How to ACE Your Guitar Fretboard with Octaves

September 13, 2023

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to here: www.guitarsuccess4u.com/ACE.  It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.

Transcript and diagrams included below…

If you’re looking for a game-changing strategy for claiming the fretboard quickly and effectively – that most people don’t know about – this is the place to start. 

So first, what’s an octave?  It’s a perfect interval comprised of 12 half steps, where the low note and the high note share the same name, but are located in different registers.

Take a look at this legend for a moment. 

I’ve got yellow lines to indicate octaves where I skip one string. Note that I need to make an accommodation for the tuning, as I traverse the Major 3^rd in the tuning on the way to strings 2 and 1.

Then I have a blue line that shows where I can play an octave as I skip two strings – and still play the notes simultaneously with my fretting hand. I’ll do this only from strings 5 to 2 today. 

Lastly, I have a green line to indicate a double octave from strings 6 to 1, as I skip four strings.

All of these lines will come into play with the three diagrams I’m about to walk you through. Remember, I’m working with octaves that can be played simultaneously with my fretting hand.

Now before we continue, I’m going to let you in on a little secret that will reveal how the fretboard works in this situation, through a mathematical sequence of numbers. You ready?

Think of the three lowest single-digit odd numbers in decreasing order. What are they? 5, 3, 1.  

Now, how about the three lowest single-digit even numbers in decreasing order? They are: 6, 4, 2. 

Try saying those sequences back to back a couple times, starting with the odds.

5, 3, 1, 6, 4, 2, 5, 3, 1, 6, 4, 2.

As you will soon see, these numbers tell us which string to use as we map out the octaves from low to high on the frets.

We have a 6-string instrument. Between frets 0 and 11, a single note appears only once per string, so how many instances of that note will we find on the fretboard inside that frontier? Six instances.

I’m providing three diagrams I’ll reference as I continue forward.

Let’s start with the A notes. Observe (on the accompanying video) as I connect these notes together by four octaves, and one double octave.  

Starting with the lowest note fret-wise on the open 5^th string, the A notes are on strings 5, 3, 1, 6, 4, 2. 

If we know how to form the octaves, the notes just fall into place, using our sequence of descending odd and even numbers. Notice that the C notes start “mid-sequence,” beginning on string 2.

The E notes can start off with a double octave, indicated by a green line from strings 1 to 6.

As a bonus (in the video) I can start on string 6, and actually make my way all the way up to the 12^th fret of the 1^st string to make this even more neatly laid out for you, with the descending even numbers, followed by the descending odd numbers.

So today, we learned how to map out the fretboard octaves with the notes: A, C, and E. And what does that spell? ACE! We just figured out how to ACE our fretboard with octaves!

What does this help us do? Anything we want!  Moveable chords, scales, arpeggios, capo positions, the CAGED System, and more.  It literally unlocks our fretboard for us!

Well, hopefully, there were some “lightbulbs” that appeared over your head during this quick lesson.  As you can imagine, there’s so much more.  We covered three notes today – and there are technically 12 notes…and you better believe that we cover all of them from multiple angles inside GuitarSuccess4U, leading to mastery of the fretboard. 

We don’t just focus on fretboard KNOWLEDGE, though.  We take time for the APPLICATION of that knowledge to cultivate artistry and musicianship.  This experience at GuitarSuccess4U could be what’s missing from your guitar journey.  Please head on over to GuitarSuccess4U.com to see what we’re all about.

Thanks for having some serious fun with me today, sharpening your skills.  Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time!