Fret Science is dedicated to reducing the amount of memorization and repetitive practice needed to become fluent on the guitar. My videos are aimed at intermediate guitarists looking for a better understanding of the fretboard, but they're accessible to motivated beginners, and they will give even seasoned pros an occasional "aha" moment.
I teach the building blocks of music -- intervals, triads, arpeggios, and scales -- in ways that can be understood in minutes and easily recalled from memory, so that you'll never need to look at a scale or chord diagram again. Better yet, these new mental models will give you astonishing insight into your favorite guitarists' riffs and solos and supercharge your creativity on the instrument.
Fret Science videos are packed with information (zero fluff), and they always include a twist that's different -- and hopefully better -- than the standard way these topics are taught.
It is so important to learn the notes on the fretboard in the beggining. All you really need to know are on a six string guitar is EADGBE. And then on E and F and B and C there are no sharps or flats. So next fret is an F from an E and from a B to a C. Then over and over and over again. But everyone wants to play songs. Why know the notes of the chords you are playing? As a bassist I really need to know what the guitarist is playing. The notes I play is dependant on the chords the guitarist/guitarists are playing.
Why learn how to read and write the language you’re speaking? For communication and deeper understanding. This channel is primarily about learning the fretboard for improvisation, and knowing the names of all the notes is a huge accelerant for learning to improvise. My “big picture” video explains this.
I like this new approach. It's still a little strange when moving the pattern the high E first string doesn't go to the first string with the same distance. For example pattern 4 to patter 2. I guess it's not a 6 string pattern so thinking of it like you said as a 5 string pattern is what you have to do. That does make it a little less friendly. I learned this the old school way so I might need to clear my mind on the way I am looking at this. It's very interesting and fun to learn this way.
The wording a forth moving up get you tot the same note moving down seems off. Starting on C fourth moving up is F and a 5th moving down is G. 2 different notes. That's not the same note. I always say the circle of 5ths going right and left going 4ths. Maybe because the first scales after C were G then D. Anyway what's your thoughts behind the same not going up a fourth and down a fifth? I think you were trying to say going up a forth from C is F. If you go back down a fifth from F you go back to the starting note C.
A fifth below a C is an F, and a fourth above a C is also an F, which are the same note one octave apart. I hope that helps! A fifth down from F is Bb. Maybe you’re interpreting “down from” differently? My video on intervals covers this in a little more depth
If this is too much for me to even care to learn should I give up on guitar as a whole? I’m a month in and having fun playing open chords but all of this is a big nope for me
This isn’t really aimed at beginners. When you want to understand the instrument better and start getting creative, or when you want to move chord voicings up and down the neck, you’ll need to know the names of the notes
Thank you for sharing this with us. This is a huge discovery for me. Changed my life. I wonder if people of different learning styles respond differently to the traditional guitar training. I could not however hard I try get creative with the traditional way without sounding bad. Now thats gonna change
@@fretscience one question. Can I beginner like myself just focus on the minor patterns exclusively for a time? Switching back and fourth makes it harder to retain.
@MarkandSandieInMotion Yes, you can absolutely do that. I recommend focusing on the rectangle and stack patterns themselves (which are exactly the same in both scales) and on where the roots are for the minor pentatonic. Then, when you start working in major pentatonic, you can primarily focus on the change of root positions. As you get more practice with them over time, you can start to absorb where the other intervals are, and for that, I recommend also watching my Intervals video and thinking of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th as positions relative to the root. The more you focus on how shapes relate to the root positions, the easier it will be to connect together other arpeggios and scales and to be able to switch seamlessly between them.
But for what it’s worth, there is also value in switching back and forth and making your brain work a little harder to remember the differences between the two scales. The effort of recalling the information is what makes it stick in the long run. If may feel like slower progress, but it can end up being faster in practice.
Huge lightbulb moment from this video Sir. Absolutely fantastic lesson, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Best explanation ive heard to connect the dots with root notes rather than memorising large patterns and a great insight on how to play specific notes to make improvisation sound a lot more musical!.
Fantastic and so helpful to see these diagrams. A brilliant way to explain it. I'm wondering how I would go about learning this? Do you have a video on the application of how to learn this? Thank you!
Thanks! This video gives an overview of the method and a recommended viewing order for some of my other videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tpC115zjKiw.htmlsi=-m_8AQC2QW3dgpCu I haven’t provided a lot of step by step exercises in my videos so far, but that’s something I’m starting to do on Patreon
I only just got a guitar 3 days ago and from a beginners standpoint this is so incredibly helpful, I’m gonna check out more of your videos because this was the best, thank you :)
Thanks! If you’re just starting out, many of my videos may not be relevant to you yet, and some of them may assume some music theory knowledge you don’t have yet. The Cowboy Chord Superpowers video may be your best bet to try next: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qC3nLJXxr3I.htmlsi=Mgpqe6CT48fWX1PU
The other place to start is my “big picture” video, which explains my method for understanding the fretboard at a high level: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tpC115zjKiw.htmlsi=uJsVITp5hLUAr48C Based on that one, you’ll get a good sense of whether the other videos are right for you at this stage of your journey
I can only say thank you for this channel! Your scientific approach and logic is just fantastic. Just wanna say thank you, I will teach this to my sons!! Specially the warp, the best I am able to play any pentatonic shape, chord, triad, scales, modes on the whole guitar easily without thinking thanks to your genius and work, I will buy the PDF and every one should do it to as gratitude gesture!! 🎸🙌🙏
I'm a self thought keyboardist, and I had a strong reject mental about learning guitar because of how confusing for me to learn and a lot of youtuber who are teaching guitar arent meant from keyboardist trying to learn guitar in the first place so I always fail to understand it since a lot of guitarist complicates the method of teaching notes to strings, but recently after I tried making some 80s/Retrowave music, I found that I still need to learn guitar, and lately I ended up learning the fret notes instead of chords first because that's how us keyboardist learn music notes lol
Hey Keith. I’m glad I found your site from all the “free” hubbub online. After playing the minor pentatonic scale for years it seems my ear is tuned to hearing the flats while trying to play through the major pentatonic scale. I always seem to land on the tonal center for the minor pentatonic. Any tips?
I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking, but I definitely recommend checking out my video on the pentatonic scale: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wzWE0dpxnmY.htmlsi=jjNiev5XNaJdOeF6 And then maybe spend some time playing just the major pentatonic scale over a drone or a simple loop to get the sound of it more firmly in your ears. Using the rectangle and stack approach from my video, you can practice targeting the root, major third, and fifth of that scale to get a feel for where they are in the pentatonic shapes (which is quite different from the target notes in the minor pentatonic scale)
I’m new to this and a bit confused as to why when you move from form 4 to form 3, why the shift from the two e strings changes from two frets apart to only one fret apart. This change seems random with my current understanding.
Yes. Spend time early learning the fret board. What I did back in the seventies was easy. I drew a guitar neck. In-between the frets I wrote the notes. I then made copies.On each copy I circled the notes for a specific scale. I did this for all twelve major scales and related modes. I then drew a blank neck, and I showed which fingers were used when playing the scale. I had it memorized way before I finished making the charts.
So the picture is of the fretboard upside down but you keep saying bottom and top of the rectangles in relation to the way we are looking at them on the screen. But shouldn't that really be reversed since you're looking at the fretboard upside down? As a very visual learner and new to all of this, it's very confusing to me and not intuitive at all. Seems like it would make more sense to just show the fretboard the way we are used to seeing it with the low E at the top and not the bottom.
I’m sorry to hear that it’s confusing. The orientation I use in my illustrations matches what is shown in tablature and in decades worth of guitar books, so I feel like we’re stuck with it. In this orientation, bottom corresponds to low notes, and top to high notes, which at least metaphorically matches the language. It might help to think of it as tilting the guitar back a bit and looking down on the fretboard in your lap.
@@fretscience not your fault and I get that it's been done this way for decades. Just seems to make sense to have the tabs look like they would if you were sitting across from a guitar teacher. Now I have to take what the teacher shows me and reverse all that in my head so the tab makes sense. Just seems way more complicated than it really should be that's all. Guess I'll just stay in the minority and keep reversing all the charts so they make sense to me. Thanks for the video!!! The rectangle thing really makes a lot of sense.
80+ years old and I get these insights now, after too many years with understanding the theory but not how to put it into practice. Better late then.... THANKS
@@fretscience Thanks Keith for the warm welcome! I just had a look at your site, and what you right at the beginning of "about" fits perfectly to my own situation. I played rhythm in several bands and still do so, and then started with fingerstyle some years ago with the idea to play melody lines just the way I do with a flute or harmonica. I manage now with simple chord progressions, but when it gets to more sophistic patterns it's not that easy any more. Your conclusions will definitely help me to shorten up the improvement process!
@ruedihuber8798 That’s great to hear! If my other videos resonate with you and you’re interested in diving deeper into melodic improvisation, I’m about to soft-launch a step-by-step improvisation course for playing melodically over blues/rock chord changes over on my Patreon: patreon.com/fretscience
Watching your videos feels like diving into a scientific paper that cracks the secrets of the universe. I’m truly amazed by what I’ve learned, and your approach makes everything click and make sense to me. Thank you so much, Keith!
I've never sat down and learned the fretboard. But I just happen to know exactly what to play, it's really weird. I usually can find the root note first try on multiple strings without thinking about it. I do however have difficulty coming up with different patterns to play. Any tips to help with this?
If you can reliably find roots, my other videos will show you how to use that knowledge to instantly find any arpeggio or scale in that neighborhood of the fretboard without having to memorize dozens of patterns. This video gives an overview of the approach and a suggested viewing order for several others: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tpC115zjKiw.htmlsi=H54bdjhgeq3Eoj_E
Beginning guitarist here, used to play piano and the way you explain it makes a lot of sense. Sort of odd the patterns to be honest, but at least there is a natural pattern. Also very well explained video. The diagrams help a lot visually, which im sure took you a while so thank you for taking the time to give us this free lesson!
Rhetorically speaking, it baffles me how it is possible, even if a viewer completely forgot grade school music theory, that when naming notes on each string's frets the terms B#/C, Cb/B, E#/F, and E/Fb get so much hate, to the extent some video authors will say either that there's no #/b for those notes [what?!] or omit any discussion of the inconsistency. I grew up with a piano keyboard in my head, thinking that I'd pick up guitar one day, but life happened then the collective inconsistencies of guitar inform have made me double down instead of folding when thinking of my bucket list. So, 6 strings of monochromatic semitones will be mine! Enharmonic keys on the circle of fifths will learn freedom by my hands and under my fingers. Had a real "duh" moment of an epiphany when you mentioned circle of fifths adjacent to string names though. Thanks for that.
In this already long video, I saw no need to introduce additional complexity, especially in an area that has almost zero practical impact for my audience (hobbyist guitar players). I’m not interested in arguing this point, but in 40 years of studying and playing music, the enharmonic names you mentioned have only mattered for notational correctness-never for practical usage. I have no hate for B#, Cb, E#, and Fb, but they’re tangential at best to the aims of this video.
Debería ser el sistema estándar para enseñar esos temas que contemplan una buena parte de la teoría musical de la guitarra. No hay hasta el momento una forma más práctica para estudiarlo.
AS a Memory "warped" old player, I love your method presented here. It's possibly going to allow me to "learn the modes" without boring out my remaining memory trying to memorize 5 patterns of 7 modes (35 separate patterns, am I right?). I've become more interested in figuring out the target mode to play over any given chord progression, ie. how to determine that. Thanks so much for this!
@wickbeavers Thanks! I also recommend checking out my “big picture” video - in my other videos I have another approach to the modes that’s even more useful for making music: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tpC115zjKiw.htmlsi=AkHNZlm_FFgNzFM4
Wow! why did I not know Dorian is relative to Lydian, and Phrygian is relative to mixolydian for a given root name? always knew about Aeolian and Ionians relationship.
I don’t think they are commonly discussed relationships, so they are not widely appreciated. The other under appreciated relationship is between Dorian and Mixolydian, which only differ by the b3. If you play Dorian in a dominant context and bend the b3 slightly, you’re playing in the gray area between Dorian and Mixolydian, and that is one of the key elements of a bluesy sound.
Good call! You might be interested in my Cowboy Chord Superpowers video in the meantime: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qC3nLJXxr3I.htmlsi=DdbJ2KxoQs0UZNzC Cheers! 🎸🧪🤘
