THEORY

PRIMER
MODULE 1 - THEORY PRIMER
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LESSON 1… PAGE 1

LESSON 2… PAGE 2

LESSON 3… PAGE 6

LESSON 4… PAGE 14

LESSON 5… PAGE 18

LESSON 6… PAGE 21

LESSONS 7-9… PAGE 28

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LESSON 1 - THERE ARE 12 NOTES IN WESTERN MUSIC

Welcome to Module 1 - Theory Primer! In this first lesson you will learn
about the only scale in western music that contains all twelve notes -
the chromatic scale.

Unlike scales such as the major scale or the minor pentatonic, the
chromatic scale doesn’t have much value as an improvisational tool,
however it is important to know what the chromatic scale is before you
move on to the following lessons on intervals.

Here is what the E chromatic scale looks like when laid out on one
string:

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LESSON 2 - INTRODUCTION TO INTERVALS

In music theory, an interval can be described as the difference in pitch

between two sounds. It is a fundamental building block for understanding
the relationships between notes and forming melodies, chords, and
harmonies. Intervals are measured by the distance in pitch between two
notes, and they are described using specific terms such as seconds, thirds,
fourths, fifths, and so on.

You may have heard musicians throw around terms like ‘flat 5’ or ‘diminished
7th’... both of these are examples of intervals.

The lesson videos on intervals in this module will provide you with a detailed
explanation of the concept and in this document you will find more
information that you may find useful for aiding your understanding of
intervals., so let’s get started!

Semitones and tones

The two smallest intervals in western music are called ‘semitones’ and ‘tones’.
AKA ‘half-steps’ and ‘whole-steps’. Half-step/semitone and whole-step/tone
refer to the same distances in pitch and to keep things simple, for the rest of
this course I will use the terms ‘semitone’ and ‘tone’.

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Semitone

- A semitone is the smallest distance between two notes in Western music.

When looking at one string on the guitar fretboard, a semitone equals the
distance of one fret. As you can see on the diagram below, G to A♭ on one
string is the distance of one fret:

Tone

- A tone is equivalent to two semitones and therefore, on one string this

equals the distance of two frets, for example, G to A:

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Measuring intervals

Intervals are typically measured by counting the letter names of the notes
and including both the starting and ending notes.

For example, the interval from C to E includes C, D, and E, and it is called a

third.

Quality of intervals

Intervals can be classified into different qualities, such as major, minor,

perfect, augmented, and diminished.

The qualities of intervals are determined by the number of half steps they
contain compared to a major or perfect interval.

For example, a major third has a different sound than a minor third, and a
perfect fifth has a different sound than an augmented fifth.

You will learn more about the qualities of the different types of interval in the
following lesson.

Common intervals

The most common intervals in Western music are the unison, second, third,
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and octave.

Unison and octave intervals involve two notes with the same pitch, while the
others involve different pitches.

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Specific intervals

Some intervals have specific names based on their size and quality. For
example, a major third is different from a minor third, and a perfect fifth is
different from a diminished fifth.

Enharmonic equivalents

Enharmonic equivalents are different notations for the same pitch. For
instance, C# and Db are enharmonically equivalent (they create the same
pitch). When considering intervals, it's important to take enharmonic
equivalents into account.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the information presented in this lesson,

don’t worry! Consider this a mere introduction to the topic of intervals - a
concept that you will grow to understand more and more as you progress
through this and the following two modules of the course.

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LESSON 3 - INTERVALS ON THE GUITAR

As mentioned in the eBook document for lesson 2, the two smallest intervals
in western music are ‘semitones’ and ‘tones’.

All intervals can be measured by the number of semitones and/or tones they
contain; however as you will find out, saying that the interval between the
notes ‘G’ and ‘B’ is ‘equivalent to four semitones or two tones’, isn’t the most
effective way of describing such a distance in pitch.

This is why we often use ‘qualifiers’ to describe intervals that span a distance
in pitch greater than a semitone or tone.

