'Octave Mapping' Makes The Fretboard Easy

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Octave Mapping is a technique I learned years ago that helped unlock the fretboard and pushed me to learning more on the guitar. Its a simple trick, but it will work wonders for those who are struggling to learn the notes on their guitar.

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[NewPraetorianBlues]

I started doing this a few months ago begrudged that I still wasn't familiar with the fretboard. A decade+ of tabs of songs I like and little to no actual musicality learned in the meantime. I recognize shapes and patterns, I know my octaves, I figured this was the way I'd learn the fretboard. I gotta say after a few months I've drastically improved on fretboard memorization so I can attest - this works!

[eddiejr]

The great thing about the guitar is there is always something new to learn…you never stop learning…thats one of the reasons I love it so much!!!!

[ObnoxiusBrat]

-when you learn one thing, the fretboard becomes easy
-what is that thing?
-a fretboard

[johngraziano]

Rhett, I like your approach. I had a similar teacher back in the 70's but you really get it across. I'll "do all that stuff."

[CommanderMarsh]

Man, this is simple but awesome. Something I know but don’t “know”. Good stuff, Rhett

[RCSmiths]

The fretboard is definitely something to be intimidated by at first, but it really is easy once you take the minimal time to see what everything means in relation to scales with each fret number and string, as well as the chord shapes to create from those scales. Even knowing what the fret markers mean on a guitar go a long way to remember how to construct phrases and chords. Cheers

[dhoover]

Thanks for including us beginners. This was VERY helpful.

[hsmith]

Thank you Rhett. Very, very good lesson and you are a gifted instructor-particularly for someone I've always considered a player. Often, the skills don't overlap, but you do both beautifully.

[jeremyjhonson-]

it’s funny that i use this octave thingy when playing a bass. but somehow forgot about it while playing a guitar

[markdavich]

I had reached the point that I understood what I considered to be more than enough a long time ago.
I didn't/don't understand a lot of things yet but, what stopped me cold was technique.
I can literally sit down with a tune in a phrase trainer and figure just about anything out - I may need a ballpark type lesson to kick things off but most of the time, I can rely on what I know (as basic as it is) to follow an artist up the fretboard and learn a phrase or a whole solo but DANGIT LOL Playing it is another concept in and of itself and, I'm betting there are a lot of guys just like me - Guys who can see the chord/scale shapes under their fingers when playing a phrase etc.

Something I'd really get excited about from instructors here on the tube is delving into what's really going on when they play in terms of correct/proper fingering, when to break those rules, relaxing, playing fluidly, and building speed - The other side of the equation.
I understand that technique can be subjective but it's the solid foundational theory and example of it that's important.

I've mostly had to rely on myself for these things by sitting down for hours with a phrase and experimenting with ways to play it as efficiently as possible and then connect it to the next phrase/position and it can take YEARS of fooling around just to get to a point where it starts to sound reasonable.

I don't need how-to-play-it lessons as much as I need lessons on technique - I'd sign up in a heartbeat for a series of in-depth lessons like that. Theory would come so much easier if the effort to learn technique wasn't such a distraction.

[Roscoe.Maples.--]

very helpful, as always! Thanks for your work, Rhett!

[steveeckert]

Nice approach on an old problem. Great way to figure out where to land on a solo. BTW Schwarzenegger was on Colbert last night touting his new book. Seven Rules to Life. He pretty much said "There was no back up plan." when it came to his body building career. It's on Youtube😀

[keeganitreal]

Perfect timing! I’ve been working on this lately. Thanks Rhett

[Aries_Alpha]

This is basically how I learned it, I also took too many years to actually learn it properly and once I did it all made sense. I could see how what I had been playing for years all connected and made improvisation easy and it will definitly make you a better player. My opinion now is if you don't know the neck you are kidding yourself on you will lever be as good as you could be, Great video Rhett as usual.

[CoreyKJ]

i knew this but it made me feel better knowing i use the same ways as other people. I felt "behind" for using "octave mapping" but now I know it's something we all still use.

[jpmage]

Something I teach all my students! Such a helpful way to visualize the fretboard for me :)

[PNWGuitar]

I'm working on a series and this is one of the first things that I did. Honestly, after 18 years of playing, I found a good teacher and really sat down and did the work, and WOW, what a difference. Music has always been my barometer for everything else in life. It taught me that if I work hard and learn from my mistakes, I can do just about anything.

EDIT: Rhett you may not see this but as a quick side note I was going through my practice routine yesterday and intended on making essentially this exact video, but I have a kid so I got sidetracked. I hope you wont mind if i still make a video on the subject, just my pov 😅

[mykneeshurt]

Knowing where fretted notes are the same note as an adjacent open strings helped me a lot as well. 5th fret on low E / Open A string. 7th fret on A string / Open E low string. Etc.. It allowed me to quickly jump up the fret board and have a known good starting point. So I did not always have to start at the open strings and work my way up..

[Donky-flip]

Excellent video, these kind of nuggets of useful information are exactly what I find most helpful. thank you!

[caryconover]

Can't wait to try this. It actually makes sense!