Learn these six notes, and you’re well on your way to understanding the whole guitar fretboard!
View the full lesson at The Big Six Essential Notes | JustinGuitar
Just found this tool and I’m finding it suuuper useful (not associated with the makers in any way): FaChords Fretboard Trainer
You can configure it to only use the bottom two strings. In 10 minutes I feel like I’ve already got most of the notes down. Highly recommended.
EDIT: I’m on day 2 of using this and I honestly couldn’t think of a quicker way to learn the fretboard. You have a score, which essentially just tracks the number of notes you get right. I’ve just set myself the target of reaching 100 every day for a week (on the bottom 2 strings at least).
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Btw considering that also the 8th fret might be useful as it is in both strings half a step from the 7th, I was thinking one could use the mnemonic “8 Cozy Flats” 
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This is very useful! thanks for sharing.
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To help memorize I’m using:
3 Grumpy Cats
5 Angry Dogs
7 Bad Eels
Keeping it consistent with a big gang of mean animals has been easiest for me
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Should i do this module after grade 3 ? Iam currently doing grade 2 and it doent make any sense .
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Hi Manos,
Could you please elaborate why this doesn’t make sense for you? How did you get to grade 2 without learning where these notes are on the fingerboard?
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I like 8CF from @armax . This helps as I get stuck there as well as on the 10th fret (the dusty end of the neck) so, ; - 10 Dusty Guitars ie D &G on the 10th “dusty” fret. 10 from the Engelbert classic song “Ten Guitars” {lol} 
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great idea Justin, just modified it for me …
3 Grumpy Cats
5 Angry Dogs
7 Big Elephants
10 Dodgy Geezers
matches the one I use for the strings … Every Angry Dog Goes Bad Eventually
love the course, many thanks.
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I practice this by rolling a dice and naming the notes on both strings which correspond to the number on the die.
Sometimes I use two dice. One for the fret and one for the string.
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https://random.bretpimentel.com/ has the option to change to a random note every 1-5 seconds
- using garageband’s tuner as a check for my guess seems like a good setup!
The trickiest bit for me has been getting split mentally between picking between 5th & 6th strings to play the note and getting neither right in time XD
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Knowing the notes on first five frets is part of Grade 2 which I knew I need to work on even though I had passed Grade 2. Started working up the Fret board learning just the main note positions as I can work flats and sharps from these.
I am using Justin’s App to test myself and it is working well for me.
Michael 
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I used to spend a lot of time counting through the cycle of 5th starting at C by counting though the 5 fingers of my hand from C to G and then from G to D and then D to A and finally from A to E and E to B. That’s the sharp keys from no sharps on up.
Notice that the essential 6 notes going up the fretboard by pairs of 6 and 5 string notes is CG DA and EB, the circle of fifth notes starting from C and going to E.
It was useful for me to count this way on my hands too, because it helped me memorize the I IV V chords. Notice if you memorize the essential 6 notes this way, each note from G to E is surrounded by its IV and V chords.
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I should add to the last posted message that I had just realized that the 6 essential notes are the circle of 5ths from C to B. I didn’t recognize that when I studied the notes for the power chords in the classic beginner course. I am almost there in the new beginner course. I knew that the notes on the 6 strings on the guitar are tuned a 5th (correction: 4th, see below) apart except from the 2nd to the 3rd string. If you play the C (2nd string, 1st fret) and strum all the strings to the lowest note you go C G D A E. I read that some jazz players tune the first 2 thinnest strings to F and C so that the strings are all a 5th (correction: 4th) apart and riff shapes work on any two string. Anyway I have been noticing the C G D A E pattern on the guitar more often and in this case it helps me remember the 6 essential notes better than a mnemonic.
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@SteveL_G99 you have it backwards. A guitar is tuned in 4ths and the B string is tuned in a 3rd. E to A is a 4th
You are correct in this statement but that’s not how a guitar is tuned. It’s tuned E A D G all 4ths G to B is a third B to E is a 4th.
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Steve, when you reach the circle of 5ths lessons in Justin’s music theory course (module 4) you may also wish to extend your depth and breadth of understanding by reading my tips topics which start here: The Circle of Fifths Part 1 - where does it come from?
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator
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@stitch That is true if when you are starting from the lowest string which is the standard and preferred way of viewing the string tuning. But if you start from the highest string and work backwards the intervals are fifths except from the 2nd to the 3rd string. I was going in that direction on purpose to show the relationship between the open string orders and the circle of fifths. Going from G to D is a fifth, from D to A is a fifth and from A to E is a fifth.
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Counter-clockwise the circle of fifths becomes the circle of fourths.
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@stitch I couldn’t end this discussion without admitting that you are 100% correct and I I know better. I first learned to tune the guitar by the 5th string tuning method, where for example the fifth fret of the low E string is the note A (the 4th above E) which matches the A of the open fifth string. I was guilty of sloppy thinking in introducing the idea of the tuning of the strings. It is just the open string sequences a letters that can match the circle of fifths in the clockwise directions from G to E. If the first and second string were to be tuned to C and F you would have all the strings tuned by 4ths, which I heard is used by a few jazz players that are exclusively single note improvisers. It would make chords more difficult 
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I think the thing that contributes to my sloppy thinking is that the strings are numbered 1 to 6 from highest to lowest pitch strings. You would think it would be the other way around since the strings are tuned up from the lowest strings and the pitch is ascending from the lowest string and the lowest string is on the bottom in TAB. The only way it is ascending is by altitude or height since the highest string is closest to the ground when playing the guitar.
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