The name of an interval is formed of two parts:

1. The qualifier
2. The number

For example, the interval between the notes ‘G’ and ‘B’ is most commonly
called a ‘major third’ = qualifier (major) + number (third).

The qualifiers that I’ll use to describe intervals in this lesson are the words:

- Major
- Minor
- Perfect
- Diminished

These terms are not the only ones used to describe intervals and in the lesson
that follows this one, I’ll describe the alternative terminology that musicians
frequently use to describe the same distances in pitch.

For now, we’re going to focus on familiarising ourselves with the unique
sound and name of each interval by looking at them on the guitar fretboard.

I’d recommend grabbing your guitar and having a play through each of them
with me.

Since intervals are categorised according to the number of letter names they
encompass, we’ll split the intervals up into seconds, thirds, fourth’s, fifth’s,
sixth’s and seventh’s.

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SECOND INTERVALS

Minor 2nd

The smallest interval in western music is the minor 2nd. It is the distance of
one semitone.

With G as our root note, the minor 2nd interval runs from G to A♭

Major 2nd

The other type of second interval, is one semitone larger than the minor 2nd.
It’s called a major 2nd and it equals the distance of two semitones, or one
whole tone.

With G as our root note, the major 2nd interval runs from G to A

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THIRD INTERVALS

Minor 3rd

As is the case with second intervals, third intervals have two different qualities
- minor and major.

The minor 3rd equals the distance of three semitones, or one-and-a-half

tones.

With G as our root note, the minor 3rd runs from G to B♭

Major 3rd

The major 3rd interval equals the distance of four semitones, or two whole
tones.

With G as the root note, the major 3rd runs from G to B

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FOURTH INTERVALS

Perfect 4th

Moving on from third intervals, we momentarily abandon the qualifiers

‘minor’ and ‘major’, and introduce the qualifier ‘perfect’.

The perfect 4th interval contains five semitones, or two-and-a-half whole

tones.

With G as our root note, the perfect 4th runs from G to C

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FIFTH INTERVALS

Diminished 5th

Moving onto fifth intervals, we introduce another qualifier that we haven’t yet
encountered - ‘diminished’.

The diminished 5th contains six semitones or three whole tones.

With G as our root note, the diminished 5th runs from G to D♭

Perfect 5th

The perfect 5th interval contains seven semitones, or three-and-a-half whole

tones.

With G as our root note, the perfect 5th runs from G to D

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SIXTH INTERVALS

Minor 6th

We’re going to bring back the qualifiers ‘minor’ and ‘major’ to describe sixth
intervals.

The minor 6th interval contains eight semitones or four whole tones.

With G as the root note, it runs from G to E♭

Major 6th

The major 6th interval contains nine semitones or four-and-a-half whole

tones.

With G as our root note, it runs from G to E

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SEVENTH INTERVALS

Minor 7th

Seventh intervals also use the qualifiers ‘minor’ and ‘major’.

The minor 7th interval contains ten semitones, or five whole tones.

With G as our root note, it runs from G to F

Major 7th

The major 7th interval contains eleven semitones or five-and-a-half whole

tones.

With G as the root note, it runs from G to F♯

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OCTAVE

Perfect octave

The largest interval consists of 12 semitones or six whole tones and is simply
called an ‘octave’. You may also hear some musicians call it a ‘perfect octave’
too.

With G as the root note, the perfect octave runs from G to G

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LESSON 4 - DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY

So, now that you’ve learned some of the most common terminology used to
describe the twelve intervals in western music, it’s important for me to
mention that the qualifiers described in the previous lesson (major, minor,
perfect and diminished) are not the only terms you’ll hear musicians use to
describe the same interval.

In this lesson, we’ll look at some of the alternative terminology used to

describe intervals of the same distances in pitch, to make sure that you’re
always on the same page with your fellow musician friends.

Alternative terminology for ‘major’ and ‘perfect’ qualifiers

*Remember that the ‘qualifier’ is the part of the interval name that comes
before the number*

Major 2nd’s, 3rd’s, 6th’s and 7th’s, are also often called ‘natural’.

