You’re welcome. Thank you for the kind words.

It is 5 frets unless switching between B and G strings. So if you’re going to “higher numbered – thicker strings” you go to higher frets by 5 unless you are going from B to G string – which is 4 frets. If you are going down in strings (to a thinner string) you move to a lower fret number.

In your example, you’d move to 14 on the G string and 17 on the B string.

I hope this helps.

You are not alone! Many start guitar or restart their learning in retirement. When you say you want to focus on melody and not lead, I assume this means that you want to understand the note choices of your melody. Lead guitar can do this, but it can also be an exercise in getting fast or simply choosing the right scale. Learn chord construction, learn scales, learn the fretboard. It works together by knowing the notes that work with the chords/harmony and being able to play them instantly across the fretboard. So I’ll ask you to read my free chord construction lesson then consider buying my book, The Secrets of Learning the Fretboard. The chord construction lesson will introduce the core topics of harmony and relate it to the major scale. My book will help you find your note options in a way that helps you think about the notes (and recall them as quickly as possible). I hope this helps.

A visual tool like that may be helpful to some at first, but you shouldn’t make it permanent (in my opinion). At some point, you need to have instant recall without the labels. It’s like using your fingers to do math. It can help, but you want to do the math in your head for the fastest results.

Randy, I am glad to hear it! Keep on strumming!

Thank you!