Tim's Top 3 Fretboard Geography Exercises

I created these exercise for myself about ten years ago to help me develop a more musical relationship with the mandolin fretboard above the 5th fret.

You should consider the first two exercises as primer material for the real challenge, Exercise #3. 

Exercise #1

Here we learn the four different ways to play a major scale with no open strings.

Easy: four fingers, four patterns!

Exercise #2

Here we'll take the four patterns for a road test. 

You'll play the same major scale beginning on the very same note in all four examples.

The only difference: different finger on the root each time creates a different pattern for you.

Exercise #3

For me, what makes the final exercise, #3, effective is: for every note, every fret, I think only about what key I am in at the moment.

This forces the student to think about each key's scale tones, instead of hunting for "shapes." 

In this manner, the student develops musical relationships with each fret on the fretboard.

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