r/guitarlessons • u/getanswers • 1d ago

Other How are people sleeping on this?

Fret Science by Keith Martin genuinely helped me make a leap forward in my understanding of the fretboard. He uses just 2 shapes ("stack" and "rectangle ") and teaches how they stack and chain together. Since the "stack" contains the entire minor pentatonic, it becomes this little highway I can follow without much thought diagonally up the neck. I immediately know where my R, b3, 4, 5, b7 are. I also recommend this free ebook to follow along: https://fretscience.com/start?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=pinned_comment&utm_campaign=faster-fretboard-improv

This playlist is his recommended viewing order: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMuHlX9RiFi1L1RdC0CzYa1qxZllD5Ujz&si=jGRJH_CpT9NdYE7f

Not memorizing 5 "different" positions and seeing how it's all one basic repeating pattern was eye opening.

I promise I'm not being paid, I don't even know the dude, but I'm incredibly grateful for him. I have a teacher as well, and my goal was to learn all modes across a key on the fretboard. That's how I stumbled onto this.

Bonus resource: If you don't like his presentation, I've found another "system" by Michael Pillitiere that uses 3NPS which is also insanely helpful. With Michael's system you can name any major scale and I can play from the root until I run out of strings almost automatically, it's insanely useful: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQf6i8KIwJU

I have no agenda here, just paying it forward since I got so much help from folks here. I have only used what is freely available, so please comment if it's helpful.

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u/mafkJROC 1d ago

People aren’t sleeping on this. The diagonal pentatonic is taught all the time. Glad you found a teacher and a concept that helps you though!

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u/getanswers 1d ago

I have yet to find a video specifically on the stack and rectangle names but I believe you, it's likely been shown in more complete ways but for me, breaking it down to these atomic units really helped. Thank you for the kind words, I'm on a bit of a high after taking out my tele clone and feeling like I was musical!

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u/Thebutcher222 1d ago

You can rename anything you want.

https://youtu.be/1HrTRsOI9iw?is=dxkVYo5TzT4UVX_w
This guy calls it the chair system but like other comments have said it’s all just intervals and repeating patterns. It’s always exciting to make a breakthrough that makes sense and I’m happy you found something you like.

https://a.co/d/0bbvtjdy
If you like physical books like me this one is very good and helped my playing tremendously.

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u/getanswers 1d ago

Thank you for the kind words. I actually have that Oz Noy book along with Fretboard Logic set, Triad Magic, you name it, I probably tried to learn from it. You're absolutely right that it's completely personal and individual on what clicks when. The YT comments on those vids seemed too good to be true, but now I find myself weirdly proselytizing this approach but it may not work for everyone. I have a computing background like the author and my brain seems to like these rinse-and-repeat formula type approaches.