How to memorize the fretboard

This 11th Fret Science video was released on December 28, 2023. It quickly became the most successful by far. As of December 2025, it has been watched ~1.2 million times (with 111k hours of watchtime, this is about 12.5 years of human life) and has yielded 37k new subscribers. All for a video I thought was going to bomb!

Original video description: Learning the notes on the fretboard (and practicing to get faster recall) pays off massively by speeding up your ability to learn new songs and solos, as well as by being one of the keys that will unlock your ability to improvise. This video explains why it's so valuable to memorize the notes, shows three powerful ways to think about the fretboard, and demonstrates four useful exercises that will accelerate your progress.

Once you've watched it, put it into practice with the Fretboard Trainer — a free note-recognition game that drills exactly this, right here on the site.