Now that my Railboard is on order my long wait begins. I decided to make a scale version of the stick out of MDF painting the fretboard white and black. ( black being flat or sharp notes) The tuning I ordered was raised matched reciprocal so the fretboard represents that. I'm a visual kind of guy so I thought that if I could learn the fretboard like its a keyboard (10keyboards really) that I could start to develop my muscle memory and by the time my railboard comes in I'll have a head start on learning it. There are raised frets on it to feel where the frets are. Question to ask is how did you learn the fretboard? Is there an easier way? Most importantly , I think I got the orientation right on this mock up. Let me know if there seems to be any problems or I'll have to re educate myself on a few months. By the way (since I have so much time to wait) I thought I would call this my N.O.T.E.S. Stick ( Note Orientation Training Exercise Stick )

Start with some of Greg's free videos for body positioning. Additionally, I would recommend maintaining wide elbows and a strong, straight wrist position when possible (esp LH). There are multiple threads on this site with apps and PDFs of notes. The basic method is to consider a "home base" (Steve A's idea, I think) fret position. Knowing these notes, the references of 5 are simple. Steve's book addresses this directly. Due to the 5ths and 4ths tunings, ability to find notes on both sides shows a nice linear comparison, merely in opposite tonal directions.

This should do the trick

http://loophole.co/STICK/

I still dont know the fretboard, although it may seem that I do. I am a faker....
I dont think theres a fast way Rob, just time.

cheers,
kev

...that's exactly how it is...

...but, Jzzb8ovn, a stick is a string instrument, and feeling the strings is essential...

Are you planning to label the note positions?

Rclere a very cool link.
I'm a trumpet player first and a piano player second. I do a lot of big band arranging and small combo charts. I'm very comfortable with a piano keyboard. I don't need to label the mock up stick as I know what notes are which. As for the fretboard Im hoping that once I develop the muscle memory on my mock up that when it comes time my fingers will remember where they need to go. I notice all great players never need to look at their instruments when they play. They have the muscle memory already. At the very least this will be a fun way to pass the time and see if this makes things go quicker once I receive my beloved Railboard. I'll have an idea if this is working next time I get to try out Kevin Cs grand.

Jzzb8ovn.!

You're one hell of a resourceful chap.

I just tried the loophole diagram and air Stick the fingering as I went.

Now. If ya use your mock up and play the notes of the loophole with your mouse then your going to hear what notes you pay as an air Stickist.

The main benefit this will have is to make you aware of all the master shapes for scales chords etc. It's not going to do to much at all for your muscle memory. I think it's a great diversion and worthy of your time.

Everyones before Stick journey is different , yours is certainly "one for the books".

I would use it to commit all scales and basic chord types to memory.

I guess what I'm learning from this thread is that we all learn differently. Some people are visual learners , some I think most are auditory learners. There are tactile learners and I guess we all do varying combinations of all the above. Great advice from everyone. I love hearing different perspectives on you all learned.
I'm lucky this community exists so we can all share what we know.

I got a chance to get to Kevin-c place and try out his stick again. Yep you need to feel the strings and hearing what's going on helps a ton. I kind of knew better where to put my fingers. Thanks Kevin. Looking forward to getting over another time.

Here's a pdf you can use to practice melody motions and start learning where some of the notes are on the board. The images are actual size fretboards. Just print it out and start tapping on the page. Works for Classic 10, RMR 10 and 12-string Classic



My Greg Howard Songbook is full of these...