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What is Fretboard Domination?

FD is all about knowing what to practice (and how to practice it) to get the fastest possible results. Whether you play for your own amusement or want to become a pro, you need to focus on what gives you the results you want – fast!

They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a great guitar player. Well, I don't know about that… I know some people spend years playing guitar yet can still only play basic stuff. And I know some people who have only played for a year or two but are awesome players:-

What makes the difference?

Well, it's obviously what and how they practice, how much they practice and a matter of focus and dedication. Attitude plays a big part, too.

The way I look at it is, that if you are going to commit yourself to learning guitar, then why not make the most of your precious time? Why not focus on what gets the results you want as quickly as you can? After all, it takes just as long to succeed as it does to fail.

Most people just muck about. They try this and try that. They don't have a clear set of goals and often end up confused and frustrated. They read a lot of stuff, buy a lot of books, maybe even buy every course going, only to suffer from information overload. This then causes paralysis by analysis. And if you get to this stage, it may well crush the desire out of you to carry on.

Keep It Simple – Master the Basics!

Look, it's really quite simple. All you need do is understand the basics and keep working on them… forever …to get better at what you can already do.

Let me explain…

FIRST: As a beginner there are certain things you must learn to do first: learn how to hold a guitar, tune a guitar, how to play basic chords, how to pick and strum properly, how to count and keep good time, and how to play simple songs.

The basic 'mechanics' of playing a guitar. Training your hands to do what they need to do in the most economical, effortless, relaxed, and perfect way possible for you.

You learn simple things and learn how to play those simple things the very best you can. You make them sound the very best you can. Make these simple basics as perfect as possible so you have a strong foundation to build on.

Do NOT rush this stage because it takes some considerable time to develop the muscles in your hands and fingers. Be patient. Persistent, focused, daily practice WILL win the prize in the end. (Incidentally, that's why I call my site Tortoise Guitar. Just like the Tortoise… consistent effort on what counts will win you the prize.)

And there's a right and wrong way to go about this initial training so you can avoid the bad habits and mistakes most beginners make.

Those bad habits can cause poor technique and bad sound. And once you have these 'bad habits' ingrained into your system, they can be extremely hard to 'fix' later on. So it's best to avoid them altogether.

So that's the first thing you'll learn in Fretboard Domination… how to set up the basic foundation techniques and skills so you can develop faster – without the damaging limitations most beginners have!

SECOND: The next stage is where you build on those basic foundation techniques to take your guitar playing to whatever level you choose. Whether to jam along with Eric Clapton in your bedroom, play in a weekend band for fun, or, to take the stage at a concert with 30,000 raving fans in the audience.

This is where some understanding of basic music theory will help you more than you would probably believe. Especially scale and chord theory – how scales are made and how chords are made from the notes in the scale.

Chords Are Everything!

To simplify it down to the core elements… all music is played with chords!

Chords are used together, in groups of two, three or four chords. We call these 'groups' chord progressions or chord sequences.

There are a number of very common chord sequences that are used in many hundreds and thousands of songs.

So your basic goal is to learn those common chord progressions and be able to play them in all keys. You practice them until you can play them in your sleep without thinking about it.

You start with basic chords, then add more fancy chords with extensions such as: sus chords, 6th's, 7th's, 9th's, 11th's etc. And you learn as many different ways to play those chords as you need for the style of music you are playing.

You also learn different ways to pick them and strum them, also dependent on the style of music you are playing. You learn little tricks that make these chord progressions sound different.

So ALL you are doing is taking the basic chords and building on them. Learning and discovering new ways to do the same things.

Play Songs By Ear

After a while the basic chord progressions become 2nd-nature to you. And the best part is that you start to really 'hear' them. You are able to 'instantly' recognize them when you hear them used in your favorite songs.

This makes it real easy to learn songs by ear.

Of course, when some of the more fancy chords are used, it's often a little harder to figure them out. But they are still based on the simple, basic chord progressions you have learned and know so well. So it's just a matter of listening carefully to figure out the basic underlying progression.

So once again, it's just basic stuff being fleshed out with more colors and sounds of the added extensions to the basic chords being played. (Fretboard Domination covers all this and also offers some powerful 'play by ear' tips that make this easier than ever.)

THIRD: Now we are down to learning how to play hot lead guitar solos over those basic chord progressions.

There are any numbers of methods to learn how to do this. The main ways are to use scale and 'mode' patterns, chord tones, arpeggios and triads.

Scales seem to be the main focus for many. Personally I think scales are the last way you should approach when learning how to solo over chord progressions. They are too complicated and most often when people use them they sound like they are playing scales rather than making music.

I much prefer using chord tones, arpeggios and triads. As these tend to focus on the notes in the chord you are playing over at the moment. They produce far more melodic solos that make strong statements and tell a story.

Fretboard Domination explains how to use all these methods. Plenty of explanation and example videos and backing tracks to practice with.

One of the favorite scales to use is the Pentatonic Scale. This is a great beginner scale and it works very well for rock and blues music. This scale is covered in depth along with chord-tone soloing and arpeggios.

The goal of Fretboard Domination is to put YOU in control of your guitar playing/learning future.

If you understand the simple idea of mastering the basics (playing common chord progressions in all keys and knowing how to solo over them) and building on those basics to ever higher skill levels, then you will always know what you need or want to work on next to take your playing to the next level. You won't need any other guitar courses or books, magic bullets or anything else. Unless you are getting very determined to pursue guitar playing to a virtuoso  level.

FOURTH: The Blues is the basis of much of the modern music we listen to today. Blues, rock, country, rock 'n roll, hard rock, metal, jazz etc., all use some elements of the blues.

The blues is all about emotion. So learning to play the blues is very important if you wish to express your emotions through your playing.

Fretboard Domination also has quite a heavy emphasis on the blues. You'll learn the blues form, and how to play blues chords and solos.

FRETBOARD DOMINATION: The FD membership provides you with weekly lessons for one year. Each week you get access to a new lesson.

Each lesson includes videos, a pdf lesson book and (where applicable) backing tracks to practice with.

Lessons are delivered as a zip file that you download to your computer. You unzip the lesson files and save them on your hard drive. They are ordered and you can work with them at your own pace.

FD will be available again soon.

If you have any questions about FD, please ask them below.

To your guitar playing success,

JB – aka The Tortoise