The Program

Unlike most of the guitar education available on the internet, FRETBOARD BIOLOGY is not designed to teach you how to play your favorite songs, bits and pieces of theory, or a few licks. It is a full academic music program designed to provide you with a professional-level education on guitar. You will learn how to think like a musician, how to understand what is happening musically within a song, and how to play with intention for specific emotional effect. In short, you will learn how to become a competent musician, how to communicate with other musicians like a professional, and how to play great guitar parts in any musical genre.

The FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program is not well-suited for a brand new guitar player.  The nature of the content is more suitable for an intermediate to advanced guitar players.  To get the most from this program, you should:

• Be able to play at least some major, minor, or pentatonic scales cleanly and in good time.
• Be able to play both major and minor barre chords and the G, C, D, E, A, Dmi, Emi, and Ami open chords.
• Be able to play complete songs, either on your own or along with a recording.
• Be able to play some kind of solo—even if a simple one—over a basic chord progression.

Many students in the FRETBOARD BIOLOGYprogram are advanced, but since you can work at your own pace, you don’t have to already be a great guitar player to be successful in this program. Having some basic abilities will greatly improve the pace of your success.

There are several areas of competence that you will achieve by going through the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program:

• Theory: You will gain an understanding of the structure of music and how different musical elements interact to create a great experience for the listener. This allows you to be intentional in your writing and performing to create the kind of sound and emotion that you want, rather than guessing.
• Fretboard Logic: You will master the fretboard of the guitar and will feel comfortable playing any scale, arpeggio, or chord in any voicing and in any position on the neck. This flexibility will open up a lot of choices for crafting your unique style of playing.
• Rhythm Guitar: You will learn the classic guitar vocabulary that define all the contemporary musical genres: Blues, Classic Rock, Folk, Funk, Reggae, Country, Jazz, Fusion, and R&B.
• Technique: You will learn various articulation techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, release bends, slides, vibrato, and harmonics, as well as numerous drills for developing right- and left-hand dexterity.
• Improvisation: You will learn how to play more powerful and intentional solos that emotionally touch the audience by learning about motif development, the five elements of contrast, storytelling techniques, and, later in the program, advanced soloing concepts.
• Practice Routines: Your practice routine is critical to your success. In every Unit throughout the entire course, you will develop a highly organized and effective practice routine to help you develop your knowledge and skills as efficiently as possible.

No. There is no audition necessary for the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program. However, for the best experience, you should at least have basic playing skills. These were discussed  in the “Is This the Right Program for Me” section above.

Yes. We do require people to start at the beginning, but read through the paragraph below.

Here’s the deal: This program has a specific and unique content organization that starts from the very beginning. Even if you already know much of the material in the lower levels, understanding this organizational system will help you work through the higher levels. If you already have a lot of musical knowledge and skills, you can move through the initial content quickly, while making sure that you don’t miss any important ideas that will impede your progress later on in the program. If you are a teacher, starting at the beginning will help you understand how to present foundational information.

Each Unit in the program is intended to take approximately one week to complete. While it may be tempting to move through the content quicker, your best path to success is to spend enough time on each individual Unit until you have completely mastered the information. There are a total of 92 Units in the program, so it will take between 18-24 months to complete if you work on it consistently. 

No. Just like any other academic program, there is a specific sequence of information to help you develop the knowledge and skills for your success. Simply taking the classes you want to take will leave large gaps in your competence as a musician. There are many websites that will allow you to be completely self-directed in what you learn. Unfortunately, approaching your guitar education in that way will inhibit your development as a player. This program has been battle-tested with thousands of students, many of whom have gone on to very successful careers in music.

The FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program is offered at a monthly subscription for $29 per month or an annual subscription for $299 per year.

Yes. We offer a free 7-day evaluation period for you to see whether this program is right for you. We are confident that once you see the quality of the program and the value you receive for your subscription, you will decide to continue the program.

While the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program does not require a lot of expensive equipment, there are some pieces of equipment that will be necessary in order to complete this program. Here is a short list:

• Electric Guitar: While the theory in the program is applicable to all guitar types, the improvisation, rhythm, and technique sections will be difficult to perform on an acoustic guitar. It is best to have an electric guitar.
• Computer or Tablet: You will need something to view the videos and read and/or download the text. While this is possible on a phone, the small screen size will make it more difficult to see what is happening in the demonstrations.
• Metronome: Developing good timing is critical for skill development on the guitar. Practicing to a metronome is the most effective way to develop good timing.
• A Way to Hear Yourself Play: This can be a practice amplifier or some other playback system that allows you to hear yourself. Whatever system you decide to use, it will be important to be able to create a clean tone as well as add some effects to your playing.
• A Way to Record Yourself: Listening is a critical skill for the guitarist. Being able to record yourself and listen back to what you played will help you develop a better sense of how your playing actually sounds.
• A Way to Print Materials: There are several worksheets and text that can be downloaded and printed.

FRETBOARD BIOLOGY offers optional private instruction referrals to seasoned professional instructors selected by Joe Elliott. Each instructor has many years of experience teaching the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY curriculum at the college level in both the classroom and in private lessons.

The information you provide helps us match you with the best instructor for your background and interests. All of our instructors are indpendent instructors and are not employees of FRETBOARD BIOLOGY. For this reason, setting up your lesson dates and times and payment arrangements will be made directly with the instructor. The cost for private lessons is $30 for a 30 minute lesson and $50 for a 60 minute lesson. You can change instructors at anytime should you decide to simply by contacting us.

Joe and other FRETBOARD BIOLOGY instructors monitor the forums in the Student Community and do their best to answer questions posted by students. You may also receive feedback from more advanced players in the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program. There is also the opportunity to get peer and instructor feedback when you post recorded examples of your solos or songs in the Student Community area in the Student Center.

Yes. FRETBOARD BIOLOGY has a Student Community that allows students to ask questions, exchange peer feedback, and post examples of their playing. The Student Community are also monitored by the instructors, so they may offer feedback and suggestions as well.

The FRETBOARD BIOLOGY program can be adapted for private instruction. If you are an instructor who would like to use the FRETBOARD BIOLOGY content when teaching your students, we just ask that your student purchase the books and/or subscription so that we can continue to produce great content.