An aid to practicing fretboard navigation for noobs

I am reasonably new to the Bass and am thoroughly enjoying my time on it so far.

I can easily find C, G, A and D on the E and A strings and can slowly, very slowly, navigate from there but in one note increments. I needed an aid to learning and generating muscle/brain memory.

So, heres my method. I have one seven sided die (Dungeon and Dragons type shop should help :dragon_face:) and one six sided die :game_die:.

With bass in hand, cast the dice. The six sided die gives an odd/even number (odd numbers relate to A and E strings, even numbers relate to D and G strings ), the seven sided die gives a number relating to a note (1=A, 2=B, etc). The job then is to locate the required note on those strings.

For example a roll of 1 (six sided), 4 (seven sided) would mean finding a D on A and E strings.
A roll of 4 (six sided), 3 (seven sided) would mean finding a C on D and G strings.

If it sounds a bit complicated, thats my fault for not explaining well. Sorry. But I find it brings a bit of fun, variation and unpredictability to finding your way around the frets. I tend to practice scales when I land on a note, so hopefully double the training.

Hope this helps.

Sharpy

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Nice solution for keeping learning fun.

But being able to pick a root and identify its fifth and octave, then its fourth, will provide a clear framework to help you learn the rest of the chord tones of a scale.

Working through arpeggios will help you nail down thirds, both major and minor.

Sounds pretty good! Here’s a link to a resource you may or not be able to use. My guitar teacher used it for teaching positions on the fretboard, it would assign a random note and you find all of its locations on each string.

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Hi Mike. thanks for the reply.
I still use the technique as a starting point. Once I have the note, I can practice scales from there. As I say, fairly new to bass, so every little helps. Triads, arpeggios, scales, octaves-fifths-thirds, chord progressions, it all used to be a different language to me. At least now I think I know what they mean even if there is still a bit of a mystery how they all work. But looking forward to gaining knowledge. Every day is a schoolday.

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Thanks for the reply. Will deffo be looking at that site a bit more.

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