Mastering The Fretboard. A Challenge that Leads To Being Free to Fly on the Guitar
The guitar is an interesting instrument, because on the one hand, it’s not really all that hard to play in the 3 chord sing around the campfire mode, but it’s very hard to play in a “I really know what the hell I’m doing” way. The main stumbling block is that vast expanse known as the fretboard.
To put it as simply as I can, in order to master the fretboard you need to first of all be able to play in any key, anywhere on the neck.
More specifically, you need to be able to:
- Play in one key freely up and down the neck.
- Be able to play thru all 12 keys in any position, without moving out of that position.
With number 1, you are free to roam the fretboard and not get boxed into a position even in the simplest of tunes. Thus you can express yourself and be creative.
With number 2, you are able to shift into another key seamlessly in mid phrase anywhere on the neck, enabling you to improvise solos thru jazz tunes or any style of music or tune with abrupt key changes. Number 2 is commonly referred to as “playing thru changes” as in chord changes.
Being able to do what I just described is essential to know as a serious guitar player, whatever style you want to play, not just for jazz. Without it, you can’t speak the language of music. Even cats who cannot read a lick of music know how the fretboard is laid out, even if they taught themselves or whatever.
It’s really just a bullshit excuse to use great players who don’t read as examples for not having to learn your keys and notes, to avoid the hard work of learning the fretboard. None of us are gonna do that or else you wouldn’t be reading this, right?
Ok, check it out. I got a system. And once you get the hang of it, it’s not all that hard. In order to get to being able to use the system, you need to first jump a few hurdles.
Hurdle #1: You will need to learn the 7 forms of the major scale. And when I say learn them I mean be able to play them without any hesitation and memorize them.
Hurdle #2: You will need to know the key signatures for all 12 major scales, i.e. what notes are in each key.
Hurdle #3: You will need to draw fretboard maps for all 12 major scales and keys.
Peter Lerner has toured with Grammy award winning pianist Ramsey Lewis and has played duets on NBC and CBS with acclaimed trumpeter Orbert Davis. Peter has performed with Bill Russo’s Chicago Jazz Ensemble at the Jazz Showcase where he performed with such luminaries as Lee Konitz.
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