For example - a ‘major 3rd’ and a ‘natural 3rd’ refer to the same distance in
pitch.

The reason the word ‘natural’ is used here, is because a major 3rd is the type
of 3rd that is ‘naturally’ found within the formula for the major scale, and the
major scale, generally speaking, is used as a ‘blueprint’ for understanding
western music theory.

*This is less common than for 2nd’s, 3rd’s, 6th’s and 7th’s, but ‘perfect’
intervals can also sometimes be called ‘natural’. For example ‘perfect 5th /
natural 5th’ mean the same interval.*

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Alternative terminology for ‘minor’ qualifiers

Minor 2nd’s, 3rd’s, 6th’s and 7th’s can also be called ‘flat’ or ‘flattened’.

For example, a ‘flat 3rd/flattened 3rd’ is the same as a ‘minor 3rd’.

You will often see the flat symbol - ♭ - used in place of the words ‘flat’ or
‘flattened’.

Alternative terminology for ‘diminished’ qualifiers

The ‘diminished 5th’ has a few different names. ‘Flat 5th’, ‘flattened 5th’,
‘augmented 4th’ and ‘tritone’ are all terms that can be used to describe this
same distance in pitch.

In addition, the diminished 5th was once called the ‘devil's interval’, because
of its ‘evil’ sound. So, if you play in the local church band, be careful at your
next Sunday service performance…

You might be wondering why it can also be called an ‘augmented 4th’...

Well, whilst the word ‘diminished’ means ‘less than’, the word ‘augmented’
means more than. A ‘diminished 5th’ is a semitone smaller than a perfect 5th,
and an ‘augmented 4th’ is a semitone larger than a perfect 4th.

An augmented 4th and a diminished 5th both span the distance of six
semitones, and the difference lies in the number of letter names that they
span.

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For example, C to F♯ would be called an ‘augmented 4th’ because it spans the
distance of four letter names - C D E F.

C to G♭ would be called a ‘diminished 5th’ because it spans the distance of

five letter names - C D E F G.

In practice, the distinction between an augmented 4th and a diminished 5th

can depend on the musical context, the harmonic function, and the specific
chords or melodic progressions involved. The choice of notation may be
influenced by the key signature, the chord function, and the overall harmonic
structure of the piece.

‘Tritone’ refers to the fact that a diminished 5th / augmented 4th spans the
distance of three whole tones.

On the following page you will find a table that clearly lists all of the
alternative terminology used to describe intervals of the same distance in
pitch.

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INTERVAL EXAMPLE (ROOT NOTE - C) ALTERNATIVE

TERMINOLOGY

Minor 2nd C - D♭ - ‘Flat 2nd’

- ‘Flattened 2nd’
- ‘♭2’

Major 2nd C-D - ‘Natural 2nd’

Minor 3rd C - E♭ - ‘Flat 3rd’

- ‘Flattened 3rd’
- ‘♭3’

Major 3rd C-E - ‘Natural 3rd’

Perfect 4th C-F - ‘Natural 4th

Diminished 5th C - G♭ - ‘Flat 5th’

- ‘Flattened 5th’
- ‘♭5’
- ‘Augmented 4th’
- ‘Tritone’

Perfect 5th C-G - ‘Natural 5th’

Minor 6th C - A♭ - ‘Flat 6th’

- ‘Flattened 6th’
- ‘♭6’

Major 6th C-A - ‘Natural 6th’

Minor 7th C - B♭ - ‘Flat 7th’

- ‘Flattened 7th’
- ‘♭7’

Major 7th C-B - ‘Natural 7th’

Octave C-C - ‘Perfect octave’

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LESSON 5 - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MAJOR SCALE

A helpful way to remember the construction of the major scale, is to look at it

in terms of tones and semitones.

TTSTTTS
T = Tone (the distance of two frets on one string)
S = Semitone (the distance of one fret on one string)

An easy way of memorising this is to think of it visually like so...

