Should You Learn Learn Three Notes Per String Scales? (3NPS Scales)

[@stavies7525]

Great video! You can see the scale degrees easier with 3 notes per string. Root, Major 2nd, Perfect 4th and 5th form a neat little box. Then add either minor or major degrees 😎

[@casilatino]

Wow this is really nice to hear because I am much more familiar with the ergonomic 5 pattern scales and I am in the process of learning the 7 3nps positions. I feel like I can now go back and spend my time perfecting the 5 positions and how to connect them better. Thanks.

[@druwk]

I’m ‘just’ (been playing a L O N G time) integrating the scale shapes and chord shapes with a systematic approach (CAGED). However, I have also dabbled with 3NPS, and a linear approach to learning the fret board (tetrachords). I find now, I’m most successful when I’m really listening to/for the scale, and letting my fingering find the connecting threads. Sometimes that ends up being a 3NPS shape. Learning a tune, or chord progression still always starts with mapping. CAGED along with breaking down the Triads, provides an excellent map! Pentatonics (major and minor) do as well. It’s a great fall back, and you can add notes to build 7 note scales. Still very much working on layering arpeggios and seeing chord voicing (other than major and minor)

[@soundguitar]

Great approach, thanks so much for sharing! :)

[@michaelcraig9449]

Can you explain that? What do you mean by mapping it out and can you post up an example of it?

[@druwk]

@@michaelcraig9449 learn your basic chords shapes (CAGED) that you can play anywhere on the guitar. Learn the corresponding Pentatonic Shape that goes with each chord, Major and Minor. In one position, map out all the chords to a song. Do the same thing in multiple positions. Map out the Pentatonic Shapes. Start arranging what sounds good and start connecting the adjacent areas of the neck. The general idea is to keep moving and discovering how everything connects. There are finite choices with any one song, and a cool arrangement will emerge. Once you have a good idea where you are in different places, improvising gets less frustrating. I’m leaving out Harmonizing with 3rds, 4ths, and 6ths, using chord fragments (triads), and feeling out scales that work over the arrangement, but it’s the same idea of listening and feeling your way through. Shapes just help you hit less wrong notes. Ultimately, it’s not a purely mechanical process, you will start feeling where to go, and start listening inside your head.

[@enricoalbor6588]

Practicing CAGED or teaching it, I often used 3NPS but in practice(cality) it depends upon the rhythm & arrangements of notes, mean wc is/are in easy/e access of left hand finger(ing)s. Styles(tempo,rhythm)dictates techniques that were called for, & is oftentimes it’s like driving a vehicle, a keyboard(s)...motors&nerves were programmed(you can smile, duckwalk while shredding!)

[@soundguitar]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@timsmith190]

Thanks for your insights and experience. I played with 3NPS, but having previously learned the convertional major scales and their modes found then awkward and perhaps best suited to fast lead runs. With an equal number of notes on each string it allows fast unbroken up/down pick strokes; shredding is not so much an interest of mine and luckily I never got far enough in 3NPS to create an injury.

[@soundguitar]

Thanks for sharing, Tim! And thanks for watching :)

[@annarakannan6620]

I loved the caged system. That works best for me.

[@jimtessin4130]

Yes!

[@michaelcraig9449]

Can a person still shred real fast using the cage system, the 5 scale patterns?

[@emilyspector2728]

Can you use this on electric as well? I’m re-learning from a break lol!

[@danbromberg]

I assume your link to the ERGONOMIC SCALES/5 POSITIONS is what you called the CAGE System in this video - do I have that right? Also, I've been using the 3 NPS discussed at kzbin.info/www/bejne/qILJZ5xugK6qgLc but will now reconsider since everything you've talked about has always been spot on.

[@soundguitar]

Thanks for asking, Dan. Yes, what I call the "ergonomic scale forms" are the same thing as the CAGED scale forms. And to each their own. Plenty of players use 3NPS to great effect and I would never say they shouldn't. This is just my story/take/approach on the matter.

[@danbromberg]

@@soundguitarThanks for the clarification. One obvious advantage of always using 3NPS is that there is no uncertainty as to which strings get 3 notes and which ones get 2 notes. No problem if it was only major and minor, but when you throw in the other 5 modes it can get confusing real fast. Of course, when pain is a factor, that's a whole nudder story!

[@BloodyMirPootin]

CAGED: I am the best guitar scale system !! 3NPS: No, I am the best guitar scale system !! 7 vertical position (berklee system): Let these noobs fight each other, ill just watch 🚬😎

[@soundguitar]

HAHA 🤣 good one

[@michaelcraig9449]

Isnt that the same as 3nps system?