To study the guitar fretboard you will need a fretboard chart. You can find one on the internet. With the chart in front of you the notes can be seen, relationships can be formed in the form of scales and chords. Take some time finding chords at different positions on the guitar fretboard. You do not have to play them, only find the shapes on the fretboard chart. It is like a game - see how many C major chords you can find.
The aim of studying a guitar fretboard chart is so you can, after a while, get rid of it but first you must establish your own personal relationship with it. Get a basic feel for the guitar fretboard. If you are just a beginner guitar player, you cannot expect it to mean too much to you yet, but you can begin by finding chords you are learning at the moment in a some positions on the guitar. You can find the names of the notes in the chords and write them down in alphabetical order and find them on the guitar in the form of scales. Do not take this exercise beyond what your fingers can do comfortably. If you are getting tired or your fingers start to ache, do something less demanding.
If you experiment with the basic chords and scales on the guitar fretboard, after a day or two you will know the names of the notes in a few positions. Do not be distracted by the fact that there are still many places on the fretboard where you DO NOT know the names of the notes. As your knowledge and your interest in playing music grows, so will your knowledge of the guitar fretboard. Do not confuse getting to know the guitar in this way with memorizing the notes. Finding interesting ways to play chords and scales gets your body moving and it gets your feelings working, which helps your mind remember where the notes are. We can look now at how learning notes off by heart can help in becoming a guitarist.
The open string sequence of E A D G B E is the same at the twelfth fret. So once you know the notes up to the twelfth fret, you automatically know all the notes above it. Good to know. Another tool to help you get to know the guitar is to memorize the notes at the fifth fret - A D G C E A. So without even working on chords and scales you have already somewhat simplified the layout of the guitar fretboard. You really do not need to remember too much more at this stage.
Finally, to remind ourselves that there learning can be done in many ways, let us see how guitarists from different disciplines learn the guitar fretboard. If you are aiming to become a rock or jazz guitar player, learning the notes on the guitar is said to be one of the main things you need to achieve, but did you know that classical and Flamenco guitar players approach learning the guitar without even thinking about learning the fretboard?
The traditional way of learning Flamenco is by learning from a family member or a friend, and only trying to compose your own material after getting a great deal of music from other guitarists. And you might find it hard to believe but improvisation is not a traditional part of Flamenco guitar playing. Yet, after a few years of learning by playing guitar with friends and family, Flamenco guitar players get an instinctive feel for the guitar which is as solid as that of any guitarist who has learnt to read music or tab.
Classical guitar players learn how to read music first, then learn simple pieces, and graduate to more difficult music as their knowledge and technique grows. So although they never need to work directly on learning the fretboard, and usually they never try to improvise, they eventually become accomplished guitarists through gaining a repertoire.
So do not stress over learning the guitar fretboard, your knowledge of the notes will grow as your confidence as a guitar player grows.
