Learning the fretboard with scales/CAGED
I’m eager to learn the fretboard because I know what it will open up for me as a player. Consequently for the past couple of weeks I’ve spent a couple of hours each evening on a series of exercises (below). By “learning the fretboard” I’m referring to being able to jump to different notes on the board and move around the relevant scales with relative ease. I understand dexterity around those scales and the intervals is an ongoing process.
Two questions:
- Is learning the fretboard like this over a period of a few weeks even possible? I remember trying to perfect barre chords right at the start of my journey, which just doesn’t work (vs building the skill over time).
- Is there anything I should be adding/changing here that others have found useful?
What I’m currently doing:
- practicing the diatonic and pentatonic scales with a major emphasis then minor up the neck
- Joining two boxes together (say one up, across, then down)
- Playing a chord/triad from the applicable shape
- Picking a random note/triad on the fretboard, naming it, and playing a minor or major scale and pentatonic from that point (or naming it first)
I heard today playing broken intervals up the scales and singing the intervals are good to add, although maybe more applicable to general playing skill vs navigation.
Posted Jul 9, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC