Guitar Notes for Dummies

Long before the age of Guitar Hero, I wanted to learn the notes, feel them as Clapton would say.
I wasn't a groupie. I was more likely to be in the band. Sometimes I go through my scrapbook of the best of cutouts of years of Guitar magazine for the Top 100 Guitar Licks, Blues Bar Chords, transcriptions.
The best advice I could give as a mediocre player is the following. The great Don Manzo taught me how to memorize the guitar neck. Think "to be or not to be" (Shakespeare); B and E have no sharps. So hit the first string, the top fat one. It's an E. Hold it down and it's an F. Go down the fretboard and so on and so on.
My friend Anthony taught be the "fat E and skinny E" walkup from top to bottom and vice versa. It's (from the fat side) Every Ass Does Good Before Eating) and from the bottom (Every Bus Goes Day and Evening).
Barre chords were tough but once I built up my finger strenth, it was so cool. There was a time in my life about a decade ago when I played for up to 8 hours a day getting over a breakup.
I actually learned some sings by ear, got used to the sounds of some notes.