TTS (T) TTS

So you can think of it as the letters ‘TTS’ twice, with an
extra ‘T’ in between.

This is what the C Major scale looks like on the fretboard on one string, with
the tones and semitones between the notes included:

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The formula for the major scale is:

R234567

You might be wondering why the numbers don’t have any accidentals (flats
or sharps) in front of them. This is because the major scale itself is often used
as a ‘blueprint’ for referencing the construction of other scales, like the minor
pentatonic for example.

The intervals of the major scale (measured from the root note) are as follows:

Scale formula - R 2 3 4 5 6 7

Notes Interval Scale Degree

C-D Major 2nd 2 (D)

C-E Major 3rd 3 (E)

C-F Perfect 4th 4 (F)

C-G Perfect 5th 5 (G)

C-A Major 6th 6 (A)

C-B Major 7th 7 (B)

C-C Octave N/A

(Further context provided on the following page…)

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As you can see, the scale degrees 2, 3, 6 and 7 are major intervals.

The 4th and 5th scale degrees are both perfect intervals.

This is what I mean when I say that the formula for the major scale is used as
a blueprint for western music theory.

If you see the numbers 2, 3, 6 and 7 written out with no accidentals (♭’s or ♯’s)
in front of them, that means they are major/natural intervals.

If you see the numbers 4 and 5 written out with no accidentals, that means
that they are perfect intervals.

More clarity on scale construction will be provided in Module 3 - Scales &

Improvisation.

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LESSON 6 - THE CIRCLE OF 4TH’S

The circle of 4th’s is a tool that will appear throughout all modules of the
course.

You may have heard it referred to as the circle of 5th’s and are perhaps
wondering what the difference between the two is.

This is explained in the video for lesson 6 and I will be sure to discuss the topic
in this same document too.

The circle of 4th’s has many uses in music theory but for the purposes of this
course, we will be using it solely to develop your ability to visualise the
fretboard.

The circle of 4th’s contains all twelve notes used in Western music and it looks
like this:

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In the diagram on the previous page, you can see that the arrow above the
circle is pointing clockwise.

This indicates that when moving clockwise through the circle, the distance in
pitch between each successive note will be equal to a ‘perfect fourth’ interval.

The simplest way of seeing and understanding that moving clockwise

through this circle gives you fourth’s, is to think alphabetically.

Starting from the top of the diagram on the note B, and moving clockwise
means that the next note will be E.

Why? Think of the letter names in the alphabet between ‘B’ and ‘E’:

The ‘C’ and ‘D’ between ‘B’ and ‘E’ will not be seen on the circle of 4th’s
diagrams used in this course - this is just to illustrate how you can think
alphabetically to understand why moving clockwise through this specific
diagram gives you fourth’s and not fifth’s.

Now, speaking of fifths…

What is the circle of 5th’s and what makes it different from the circle of 4th’s?

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Well, you may have figured it out already but if not I will explain it for you now.
I just showed you how moving clockwise through my circle diagram gives you
perfect fourth intervals between every set of two notes that sit next to each
other.

Moving anti-clockwise through this diagram gives you perfect fifth intervals
between every set of two neighbouring notes.

This is because regardless of the direction in which you move through the
circle, you always think about ascending alphabetically to the next note.

On the previous page I showed you that moving clockwise from B to E, results
in a perfect fourth because when you think about ascending in alphabetical
order from B to E, you would think to yourself:

‘B… C… D… E…
1… 2… 3… 4…’

But what about going anti-clockwise, from E to B? Well, this would equal the
distance of a perfect fifth interval because thinking alphabetically from E to B
(remember, ascending…) and counting E as number 1, gives you five notes:

‘E… F… G… A… B…
1… 2… 3… 4… 5…’

Take a look at the diagrams on the following page to see this for yourself…

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As you can see on the diagram above, moving clockwise from B to E equals
the distance of a perfect fourth.

And here you can see that moving anti-clockwise from E to B equals the
distance of a perfect fifth.

