Essential Fretboard
Get Lost In The Music, Not On The Fretboard
If you want to play blues guitar, but feel lost on the fretboard, you've found the right place. Essential Fretboard is one of the simplest, most organized systems for navigating the fretboard for blues and rock.
I don’t use 300 chords, or know 50 scales, so I won’t teach you that. Instead, I’ll show you what matters the most for blues and blues rock guitar. You'll learn the essential chords, and soloing shapes that I use every day. If you're looking for a simpler, easier to use fretboard navigation system, you’re ready for Essential Fretboard.
Available as downloads or a 2 DVD set.
Overview Video
What's Included
My Playing Exploded...
I recently bought your Complete Essential Fretboard series and I have to say, I'm blown away. The content is fantastic and the means in which you deliver your material is well presented and logical way beyond anything I have found to date. In 5 minutes, my playing exploded because your engineering background and logic makes tremendous sense to me in the way you present the material.
- Gary F.
I've Spent A Ton Of Money On Lessons...
I watched the entire Fretboard series yesterday. It was excellent!...I thought your system did something many others miss. That is, it presented a simple system that could be applied in the "real world". I enjoyed this approach and it allowed me to finally "see" the fretboard in its entirety.....Thank you!
- Steven
The Map
Lesson 2
Building The Map
The most powerful concept in Essential Fretboard is the one octave map that serves as the foundation for the rest of the series. You’ll learn how to identify where it starts, ends, and the landmarks you can use for reference.
Chords
Lesson 3
The E-Form Chords
I show you 5 different types of chords in Essential Fretboard and explain how they fit into the map. You'll learn about:
- E-Form Bar Chords
- A-Form Bar Chords
- Partial G-Form Chords
- 7th Chords
- 9th Chords
Soloing
Lesson 6The 5 Essential Boxes
There are 4 lessons on soloing shapes. You'll learn about:
- The 5 Essential Boxes
- The Sliding Box 1
- The Backdoor Pattern
- The Triangles
Rhythm
Lesson 12
The Shuffle Patterns
The Shuffle Patterns
Finally in Lesson 12, you learn about the positions used for playing blues shuffle patterns. I show you a few simple variations, and at the end of the lesson, you’ll learn a full 12 bar progression using these patterns.
Difficulty
Suggested Prerequisites: Essential Theory
Essential Fretboard is designed for intermediate or advanced-beginners who do not have any kind of 'system' for navigating the fretboard. You will need to know basic music theory concepts like sharps, flats, and the major scale. If you do not know these concepts, please go through Essential Theory first.
The chords lessons are not teaching complicated chords. The focus is on showing each kind of chord integrated with the one octave map from Lesson 2.
The soloing lessons may be a little more difficult, but again, the focus is not on teaching you a bunch of soloing licks, the focus is on showing how these sets of soloing shapes fit into the one octave map from Lesson 2.
If you think parts of this series are too easy, and you want to pick and choose individual lessons, please make sure you include Lesson 2, because every other lesson references it.