

Because it's kind of conceptual, the dashes/letters just show a region of a virtual fretboard (tuned in 4ths)...I've only put letters in to show where the patterns come from (there aren't any string names but the lower pitches are at the bottom). It's not a map of the fretboard...more a visualisation tool.

An example: if I was playing a standard guitar in the key of C and my first finger was on the 2nd fret of the A-string, I'd be starting on an -xx-x- pattern...I know what's above and below...or I could shift along one fret and be on the middle line of an -x-x-x- pattern, etc.

Christ...I hope that makes sense to someone other than me

viz · March 2022

hollywoodrox said:

guitarjack66 said:

Very interesting answers so far,thank you all.
I am quite good with notes on the fretboard as I have some mnemonics and patterns for the octaves that help. I also know scales going up and down strings but not across as well. I am not sure how we classify vertical and horizontal on the fretboard but I have no problem going per string but still struggle in the way we do pentatonics,across as I call it.

Would you call it linear going across

I think transverse / transversally is a good word for going across; linear to me means going up and down a single string.

Lewy · March 2022

I think I see the top 4 strings as basically CAGED and the bottom 2 as just the notes that are on them.

guitarjack66 · March 2022

Devil#20 said:
digitalkettle said:
Chords and intervals connected by this:
...
---ef-g-- \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
---bC-d-- /
--f-g-a-  \
--C-d-e-  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
--g-a-b-  /
--d-ef--  \ 2 lots of -x-xx-
--a-bC--  /
--ef-g--  \ 2 lots of -xx-x-
--bC-d--  /
-f-g-a--  \
-C-d-e--  | 3 lots of -x-x-x-
-g-a-b--  /
...
Well, that's what it would look like on an infinite fretboard tuned in 4ths...obviously, in the real world, you have to step around the G-B string transitions
I only partially understand that. The forward/backward and vertical slashes represent brackets. However, what do varying number of leading and trailing dashes mean? You seem to think of patterns from high e to low e. I think of them from the low e to high e. I learned the E and A strings first because it was easier to transpose barre chords sooner.

I have taken to barre chords pretty well in the same way due to my guitar teacher introducing me to the E and A shaped barres first. This is extremely helpful,but I still seem to find shapes and triads stick in my head quicker. Learning those barre chords has also introduced me to a lot of those triads as some are simply shortened versions of those full barres.

dazzer22 · March 2022

Its funny when i think about it if i am learning a song or a scale i might look at the fret board as notes and intervals , But when i am actually playing a song or improvising I don't focus on the fretboard that much , also when playing fast solo runs who the hell would have time to take in the sights of the fret board and notes .

Bellycaster · March 2022

No idea, I'm usually pissed!

Only Joking!

Serious answer is that I see "Root Notes" or "Chord Shapes" in various guises. Sometimes I see a sliding scale on one String.

Sometimes I see "dots" to give me reference, the reference to the old Position 1 of any key and just take it from there.

It's funny but after years of playing, sometimes you just seem to land on the right note without looking. Fucker of a journey though..........................................and the journey continues!

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How do you see the fretboard when playing?

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