So, that’s all that you need to know about navigating my specific circle
diagram used in this course.

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The reason that I specify navigating my circle diagram is that this circle of
4th’s/5th’s looks a bit different to what you might find if you were to do a
Google search for ‘circle of 4th’s or ‘circle of 5th’s’.

For example, here’s one that I found just now from the Berklee College of
Music website:

The first thing that you might notice about this diagram, is that the note at
the top of the circle is not B like it is on my diagram, it’s the note ‘C’.

Look even closer at this diagram, particularly at the distance in pitch between
the notes that you get when moving clockwise vs anti-clockwise (remember
to think about ascending alphabetically, regardless of direction) and you may
notice that going clockwise on this diagram gives you fifth’s and going
anti-clockwise gives you fourth’s….

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CLOCKWISE:

ANTI-CLOCKWISE:

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Now, you’re probably wondering why my circle diagram used throughout this
course is different to what you’ll typically see in other circle of 4th’s/5th’s
images that you’ll find online, like the one seen above.

This question will be answered for you in detail in the remaining lessons for
Module 1 which are all to do with the topic of fretboard visualisation…

See you there!

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LESSONS 7-9 - FRETBOARD MEMORISATION

In lesson 6, you were introduced to a fundamental music theory tool known

as the circle of 4th’s (aka the circle of 5th’s).

Why am I teaching you the circle of 4th’s in this course? Well, it has many
uses in music theory but for this course, the lessons that focus on the circle of
4th’s exist for the sole purpose of developing your fretboard visualisation
skills.

Music theory fundamentals combined with fretboard visualisation practice is

the magical combination that allowed me to finally break through my own
‘lost intermediate plateau’ many years ago now.

On the previous eBook page for lesson 6, I ended by explaining that the circle
diagram used in Bulletproof Guitar Player is different from most circle of
4th’s/5th’s diagrams that you’ll find in other music education resources.

On most circle of 4th’s/5th’s diagrams, the top note will be ‘C’ and the
intervals you get when will be 5th’s when moving clockwise and 4th’s when
moving anti-clockwise, as you can see on the diagram below:

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On my diagram that you’ll find threaded throughout all modules of
Bulletproof Guitar Player, the top note in the circle is ‘B’ and the intervals you
get between each set of two notes are 4th’s, when moving clockwise, and
5th’s, when moving anti-clockwise:

So, allow me to explain why I have chosen to put ‘B’ at the top of my diagram
and lay out the notes so that they result in 4th’s when moving clockwise…

Throughout the first two years of studying guitar at university, I had been
familiar with the concept of using the circle of 4th’s/5th’s as a tool for
developing fretboard visualisation skills.

In fact, my introduction to this concept was a rather traumatic experience…

In my 1st year, for my end of year guitar exam where I was tasked with proving
that I had practised and internalised the material that my guitar teacher had
been teaching me for the prior 9 months, he decided to throw a curveball at
me when he asked me to play, and I quote…

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‘The minor pentatonic scale in all 12 keys, through the circle of 5th’s, starting
with A minor pentatonic… But do not change position on the fretboard.’

I don’t recall what my exact response was at the time, or if I even said
anything at all, but I’m quite sure my inner dialogue in that moment was
something along the lines of:

‘What the f*&% are you talking about!? You’ve been teaching me for 9
months now, and of all the times you could have introduced me to this
complex scale practice concept, THE FINAL EXAM is the moment you choose
to bring it up!?

Move through all 12 keys of the same scale without changing position on the
fretboard? How on earth are you supposed to do that!?’

I think I fumbled my way through two or three keys of the minor pentatonic
scale by moving ‘position 1’ up and down the fretboard before I gave up and
admitted I had no idea how to do what had asked me to do.

I left the exam room feeling infuriated that I had just been marked on
something that my teacher had literally failed to educate me on even one
time throughout my entire 1st year.

