If you are a beginner guitar player (or intermediate) and would like to master your instrument, there are essentially two fundamental skills that you need to learn: playing chords and playing scales. In order to do both, you first need to learn the notes on the fretboard.

Below is an image representing the notes comprising the most basic scale, the chromatic scale or fretboard note map:

Take a moment to look over the above note chart. In addition to studying chart, we highly recommend that you purchase the Fretboard Note Map, which will allow you to put the names of the notes right on the surface of your guitar neck as you become fully acquainted with the intricacies of the fretboard.

There are a number of goals, integral to the guitar learning process, which may be greatly enhanced and or aided with the help of stickers.

Visualize note patterns with greater ease - One of the most important aspects of applied musical theory is being able to understand musical patterns and being able to visually recognize such patterns with relation to the guitar fretboard. Guitar stickers allow the student to readily observe such patterns with greatly reduced mental effort. While it is important to eventually memorize such patterns, new patterns should be observed for long periods of time in order for the student to fully digest the information.

Focus on technique rather than looking for the notes - One difficulty encountered by the beginning guitar student is that associated with trying to focus on a number of things at once. Students must hold the guitar pick correctly, strum the relevant notes or chords, think about the musical phrases being played, and articulate the notes with (in most cases) the left hand - all simultaneously. By using guitar stickers with the patterns to be learned printed on them, the student can free up one's mental efforts to focus on other aspects of learning - at least for a period of time. While, of course, the eventual goal is to be able to recognize patterns without the use of stickers - the temporary use of stickers with note indicia, can be extremely beneficial.

Find and form new chords with great ease - While the beginning student focuses on learning chords within the first three to five frets of the fingerboard (these are commonly referred to as the open chords), the intermediate and advanced player must learn to form chords across the entire span of the fingerboard. Guitar stickers with note indicia, allow students to recognize obscure patterns, enabling the student to form a more robust understanding of the fingerboard and chord vocabulary.

Translate knowledge from one instrument to the guitar - Very often musicians who are fully competent with one instrument - say, for example, the piano - attempt to learn the guitar, but find the fingerboard less than obvious to navigate. Guitar stickers allow musicians who already understand musical patterns in the abstract to visually observe and understand how those patterns relate to the guitar specifically.

Put everything together - With guitar stickers as a visual tool, the task of putting all of the pieces together, from musical theory, to strumming, to articulation, to phrasing and pattern recognition, happens at a much quicker rate. While putting stickers on your guitar will not, in and of itself, turn you into a rock God, it certainly will help you move in the right direction.