An Intensive Journey to Demystifying the Fretboard - Part 1

First Notes

Learning and practising all twelve (or twenty-four) scales is essential for any guitarist, as it is an efficient way of building technique and developing awareness. But, practising doesn't have to be a purely mechanical exercise.

My main objectives in the way that I approach the instrument are:

to be able to see all notes across the whole fretboard and how they relate,
to stop relying on fingerings as much as possible as they can easily become a prison the more one relies on them,
be able to sing or hear a melody and play it without much fuzz.

Practicing with Games

What I found useful was to treat practising as distinct small games that have different rules.

Some examples of different games:

Starting on the lowest note of the scale, play four notes per string up to the highest
Do the same with starting on the next note - that will create a different path to follow, so that will make it impossible to start memorising fingerings
Do the same by using only one finger on the left hand - again it works against memorising patterns
Start on a different but higher position and play two notes per string - that will lead to a different kind of diagonal path
Play only specific intervals - like only 3rds or specific up-down combinations

Exploring the fretboard

Additionally, a different type of game is what I would call Explorative Improvisation, where I thoughtfully improvise with a specific objective.

Here are some rules:

You are only allowed to use the notes of a specific scale
You can put range restrictions as well
Every time you play anything that is something, stop and analyse it, invert it, play it in different ranges and areas of the fretboard
If you feel that you are stuck in a rut - playing the same things, again and again, restrict yourself to a part of the fretboard that you are not as familiar
Allow yourself to make melodies only with using a specific or combination of intervals - what if you could only play 4ths and 5ths

Bonus game: Take a melody or a song that you know quite well and play it in a different tonality and/or register - play it by ear or by analysing the intervallic structure of the melody - do not just move a familiar fingering pattern in a different position! Depending on your level, folk songs to Bach’s cello suites can provide a very fun game!

Remember, practice as slow or fast as you need to make it sound right!