The best exercise to learn the notes on the fretboard is right here!
View the full lesson at The "Find-A-Note" Exercise | JustinGuitar
Iām glad you mention leaving out the open strings. That has the nice benefit of making clean breaks between the octaves as you move up and down the strings. Iāve combined this exercise with a visual technique to get a picture of how the octave ranges cover the fretboard. I drew a 22 fret fretboard and colored the four octave ranges with four different colored pencils. I found this very helpful for me to look at and get a different perspective on the range of the guitar.
3 Likes
Hello @mindsounds and welcome to the Community.
That sounds like a good way of helping yourself to digest and absorb the learning.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
When it comes to putting this exercise to a metronome I did find even 60bpm very challenging at one note per click. My answer to this problem is to allow more clicks between notes. I started at 4 clicks, then down to 2 until I was ready for the 1.
1 Like
What has helped more than anything else when it comes to memorizing the fretboard is Justinās Guitar Note Trainer. The app is a must. It makes learning the fretboard fun.
3 Likes
Thanks for the recommendation @JamesSuntres
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Approved Teacher
I played around on this exercise for the first time yesterday and I totally discovered something that made me very excited. Iām not going to spoil it for others by describing it here, because it feels awesome to have discovered it on my own, and Iām sure others will feel the same way too if they USE THIS APP AND THIS EXERCISE. It is way cool!
2 Likes
Iām curious on guidance around how long to keep doing the exercises. Iām able to play each note, for all notes, up and down the fretboard at 80bpm and, using the Note Trainer app, can quickly name all notes either by sight or using the fretboard in the mind. Like anyone, Iāve invested a lot of time memorizing the notes across the fretboard and I fret (see what I did there) that if I donāt keep it up, Iāll start to forget the notes. I guess what Iām asking is, based on otherās experience, is learning the fretboard like riding a bike - once done, never forgotten?
1 Like
Thereās no right or wrong here. Finding any note within one or two seconds is what Iām aiming for.
Most people will find it pretty easy to name any note right away on the low E, the A and the high E string, because we (should) know the root notes for our barre/power chords.
The other strings are a bit more difficult, thatās where the octave shapes are really helpful.
I stopped doing this exercise exercise once I started transcribing and analyzing songs, melodies and solos. It became part of the bigger picture.
Many songs I like use the E and A minor pentatonic scale. By now, I know where those notes are (E, G, A, B, C and D). So any other note is just one fret next to a note I know.
The more you learn and analyze stuff, the easier it gets. I donāt think you forget it once itās under your fingers.
1 Like
As you utilise triads, arpeggios, scales, etc,etc ā¦all these are reinforcing and continually developing fretboard knowkedge, so it will be neverendingā¦
Cheers, Shane
1 Like
Hello @summacube and welcome to the community.
From what you describe youāre fine to move on. You may occasionally reach a point where you need to think again but as Jeff says, in practice, the notes will all pop out and be there for you.
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard | JustinGuitar Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Moderator
1 Like
Thanks so much for the helpful feedback and taking the time to respond. 
1 Like
Thank you!
1 Like
Great. Thanks so much!
1 Like
I want to know what your record in 3 minutes is with the notetrainer app in all four learning methods. I want to see what my goal could be or what should I reach?
1 Like
This is an awesome and really helpful exercise.
added to my daily until I know the fret board 
2 Likes
Just found out about this from the video, Iāll try it out, from the looks of it it seems to be pretty goodā¦
1 Like
Wondering at what speed on the metrenome did people move on?
The Justin recommended 160 bpm a is wicked speed.
I am solid at 100 and good at 120 any recs?
Cheers
Also, it is much easier using multiple fingers.
Is that ok when using the metronome at this speed?
2 Likes
Donāt let your reasonable speed hold you back from learning more theory. The find-a-note exercise is something you can and will revisit in years to come. 160bpm is not an essential target for all notes before doing something else. And Justin clearly states that using a metronome with bpm is ālonger-termā.
He also states that at that point it is an exercise that is challenging you to make jumps with your hand - hence the one finger approach.
1 Like
was fun to start as recommended in the lesson and then I started jumping on the same pitch, wherever it goes from String 1 to 6 or 6 to 1, one string after the other, so for example all Eās at the same pitch from string 1 to 6, etcā¦ It helped me a lot to visualise and order out the fretboard in 2 dimensions.
By the way, and itās probably a kinestetic issue, above the 12th fret, struggled a bit finding new spatial references as the frets grow narrower. Very interesting exercise to work from fret 1 to 12, then 12 and above, eventually combining the whole.
And check what Cory Wong think about knowing notes on the fretboard: āDidnāt know this would trigger so many folks ā I'm here for itā: Cory Wong slams guitarists who can't play every note on command
I am glad I am learning 
2 Likes