fretboard mastery for better songwriting

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Learn Fretboard Mastery in Chunk of Time

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Page 1: Fretboard Mastery For Better Songwriting

Learn Fretboard Mastery in Chunk of Time

Page 2: Fretboard Mastery For Better Songwriting

A Holistic Organized Approach

to Fretboard Mastery

Every once in a while, a student gets to the point where they covered so much material in such a short time, that they feel like they don’t see the forest through the trees anymore.Part of the reason for this, is that it is overwhelming to practice a billion things in 12 keys.There is power and value in spending some time, let’s say an entire week for example, where you do everything you ever learned in 1 key only for the entire week.That is why I call this a “holistic approach” to practicing and to fretboard mastery.For an entire week you focus on every chord, every arpeggio, every triad, every 7th chord fingering, every pentatonic scale fingering, every 7 note scale fingering, every fretboard exercise, every triad on every string set, every relative scale, every interval on every string set, and so on… ALL in the same key.I can assure you: 7 days later you will become so much closer to being a master guitarist in that key.

Some of the below exercise names (Like for example “never ending scale”) will prob not make sense to you if you haven’t taken guitar lessons with me yet

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This Is Basically A Practice Schedule in 1 Key

Let’s use the key of Eb as an example1. Never Ending Scale in Eb2. Never Ending Scale in all intervals: 3rd, 4ths. 5ths, 6ths and 7ths in Eb3. Single String Playing in Eba. 3-note phrasesb. Using the correct fingeringsc. Make it interesting with:i. Note repetitionsii. Rhythmic note placementiii. Dynamics4. Pentatonic soloing in Eb (= C minor pentatonic)a. Know the 5 fingeringsb. Know their locations and name (root, b3, 4, 5 and b7 fingerings)c. Be able to horizontally move between positions (finger patterns)5. Pentatonic substitutions in Eba. You could also play F minor pentatonic (up a whole step from the root Eb)b. You could also play G minor pentatonic (up a 2 whole steps from the root Eb)

6. The 7 in position fingerings in Eb

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a. Eb Ionianb. F Dorianc. G Phrygiand. A Lydiane. B Mixolydianf. C# Aeoliang. D# Locrian7. String Skip SoloingSolo on only the 1st and 3rd string, using both strings (playing notes on both strings) in every phrase you play.Solo on the 2nd and 4th string using the same principle.Solo on the 3rd and 5th stringSolo on the 4th and 6th string Solo on the 1st and 4th string only.Solo on the 2nd and 5th string only.Solo on the 3rd and 6th string only.Solo on the 1st and 5th string only.Solo on the 2nd and 6th string only.

8. Playing harmonized lines (On 2 strings simultaneously. 1 string set at at time, linear playing) in Eba. 2ndsb. 3rdc. 4thsd. 5thse. 6thsf. 7thsg. Octaves and Unisons9. Vertical/Harmonic/Arpeggio in Eb

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a. 3-note structuresi. Triads (open and closed, all string sets, all inversions)ii. Palette Chart.iii. Arpeggio Fingeringsb. 4 note structuresi. 7th chords (drop 2, drop 3, drop 2/3, all string sets, all inversions)ii. Arpeggio Fingerings.c. Triadic Substitutiond. Exercises: playing blues with all the triads in the key of Eb:i. I IV V in Eb are: Eb Ab Bb (blues with triads)ii. I IV V in Cm (relative minor) are: Cm Fm Gm (blues with triads)10. Voice leading cycles in Eba. Triads:i. All cycles: helps you memorize all the possible chord connections within a scaleii. All string setsiii. Open voiced triads and closed voiced triads.b. 7th Chords:i. Drop2 voicings (all cycles, all string sets)ii. Drop 3 voicings (all cycles, all sting sets)iii. Drop 2 drop 3 voicings (all cycles, all sting sets)11. Arpeggios in Eba. Triadsi. In position, all inversionsii. Over 3 octaves, all inversions

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b. 7th Chordsi. In position, all inversionsii. Over 3 octaves, all inversions

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Fretboard Mastery For Better Songwriting

Fretboard Knowledge

It helps your writing when you have a basic understanding of where the notes are on your guitar neck.

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There’s tons of exercises and fretboard charts out there on the internet that help guitarist learn all the notes on the guitar neck.Let me quickly share an effective exercise with you.This is one of the exercises that I give my lower intermediate guitar students who are interested in getting to know their guitar better.

