Using guitar flash cards to learn the notes on the guitar

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I’m an amateur guitar player, and like many, struggled, trying to learn the notes on the guitar fretboard. Trying to memorize the notes, one fret at a time, just didn’t work for me. What finally worked was to test myself every day, using guitar flash cards. A little test every day. Once you really know the notes, looking at a printed guitar arrangement is no longer a problem. I still do use tablature, but knowing the notes, you can spot errrors in tablature, and knowing the notes, you can make tablature arrangements of popular songs better by making some changes in the tablature.

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I still struggle with that myself. A few different strategies that I employ as part of my practice routine to help with that:

  1. Reciting the notes at the 5th and 7th frets (once you know those by heart, it gives you good anchor points)
  2. Practicing the C Major scale slowly, reciting the notes (easier done going up in pitch, absurdly hard going back down)
  3. A few minutes of practice with the Justin Guitar Note Trainer app Note Trainer | JustinGuitar.com - mainly “name the note” and “find the note”, although there are also some memory quizzes in the app.

Your mileage may vary, but these have been working for me :slight_smile:

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I always learn/play from a written guitar arrangement , so because I used cards to learn the notes I learned the notes in a “visual way. “
So I see a note on the paper and know where that note is, in the different frets immediately. I learned “visually thanks to seeing the cards again and again and again.

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thanks all for sharing your tips on your study tricks.

We’re all different styles of learners, and it’s good to be exposed to alternative methods (even more so when it is alternative to nothing :wink:

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You might find advantage in checking out the Caged system. This concentrates on the root notes within the different chords and builds from there across the whole fretboard.

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Learn to play the C major scale on each string starting with the lowest available note, singing the name of the note as you play. One string at a time (E) until memorised, then backwards from bridge to neck. Move on to the next string (A) and start again.

Wash rinse repeat.

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