fretboard note diagram

[agroupuk]

Hey all,

Does anyone have a decent fretboard diagram with all the notes marked on it they could post on this thread (4 string) - or link to it?

I need to print one out here at work and I cannot find anything of much use online... maybe I am just crap at searching.

I need to learn my fretboard (I keep putting it off) and figured a nice sized printout on my little 'wall' on my desk would mean I could glance at it every now and then, between working of course.

Any help apreciated!

Thanks

Edd

[Al Heeley]

Just do a google image search for Fretboard Chart. plenty to choose from.

[~tl]

This is quite a cool trainer applet:

[url="http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id81_en.html"]http://www.musictheory.net/trainers/html/id81_en.html[/url]

It's for guitar, but knowing the extra strings isn't going to hurt

[JonnyB]

How about this one - good site I think

[url="http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord-scale-note-printer/"]study bass[/url]

[GonzoBass]

You might remember it better if you made your own.
Here's a blank I made for teaching-

[attachment=18289:24FretNecks.jpeg]


While I'm at it,
here's a few others-

[attachment=18293:Necks.jpeg]

[attachment=18294:Neck_Chart.jpeg]
This one's good to write out and see scales or modes on the neck.


...and speaking of the modes-

[attachment=18295:Modes.jpeg]

I use this one to have the student write out the eight note pattern each mode creates.
Then we transfer them to the previous sheet in individual keys.


I hope you find these useful!

[Golchen]

I knocked this up a while back as I wanted something that represented the fretboard as I look down on it:

[url="http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4stringbassss2.jpg"][/url]

[AM1]

[quote name='agroupuk' post='373081' date='Jan 7 2009, 02:19 PM']Hey all,

Does anyone have a decent fretboard diagram with all the notes marked on it they could post on this thread (4 string) - or link to it?

I need to print one out here at work and I cannot find anything of much use online... maybe I am just crap at searching.[/quote]

Hi

Working on exactly the same thing myself.

This is an excellent resource:

[url="http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord-scale-note-printer/"]http://www.studybass.com/tools/chord-scale-note-printer/[/url]

You can choose chords/scales in any key and then just input these and a plotted fretboard will appear with all the root notes, which you can print.

I found this better than just a straight fretboard diagram as you can use the input variables to understand the relationships between strings/frets in various keys/modes.

Regards

AM

[project_c]

i made this for myself a while ago when i started learning, simple and stupid-proof (which is what i needed at the time)..

[attachment=18360:BASS_NECK_NOTES.jpg]

[agroupuk]

Awesome guys! thanks all - lots of help here!

[Guest]

Pictures are great to start but i found that it was a struggle to make it stick, One way to really get them into your head is to take songs you know and name the notes as you play through. Do the same as you play scales, especialy two octave scales and it really opens up.

[endorka]

[quote name='steve-norris' post='379843' date='Jan 13 2009, 11:36 PM']Pictures are great to start but i found that it was a struggle to make it stick, One way to really get them into your head is to take songs you know and name the notes as you play through. Do the same as you play scales, especialy two octave scales and it really opens up.[/quote]

I agree with this - I accept that it may not be the case for everyone, but gazing at fretboard diagrams did nothing to help me create a practical "muscle memory" of where the notes are, the kind of memory you need to read music, or improvise, for example. Same with fretboard diagrams of scales... instead, I had to work out how scales were generated, then form the patterns based on the theory.

Steve's examples in my experience work well, as does another posted somewhere on the Internet by John Patitucci, which is deceptively simple: select a note, say E, then starting at the nut end of the bass, a four string in this case, gradually work your way up the neck playing every instance of that note. For E this would be the open E string, then E on fret 2 of the D string, E on fret 7 of the A string, E on fret 9 of the G string, then E on fret 12 of the E string, etc., until you run out of neck. Then do it all again back down the neck. Basses with additional strings will be different, of course.

Sounds easy? It's amazing how many people cannot do this effectively, but if you work in it until you are fluent for all 12 notes the fingerboard really opens up.

Jennifer

[cytania]

You're absolutely right Jennifer. Note awareness is about knowing where the notes you need are. So a beginner really needs to think about the first five frets and open strings where you've got all the common keys on tap. There are traps waiting for beginners like simply playing everything on the E string by flying up and down the neck like a mad thing, I see alot of thrash punk players doing this.

The other zone worth learning is the 5th and 7th frets from the E down, it's a pentatonic thing and the basis for alot of rock lines. Worst thing about courses that shout 'scales scales scales' is they encourage the idea of flying down the neck for a set of notes then back up to the main group. Generally the note choices with the least movement are the best. Indeed a right bassline usually has a rocking back and forth hand motion. Looking for these factors in a line often leads to the right sound.

For me it's the figuring out of lines and trying out alternate patterns that has built up note awareness, not any diagram. Give me those blanks and I'd probably start by filling in the Es, Gs, As, then the Ds, Bs a Cs and then finally the sharp notes. A beginner needs to learn the notes as they naturally cluster in the chord progressions of real songs, so they can get going with a band.

The happy end result should be when you feel your fingers leading you to a right note rather than thinking it out :-)