Here’s what you do with this.First you play the C note on the low E string (the number 8 on the bottom line of the 6 line tablature)You look at your hand, familiarize yourself with that C’s position.Then play the C on the 3rd fret of the next string (A string)Go up and down playing both these C’s up and back down, till you feel you don’t have to think about it anymore.Then add the C on the 10 fret of the D string.

Page 10: Fretboard Mastery For Better Songwriting

Now play all these 3 C notes up and down: walking from the low E string to the D string and back from the D string to the low E string.Then you add the next C note, and so on…When you can comfortably play all the C notes up and down over all 6 strings, start tackling all the D notes.The D note locations are basically 2 frets higher than all the C notes. (“Higher” means: towards the guitar body.)Learn all the D note locations, EXACTLY the same way you practiced all the C note locations.After you learned all the D notes.Go back to doing all the C’s, just to get more practice in of the C’s and for memory purposes.After that: figure out all the E notes up and down and do exactly the same as above. The E’s are 2 frets above the D’s you learned.Then do the drill again with all the F’s. F’s are 1 fret above the E notes.Then G notes: 2 frets above the F’sA’s are 2 frets above the G’sB notes are 2 frets above the A notes, which btw is also 1 fret BELOW all the C notes you learned previously.And that’s it.You practice this: 3 sessions of 4 minutes a day = 12 minute daily drill.I can assure you that you will know your fretboard at least 3 times as well within 1 week time if you did not know your fretboard at all before doing this exercise.

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Practicing the Sharps and Flats

Give it a week of practice, then start practicing all the C# notes (= C notes up 1 fret)Eb notes = E notes down 1 fretF# notes = F notes up 1 fretAb notes = A notes down 1 fretBb notes = B notes down 1 fretThe most challenging part really is learning all the C notes. From there on you can deduct everything else from there.There are other really great fret board exercises, but this one is a good one to start with.

Time Yourself to See Your Progress

Use a stopwatch to time yourself and try to get faster and faster.You can tell your progress in your fret board mastery, by how long it took you to find all the notes.If it takes you less time to finish the exercise, that means that you didn’t have to think as long to find the notes, which means that you know your fretboard better already.Once all the above gets easier do following exercise:In following order and while timing yourself with a stopwatch:play all the C’s up and down the guitar neck,then without pausing, quickly move on to all the F notes,

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B’s,E’s,A’s,D’s,and G’sRight after you played the last G note on the low E string, quickly stop the clock and write down your time.The goal is: finishing the whole exercise in less than 40 seconds max.Writing down your times every time you do the exercise is motivating: you see how much better you are getting.

Always Know What and Why You’re Practicing!

It’s also important to know how any exercise is going to help you within the context of your musical goals.In this particular case, in the context of becoming a better songwriter, knowing what the notes are on the guitar neck, saves you a lot of time.For example:You hear a melody in your head.You figure out the notes of that melody on the guitarYou know what the names of those notes are (because of the above exercise)And as such, if you have the notes memorized that all major and minor chords consists of (see last weeks’s blog), you know what the chords are that work with the melody line.

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This gives you much faster results than randomly hitting tons of chords hoping you will accidentally hit one that works with the melody you’re hearing. THAT is why you want to have better memorization of the note locations on your instrument.While it might be true that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix wrote tons of amazing songs without knowing the note locations on their fretboard: it helps if you do.(Moreover: nobody knows that to be for a fact that they had no idea what the name of the note was when they hit an A note, or Bb, or C# or any note for that matter on their guitars.)

Also: there are many different paths to mastery.Having the above knowledge down helps you as a songwriter, but is not “essential”That knowledge though, does give you an extra set of tools that give you more control as a writer.Sure you can write amazing songs without any theory knowledge or fretboard knowledge (if you have a natural inclination or you grew up in a musical family for example)…… but you will never really know what else could have been possible with that song, what other chords could have worked, how much better the feel, vibe and message of the song could have been emphasized, and so on.., when the chords you came up with just “happened to you”.

Become A Better In Control Channel For The Songs The Universe Sends You.Having a thorough theory knowledge gives you that broad perspective over all the possibilities and colors you can pick and choose from.

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The Teaching Studio

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Thanks!!!