Fretboard Mapping - Like a Retro Video Game

July 20, 2022

Pro tip: please watch the video version of this post that I link to here: www.GuitarSuccess4U.com/Fretboard.  It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.

How do we effectively navigate our way around the entire guitar fretboard?  Let me share an analogy with you. 

In the mid-1980s, when I was about 10 years old, I discovered computer adventure games.  Remember the 5¼” floppy disk? 

That was my ticket to becoming a digital hero for the first time.

Whether I was saving a princess in a distant land or finding lost treasure in underground caverns, I found it super helpful to draw complete maps of these games so I could know where the obstacles and traps were, and so I could retrace my steps.  These maps saved me a ton of time, and I won all those games because I had the maps.

My approach to the guitar fretboard is a lot like that.  Can I give you a window into how I’ve mapped it out?  Game on.

So, my background in piano has taught me that in the 12-tone scale, there are 7 white notes and 5 black notes, for a total of 12 notes.  The guitar notes repeat every 12 frets, so if we just take, for example, the 6th string, we can map it out and see that there are black and white notes that match up to the piano.  If we know the musical alphabet, which ends on G, we can even locate those notes on the map. 

Watch as I play the white notes from E to E on the piano in a scale known by many as the Phrygian Mode. 

The notes are E, F, G, A, B, C, D, and E.  I’ve started on the low E, and ended UP an octave on the high E.  Now I’ll find those same notes on the 6th string of my guitar. Check out this diagram I’m including.

Now, not including that high E, I’ve played 7 unique white notes, here on frets Zero, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10. 

Now I’ll play the BLACK notes on the piano.  These are the sharps or the flats.  They can be found as a group of 3, or a group of 2, for a total of 5 notes, which completes our 12- tone scale. 

Now I’ll play those 5 black notes on the 6th string of my guitar.  The group of 3 black notes is on frets 2, 4, and 6.  Then there’s the group of two black notes on frets 9 and 11.

I now have a clear view of all 12 notes of the 12-tone scale on the 6th string.  And this mapping process will save me a ton of time.  This is a victory.  A win!

If you’re a gamer, you know the term “gamespace.”  It’s the virtual space within which a video game takes place.  This fretboard is our gamespace.  And a map is essential, because it guides us as we create music, not by accident, but on purpose! 

Having an understanding of how the notes are all laid out like this for all 6 strings can empower us with scales, arpeggios, chords, capo positions, and so much more.

So take this approach and get to know the notes.  Each note of the 12-tone scale appears only once on each string from open to the 11th fret.  Try finding the appearance of a single note, like the note C – on the 8th fret of the 6th string.  Try going up and down on a single string, naming all the notes as you play.  This strategy leads to musical fluency in a way that could unlock the guitar for you.