what does he mean? satriani online lesson

[cakewalkr7]

In this online lesson http://www.guitar.com/Misc/popplay.aspx?ParID=319, Joe talks about his lessons with Lenny Tristano (sp?). He talks about knowing the notes and when you know the notes, you don't think about them anymore, you just play and it opens up this whole new world. Does anyone know for sure what he means here. I think I somewhat understand what he's trying to say, but not completely. Does he mean you know your theory so well that when you look at the fretboard and you're soloing, if you're in the key of G and you're on the E string, if the next note is a D, it'll fit, but a D# won't? I'm just trying to figure out if I want to get to that place where I don't think about the notes anymore, do I need to just start memorizing every note on the fretboard (which I'm already working on anyway) and also every note in every possible scale? I so wish I could have one lesson with him to pick his brain and ask these types of questions. Thanks.

[Algiman]

After you have spent long enough practising your scales and improvising, you get a feel for the notes without necessarily thinking about it. You'll hear in your mind which note you want and your fingers will find it automatically.

[GuitarAkuma]

It is a side effect of playing scales for a long time, it called 'fretbaord familiarisation' basically if you spen 5 hours a week playing all the note in G Major ANYWHERE on and EVERYWHERE on the neck after a months you will 'instinctively' know where the notes in G Major are (even if you can't name them in realtime), that is why many top players have a favourtite key or mode e.g. Vai and his Lydian obsession

Go ahead and try the experiement with your favourite key