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Guitar Fretboard: The Simple Method to Memorize the Fretboard
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2026
A well-written and approachable guide to learning the guitar fretboard. The explanations are clear, and the author offers excellent ideas for navigating the fretboard more confidently. The practice exercises are useful and make it easier to apply each concept as you learn it. A great resource for guitarists who want a simple, structured way to memorize the fretboard.
August 3, 2020
Expanding note finding (and remembering!) skills
Guitar Nation is a new group of writers who address the self-help arena of music. The original book was BLANK SHEET MUSIC NOTEBOOK and now they present GUITAR FRETBOARD - a perfect introduction to playing the guitar while being entertained at the same time.
For those true beginners to the guitar world, the fretboard (aka fingerboard) is a long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of the instrument. The strings run over the fingerboard, and to change notes of a song the fingers press down on the fretboard to change the vibrating length.
The authors introduce their lessons with a comfortable approach: ‘Having the fretboard memorized with the ability to recall the location of notes at any given time, is a skill that can benefit all kinds of guitar players, regardless of skill level. Though the idea of ‘fretboard memorization’ may seem inherently simple, it is both useful and relevant to all guitarists….A standard guitar has anywhere from 21 – 24 frets and has six strings moving from the lowest to highest pitch. Each fret represents a movement of one half-step within the 12 notes of the western musical alphabet…this book is purely intended for developing mental recall of the fretboard through visualization and memorization techniques.’
With excellent diagrams that make the fretboard visual and a fine backup of the basics of creating musical notes, this book makes memorization of note placement on the strings on the fretboard accessible. Presented in a step-by-step technique, the progress toward memorization is easy to follow, offering both beginners a starting point and more advanced players some helpful clues to remember – and to improvise.
Guitar Nation is a new group of writers who address the self-help arena of music. The original book was BLANK SHEET MUSIC NOTEBOOK and now they present GUITAR FRETBOARD - a perfect introduction to playing the guitar while being entertained at the same time.
For those true beginners to the guitar world, the fretboard (aka fingerboard) is a long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of the instrument. The strings run over the fingerboard, and to change notes of a song the fingers press down on the fretboard to change the vibrating length.
The authors introduce their lessons with a comfortable approach: ‘Having the fretboard memorized with the ability to recall the location of notes at any given time, is a skill that can benefit all kinds of guitar players, regardless of skill level. Though the idea of ‘fretboard memorization’ may seem inherently simple, it is both useful and relevant to all guitarists….A standard guitar has anywhere from 21 – 24 frets and has six strings moving from the lowest to highest pitch. Each fret represents a movement of one half-step within the 12 notes of the western musical alphabet…this book is purely intended for developing mental recall of the fretboard through visualization and memorization techniques.’
With excellent diagrams that make the fretboard visual and a fine backup of the basics of creating musical notes, this book makes memorization of note placement on the strings on the fretboard accessible. Presented in a step-by-step technique, the progress toward memorization is easy to follow, offering both beginners a starting point and more advanced players some helpful clues to remember – and to improvise.
August 19, 2020
Learn Your Fretboard
The subtitle of this book says it is “the” simple method to memorize the guitar fretboard, but it contains a combination of methods. You could pick one way to learn fretboard or use all three to cement your knowledge. The book starts with music notation basics before diving into what the fretboard is, its landmarks, and ways to approach learning it. I liked that the book included definitions of several musical terms like semitone and enharmonic equivalent; many guitarists I know tend to shy away from these more technical words, phrases, and concepts. As stated, the authors give a couple of different approaches to learning the fretboard. None are mutually exclusive, and combined together, they give several different ways to think about how notes come together, which can certainly help in soloing or voicing. At the end of the book, the authors outline a five-day course of study with a different emphasis each day so that, in the end, you should have a very solid grasp of where every note is on your fretboard. The authors stated in the introduction that guitarists should learn the fretboard so that they're not just stuck doing simple open or barre chords like you often see in music books and they can be used to solo and voice more creatively. I think those are great reasons to understand the fretboard. The only thing I feel like is missing from this book that focuses so much on the fretboard is how to read guitar tablature. That could have been a great addition in the music notation chapter or as a bonus at the end. Still, all in all, if you truly want to get the fretboard beneath your fingers, this book could help.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com
The subtitle of this book says it is “the” simple method to memorize the guitar fretboard, but it contains a combination of methods. You could pick one way to learn fretboard or use all three to cement your knowledge. The book starts with music notation basics before diving into what the fretboard is, its landmarks, and ways to approach learning it. I liked that the book included definitions of several musical terms like semitone and enharmonic equivalent; many guitarists I know tend to shy away from these more technical words, phrases, and concepts. As stated, the authors give a couple of different approaches to learning the fretboard. None are mutually exclusive, and combined together, they give several different ways to think about how notes come together, which can certainly help in soloing or voicing. At the end of the book, the authors outline a five-day course of study with a different emphasis each day so that, in the end, you should have a very solid grasp of where every note is on your fretboard. The authors stated in the introduction that guitarists should learn the fretboard so that they're not just stuck doing simple open or barre chords like you often see in music books and they can be used to solo and voice more creatively. I think those are great reasons to understand the fretboard. The only thing I feel like is missing from this book that focuses so much on the fretboard is how to read guitar tablature. That could have been a great addition in the music notation chapter or as a bonus at the end. Still, all in all, if you truly want to get the fretboard beneath your fingers, this book could help.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com
August 14, 2020
Both my son and I were impressed.
The small little book is full of great information. If you have someone who is new to the guitar this will give them some useful information is also good to have a strong foundation when you start learning. Now I have a background of music so I understood what the author was addressing but if a person is new to the terms and such they may want to read this book slowly and do additional research online. I liked the mnemonic devices that the author included. I also liked the journal idea. I pick this book up because of my son wanting to learn the guitar and he was impressed. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
The small little book is full of great information. If you have someone who is new to the guitar this will give them some useful information is also good to have a strong foundation when you start learning. Now I have a background of music so I understood what the author was addressing but if a person is new to the terms and such they may want to read this book slowly and do additional research online. I liked the mnemonic devices that the author included. I also liked the journal idea. I pick this book up because of my son wanting to learn the guitar and he was impressed. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews