Master The Guitar Fretboard: Learn To Play The Guitar Again the REAL Way - Lead Guitar Lessons For Beginners And Intermediate Players Stuck In A Rut

By Joe Dochtermann

"Master The Guitar Fretboard: Master The Guitar Fretboard: Learn To Play The Guitar Again the REAL Way" is more than the typical lead guitar method that usually teaches the CAGED method and a few basic hand positions. Now it it's 2nd edition, this comprehensive ebook for aspiring lead guitarists gives you a variety of perspectives on learning your way around the guitar neck. You will learn to hear scales as a collection of colorful tones and to view the patterns they form on the guitar as a series of flowing, interconnected patterns - easy to visualize and useful in practice.

A unique strong point is the author's clear presentation of music theory adapted for the guitar. You will learn notes, intervals, chord theory, scale construction (and more) all by having the guitar fretboard under your fingertips as you go. Not confusing classroom theory, but practical, applicable ideas that help you make music.

To reinforce what you learn, the author has chosen excerpts from well-known songs and guitar solos, clearly demonstrating how the concepts presented are at work in the examples. This shows you how you can take scales or arpeggios - typically rather boring entities - and turn them into musical ideas and phrases. The author also teaches his variation on the CAGED system, but expanded and improved to be more useful for soloing or rhythm playing. This is then further expanded to work through practical exercises and guitar licks - again showing you how these have been used in noteworthy solos.

The final two chapters offer unusual addition value - the author presents both a comprehensive guitar setup chapter (neck, action, stringing, & hardware adjustments) and advice on choosing the best bang-for-your-buck guitars, amps, and effects, as well as creative tips for using guitar effects.

There is something in here for you no matter what your skill level - and as we guitarists know, every bit of refreshing advice and every new perspective on the fretboard brings on a flood of new ideas and pure enjoyment when you stomp on that overdrive pedal during your next jam session.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Dochtermann
• Release date: Feb 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301483822

Book preview

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Master The Guitar Fretboard:

Learn To Play The Guitar Again the REAL Way - Lead Guitar Lessons For Beginners And Intermediate Players Stuck In A Rut

By Joe Dochtermann Copyright 2013 Joe Dochtermann

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Foreword

Thank you for purchasing Master The Fretboard: Learn To Play The Guitar Again The Real Way - Lessons For Beginners And The Intermediate Player Stuck In A Rut.

This book is a learning method and information resource for guitar players of all styles and experience levels, from rock to blues to heavy metal. It is meant as much for beginners as for intermediate players who have found themselves stuck in a rut; that dreaded feeling when you pick up the guitar and play only the same old licks and riffs. This book provides you with fresh perspectives for viewing the fretboard, new ideas, and plenty of challenges to blow out the cobwebs and get yourself interested in playing the guitar all over again. I hope that you enjoy it and get to know the guitar better along the way.

The first chapters are aimed at the beginner with no prior experience on the guitar. I do, however, recommend that even more experienced guitarists browse through these sections. You may just have an Aha! experience or two and see the instrument from another angle. I also like to hear from different players about how they view the instrument, and I am sure that what I present here will have a few fresh angles for you.

Learn material that is new to you in small bites. This will assure that you are confident in what you learn and gain a strong feeling for the connection between notes, scales, chords, arpeggios, melodies, and solos. For this you will need some time. So don’t rush; your investment of time will pay off.

If you have ordered this eBook as a .pdf file, it is print enabled, so you may want to print select pages so you can refer to the charts diagrams and tablature while practicing without sitting in front of your computer. Kindle and iBooks/iTunes orders may follow contact instructions at the end of the eBook to request a printable PDF version.

Be sure to bookmark my site http://www.joedocmusic.com - I post a Guitar Journal with new video lessons each month (follow 'joedocmusic' channel on YouTube), and offer a variety of DVD and eBook lessons. Since this eBook is included with the Guitar Concepts DVD, you can apply the purchase price to ordering the DVD at any time. Again, just follow contact instructions at the end of the eBook to take advantage of the discount.

Get those fingers warmed up, and brew a pot of coffee - there's a lot of info to absorb!

Thank you for your support,

Joe Dochtermann

Text and images copyright 2013 Joe Dochtermann / www.joedocmusic.com, all rights reserved. Text and/or graphics may not be reproduced, transmitted or redistributed in whole or in part without express permission of the author. Excerpted works of third parties are used exclusively for the demonstration of the concepts presented in this educational text and in the spirit of 'fair use'.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: The Basics Of Understanding The Guitar Fretboard

Chapter 2: Why Your Digital Tuner Isn't Enough

Chapter 3: Chord Connections

Chapter 4: Scales & Chords: Close Relatives

Chapter 5: Inventive Rhythm Guitar

Chapter 6: Expressive Techniques

Chapter 7: Technique - Developing Speed

Chapter 8: Expanding Your Scale Vocabulary

Chapter 9: The Bigger Picture - Combined Concepts

Chapter 10: Gear! Amps, Guitars, Effects

Chapter 11: D.I.Y Guitar Setup

Ch11: Proper Stringing

Ch11: Truss Rod/Neck Relief

Ch11: Action - Adjusting String Height

Ch11: Adjusting The Intonation

Ch11: Buzzing Strings

Ch11: Fret Maintenance

Author's Note

Chapter 1: The Basics Of Learning The Guitar Fretboard

(Return to TOC)

Learning where to find notes on the fretboard of the guitar very important for becoming a capable guitarist. Even the anti-technique guitarists understand this, although they are often just aware of the relationship between notes, and ignore their names. Let’s start by learning both, and if you decide to be against, then you can forget the names.

For those of you who are just beginning, you need to know that the guitar has six strings, and the standard tuning of these strings is - from the lowest (thickest string and lowest note) to the highest (thinnest string and highest note) – E – A – D – G – B – E. We will other methods of tuning the guitar in a later chapter.

The first step is to learn the notes of the E-string. The bonus here is that the guitar has two E-strings, so you will learn 1/3 of the notes on the guitar in one shot.

Many of the chords played on the guitar have their bass note (lowest note, and the note after which the chord is named) on the low E-string, so learning the notes of this string is extremely important. Here is a no-frills sketch; all you need to understand this first important step:

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By picking the low E-string without placing a finger on the fretboard, you will sound an E note.

By placing a finger of your left hand on the first fret of the low E-string and picking the string, you will sound an F note, and so on as labeled.

[Hint: Unfortunately, the frets marked with a black square (with dots on a Telecaster or Strat, mother of pearl inlays on a Les Paul, etc.) do not line up with any particular type of note. These markers are just there to give you a bit of visual orientation. They are usually at frets 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12.]

The notes marked with a # are read as sharp. For example F# is read as F sharp.

Any note which is marked with a # (sharp) can also be called the flat (symbol b) of the note above it. Huh? Ok, look...

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Moving up the string is considered from the headstock of the guitar towards the body of the guitar. This is true even though when you sit with the guitar, the headstock points upward! This is a point of confusion for many beginning guitarists, and it is important to clear this up now.

The point is that some notes have two names. An F# is the same as a Gb. A G# is the same as an Ab. This is important to know when you look at a chord progression and would like to play along!

The guitar is a bit complicated in terms of how the notes are laid out, and maybe that is why many guitarists choose to be ignorant of note names...

Pianists have it a lot easier. Just look at how neatly the notes are laid out on a piano! The white keys are natural notes (no sharp or flat) and the black keys in between are the accidentals (sharp/flat names).

Notice how the notes repeat after the seventh note:

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The way in which the notes repeat after 12 little steps helps us with learning the notes of the guitar! Starting at the 12th fret of the guitar, all the notes REPEAT EXACTLY.

ALL THE NOTES on the guitar REPEAT EXACTLY from the12th FRET!

Don’t underestimate this information! Anything and everything you learn on the guitar below the 12th fret can be repeated exactly 12 frets higher. This is like having half of your homework done for free.

Combine this with the fact that you have TWO E-strings, and there isn’t too much left to memorize.

You already know 1/3 of the notes on the guitar. Not a bad start. Let’s get a few tuning tip under our belts, and you will see that you have conquered another 1/3 of the notes in no time.

Chapter 2: Why Your Digital Tuner Isn’t Enough.

(Return to TOC)

Let’s imagine that you’re jamming with a few friends, or maybe even onstage at a gig. The drummer counts off... you strike the first chord and it rings