You'll learn the fretboard much faster with ten minutes every day than with an hour crammed into one sitting. This guide is a sample routine: how to split up ten minutes, and how to widen your range over four weeks.
Why short and daily
The speed of recalling note names builds through repetition, like strength. Practice for a long stretch in one day and your focus drops in the second half, so you keep making the same mistakes. Practice briefly every day instead, and you pull each note back out just as you're about to forget it, which makes the memory stick. That's why Fret Drill counts the day once you answer 10 or more questions in a session, and shows your streak when you keep it going.
The 10-minute routine
- Warm-up, 1 minute: Play the natural notes on the 6th string from open to the 12th fret, saying each name out loud. This gets your hands and voice going together.
- Basic training, 4 minutes: Using this week's range, see a spot and name the note. Keep Focus on weak spots on.
- Reverse training, 3 minutes: In the same range, see a note name and find the spot. This pulls the memory out in the opposite direction.
- Unison, 2 minutes: Pick one note and play every spot of it within your range. Think of the octave shapes as you go.
On busy days, step 2 alone is fine. Once you pass 10 questions, your streak continues.
Widening the range over four weeks
- Week 1: Strings 5–6, frets 0–12. These two strings hold the most root notes.
- Week 2: Strings 3–6. Add the 4th and 3rd strings, and practice moving over from the 6th and 5th by octave.
- Week 3: Strings 1–6. The 2nd string's shapes shift by one fret, so give it extra attention. The 1st string matches the 6th, so it comes quickly.
- Week 4: The full neck, strings 1–6 and frets 0–12, with Random training. With all three training types mixed in, you recall notes much the way you do when actually playing.
Move on to the next step when your accuracy is above 90% and your average response time is under two seconds. The schedule is only an example; adjust it to your own pace as you watch your records.
Using a target time
By default, the trainer judges whether you answered faster than your own average. Once you're fairly comfortable, turn on Target time in Settings and set the bar yourself. Start at 3 seconds, then bring it down to 2 and 1.5. The spots you know but are still slow on will stand out clearly.
Reading your records
- Practice calendar: Seeing the days you missed makes it easier to get back on track.
- Response time: Check by day, week or month whether your average is coming down. It's normal to slow down for a bit in a week when you widen the range.
- Fretboard heatmap: Slow or frequently missed spots are shaded darker. Spend a day practicing just that string and fret range.
A few practice habits
- Don't count; look at the answer. Holding on to a question you don't know only eats into your practice time.
- Say it out loud. This helps most in the first two weeks.
- Practice with the guitar in your hands. Fretting the spot as you answer builds your hand's memory of the position too, not just your eyes'. If you'd rather not take your hands off the guitar, try answering with guitar mutes.