Mastering The Frets on the Neck Of A Guitar With Simple Patterns
If you have heard of the CAGED guitar system or you have some basic musical theory knowledge then what I’m going to talk about in this article probably won’t be that ground breaking for you.
However if you’re struggling to remember which barre chords are where and you haven’t noticed that the same chords shapes we use in the open first position (example A and E) are used as barre chords in other places on the neck pay close attention because what I’m going to share with you in this lesson is going to blow your mind.
I’m going to assume in this article that you know how to play an E shape and an A shape barre chord. If that doesn’t make sense to you then you may want to review the basics of barre chords and maybe even consider getting a DVD guitar lesson which will review and teach the basics.
The Theory Behind Note Spacing
Music has it’s own alphabet which you may or may not know. The letters in the musical alphabet are A through G. In music, since there is a tone or sound associated with each letter and we hear those tones as higher or lower then each other, there must be some measure of spacing between a higher note and a lower note.
Spacing between music notes is measured in term so steps, either a half or whole step. On the guitar neck a whole step is two frets, while a half step is only one fret. Using this measurement of guitar frets we can explain more about how this spacing works.
For now lets not consider anything about sharps or flats and assume there are only the seven notes available to us (A through G). Between every note there is a whole step (that’s two frets) except for two places. The two exceptions to the whole step rule are between E and F and B and C. Each of these only has a half step or one fret separating them.
Here’s an example of what I Mean. If we’re playing the first fret of the low E string or 6th string that is an F note. If we go up two frets to the 3rd fret we’re not playing a G note because we’ve moved up one whole step or two frets. If we move up another two frets we’ll be playing an A note on the 5th fret of the E string. Another two frets and we have a B note at the 7th and here’s one of the exceptions, we move up only one fret to the 8th Fret to play a C note. Remember there’s only half a step between B and C.
Using Steps on the Neck with Chords
Ok let’s take this new found knowledge and apply it to barre chords on your guitar. I’ll assume that you know an E shape chord played as a barre chord on the first fret is an F chord. Starting with that F chord how can we get to a G chord knowing what we just learned?So let’s find the G chord using the same shape. How much space is between an F and a G chord? It’s one whole step right? So let’s slide up two frets to the 3rd fret, keep the same chord shape and now you’re playing a G chord.
Let’s try another one, from the 3rd Fret G chord we can move up another two frets and what comes after G? An A chord at the 5th fret is the correct answer.
I hope you can see how this pattern is working and how you can apply it to notes and chord shapes around the neck.
How exactly does this aid you in your playing? There are two ways. For starters you can find other chords on the neck using the same barre chord shape so long as you know at least the location of one other chord.
The second benefit is that you’ll be able to find the notes on the fret board starting from any one particular note as well.
While the information on its own doesn’t do much if you learn it and practice it on the guitar neck it can open up a whole new world for you of what notes and chords are where on each string and position on the guitar neck.
This one piece of information is one of the most important guitar lesson I ever learned when I was first starting out and I use this same knowledge when I’m jamming alone or playing with friends, it will stick with you for good.
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