Anyway, despite my frustration at my teachers' negligence, this experience

did actually do me some good. Oftentimes, guitar players stuck in the lost
intermediate plateau remain stuck there because of the fact that they are
aware they have gaps in their knowledge, but are unaware of what those
gaps are.

This experience revealed to me three specific gaps in my knowledge, which

were:

1. I didn’t know what the ‘circle of 5th’s’ was

2. I didn’t know how to find root notes on all six strings in minor
pentatonic scale positions
3. I didn’t have the notes of the fretboard memorised

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When 2nd year started and I was back to getting my weekly private lesson
from this same teacher, the anger had long subsided and I was genuinely
curious to learn how to do what he had thrown at me at the end of my 1st
year exam.

Being able to practice one scale through all 12 keys without having to jump
up and down the fretboard sounded like a lofty goal but it was one that I saw
a lot of value in pursuing.

Why? Well, I had known for a long time that my ability to ‘visualise the
fretboard’ was very weak.

As I said earlier, this exam experience showed me that my scale visualisation

was very much tied to being able to identify root notes on the low E string
alone and not all six strings.

This made me a ‘shape’ or ‘position-based’ guitar player - if I wanted to play in

different keys, I could only do so by taking the first position of a scale and
moving it up or down the fretboard.

You could say that I felt as if I was ‘glued’ to the first position of a scale.

You can see this illustrated on the following page with diagrams showing
position 1 of the same scale (the minor pentatonic) moved up and down the
fretboard to fit the keys of A, D and G.

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A minor pentatonic:

D minor pentatonic:

G minor pentatonic:

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what you see
illustrated on the above diagrams.

If I was on a cover band gig and playing three songs in a row that required me
to solo with the minor pentatonic scale and they were all in different keys (like
A, D and G), then taking position 1 of the minor pentatonic and visualising it at
these different areas of the fretboard would certainly work.

However, my old guitar teacher used to always tell me…

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‘You should only ever be jumping up and down the fretboard IF that’s a
creative choice that you have chosen to make, and not a choice
born from a lack of other options’

Essentially, he was telling me that I should learn the fretboard inside and out,
so that I always had the freedom to play/improvise in any area of the
fretboard and not feel constrained to certain areas of the fretboard due to a
lack of fretboard visualisation skills.

So, to give you just a small example of what this freedom can look like on the
fretboard, on the following page you will see diagrams that illustrate me
visualising the A, D and G minor pentatonic scales in the same area of the
fretboard.

*FYI -There’s no reason to worry about not understanding how to do this just
yet, because I haven’t even begun to teach you how! Consider this a mere
introduction to the topic of fretboard visualisation and why it is so important
to learn*

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A minor pentatonic:

D minor pentatonic:

G minor pentatonic:

The ability to visualise scales in this way, where you’re able to effortlessly
switch between different keys without having to change position on the
fretboard, is something you will be taught how to do in Module 3 - Scales &
Improvisation.

The reason that I bring it up in this module is to give you an idea of where
we’re going with these fretboard visualisation lessons and show you a
glimpse of how it’s going to transform your playing abilities.

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Now, getting back to the reason why ‘B’ is at the top of my circle diagram…

My guitar teacher back then did show me how to use the circle of 5th’s to
practice scales and I did see the merit in it at the time, however, I felt that I
was held back from being able to practice it properly.

There were two reasons for this:

1. I still didn’t have the note names on all six strings memorised
2. I could never seem to remember the order of the notes in the circle of
5th’s

This all changed when I discovered a free lesson online from a guitarist called
Derryl Gabel, who was showing his viewers how he liked to practice
memorising the note names on all six strings by using the circle of 4th’s/5th’s.

Up until that point in my experience with using the circle of 4th’s/5th’s to

practice fretboard visualisation, I had only been shown how to use it to
practice scales in all 12 keys.

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But as I just explained, doing so was a struggle for me because this scale
practice method requires you to first be able to identify root notes on all six
strings, which means you have to first have all of the note names on all strings
memorised and know them like the back of your hand…

And so, when I realised that I could actually use the same tool to go one step
backwards and practice the visualisation of not just scale, but the note names
on all six strings, that was a serious lightbulb moment for me as an
intermediate guitar player.

