Learning the fretboard

Goal: Become familiar with all the notes on the fretboard

Why? Because working with movable chords depends on your knowledge of the fretboard.

Visualize the G String. Count up each fret, note by note. Flats are used more often than sharps, but it's good to know the 'musical alphabet' both ways:

G - Ab - A - Bb - B - C - Db - D - Eb - E - F - Gb

Notice the only two flats that don't exist in the musical alphabet are Cb and Fb. You jump from B to C and from E to F. How do I remember this? BC (as in BC vs. AD) and EF (as in EF Hutton).

Next, visualize the sharp version:

G - G# - A - A# - B - C - C# - D - D# - E - F - F#

Notice in in the sharp version, there's no B# or E#.

Continue the visualization for each string on your ukulele, one by one. You begin with the note of the string.

While it's helpful to know the entire fretboard map, it's not essential. You play every note within the first 4 frets:

Here are the major scale cages (all 7 notes), which I'll cover in more detail during class:

More Lessons

• Get To Know Your Ukulele Fretboard