Derryl Gabel had his own way of memorising the order of the notes in the
circle of 4th’s, which is why my circle of 4th’s diagram has B at the top.

You can memorise eight out of the twelve notes in the circle of 4th’s by
thinking about the word ‘bead’ - like the bead of a pearl necklace.

BEAD

The word bead makes up the first four letters of this circle of 4th’s diagram:

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Move round the circle and you will notice that the word ‘bead’ appears in it
again, although this time with flattened (♭) versions of the notes:

B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭

So to memorise eight out of the twelve notes in the circle of 4th’s, all you have
to do is think of the word ‘bead’.

Now of course, there are four notes remaining, so let’s take a look at them on
the following page…

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After the first four notes - B E A D, you have the notes G, C and F:

Following G, C and F, you have the word ‘bead’ again but this time with the
flattened (♭) version of each note:

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And the last note to memorise after B♭, E♭, A♭ and D♭ is…

G♭

Recap

So to recap, this is how I memorised the notes of this circle of 4th’s diagram…

1. Think of the word ‘bead’ for the first four notes in the circle - B E A D
2. Then the notes G, C and F
3. Following that, I think of the word ‘bead’ again but this time with
flattened versions of the notes - B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭
4. Finally, the last note to remember is G♭

BEAD
GCF
B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭
G♭

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So that explains why I keep B at the top of my circle of 4th’s diagram.

It’s not for any reason other than the fact that it makes it as easy as possible to
remember the order of the notes, which will become beneficial for your
fretboard visualisation practice, as you don’t want to always feel the need to
have an actual image of the circle in front of you.

It is of course much better if you can visualise it in your head instead.

Now let’s get onto the topic of how I use the circle to memorise note names
across the fretboard…

Using the circle of 4th’s to memorise the note names on all strings

As mentioned in the lesson video, through using the circle of 4th’s, I was
finally able to successfully memorise the note names on the fretboard.

This was after years of trying and failing by using the ‘chromatic method’ of
simply moving up each string one fret at a time and saying the name of each
note out loud, with the aid of crowded fretboard diagrams that look like this…

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Now when you first get started with practising note memorisation on each
string, you will find it particularly difficult on the strings that you’re probably
not used to identifying note names on.

For most lost intermediates, these strings tend to be the D, G and B strings,
since they usually don’t find themselves playing chords with root notes on
those strings.

It always seems to be the case that they’re only familiar with some of the note
names on the E strings and the A string.

Because of this, you will need some sort of visual aid to help you get started
with the circle of 4th’s note memorisation routine outlined in lessons 7-9.

The visual aid I provide you with looks like this:

If you look closely at each string, you will notice that only the notes B, E, A, D
and G are included on the diagram.

Why only these notes, and not all of them, like on this monstrosity of a
diagram that I showed you earlier?

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Well, these five notes - B, E, A, D and G - are all only one semitone away from
the seven notes that have been omitted from the diagram - B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭,
G♭, C and F.

To prove this, take a look at the diagram below which shows you that one of
the omitted notes - B♭- is just one semitone away from a note that is on the
diagram - B…

Take a look at this diagram below and you’ll see that the note C, is just one
semitone above B…

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What about the notes E♭ and F? They aren’t on the main diagram but as you
can see below, they’re only one fret away from notes that are on the diagram:

And here are the remaining notes that are omitted from the main diagram
(G♭, A♭ and D♭) added in just to show you how close they are to the notes
that are included:

Remember, if you’re struggling to find a note that isn’t on the diagram, look
at it and figure out where the closest note on the diagram is…

For example, if you’ve just played B♭ on the B string and are struggling to
find the next note - E♭, then find the note E on the diagram on that string
and one fret below, you will be able to find E♭…

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So to aid your note memorisation practice, here is the circle of 4th’s diagram
as well as the fretboard diagram containing the note B, E, A, D and G.

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