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ThreeNotesPerStringScales,Part1Constructingmajorpatterns
DeepRoots

Jun192008,03:50PM

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Post#1

Introduction

Onceyou'vedivedintotheworldofscalesandbecomefamiliarwiththe5pentatonicpatternsortheCAGEDmajorpatterns
youwillknowhowthesepatternsaregreatfornavigatingyourwayaroundthefretboard.

GettodaChopper!

Inthislessonwewilllookatmorepatternsthatcanbeusedtomapoutthemajororminorscale,orindeedanyofthemodes
overthefretboard.

Uses

Youfirstquestionmaybe:"Why?"andthatjustsohappenstobeagreatplacetostart.
Asyoumaybeawarebynowinyourquestfortheoryexpertise,therearemanydifferentwaystoplayanynote,lickor
sequenceontheguitarduehowthenotesarelaidoutontheneck.

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Bylearningtoplaytheselicksorsequencesindifferentareasoftheneckwevastlyincreaseourknowledgeandunderstanding
Joined:18March07
From:SouthWales,UK ofthefretboardandcanhelpustobreakoutofthe"stuckinthebox"situations.
MemberNo.:1.374
Thisgoesthesameforlearningscalepatterns.Ifyoucanplaythesamescaleupanddownindifferentplacesorevencombine
thepatternsthenyoursoloingandimprovisationswillbefarlesslimited.Threenotesperstringpatternsalsomakelearninga
scaleovertheentirefretboardveryeasy.
Threenoteperstringscalepatternsareespeciallyusefultoplayerswhowishtohonetheirtechniquessuchasalternateor
economypickingorevenlegato.Theconsistentnumberofnotesoneachstringreallyfacilitatestheuseofthesetechniquesand
iswhythesepatternsarethechoiceofsomanygreatplayers,especiallyshredderssuchasPaulGilbert.Thinkaboutitifeach
stringhas3notes,itsaloteasiertogetintoarhythmofplayingaconstantnumberofnotesthenmovingtoanewstring,thanit
wouldbewithanyoftheCAGEDshapeswiththeirmixof2and3notesperstring.Threenoteperstringscalesaregreattouse
whenplayingtripletsasyouwillbeplayingallthenotesonanyonestringforeachtripletwhichhelpsalotwiththetiming.
Infact,theCAGEDshapesareconstructedspecificallytokeepthingseasytoplaywithoutchangingposition,wheras,3note
perstringscales,aswewillsee,involvepositionshiftingthroughout.Thispositionshiftingisalittleharderforabeginnerto
master,whichiswhyCAGEDshapesareoftentaughtfirst.
Constructinga3notesperstringscale

Toconstructa3notesperstringscale,youmustfirstconsiderthenotesinthescale,forthisexamplewe'llusetheCmajor
scale.
CDEFGAB
We'llstartattheCnote,onthe8thfretonthelowEstring.

Fromhere,wecanproceedbyaddingthenextnotesinthescalethesebeingDEthenF.

However,onceattheFnoteonthelowEstringwenowhave4notesonthisstring.Tokeeptothe3noteperstringconceptwe
mustmovethisnotetotheadjacentstringlikeso.

Sowhenbuildingthisscalepattern,wemustmoveanoteacrosstotheadjacentstringtokeeptothe3notesperstringrule.

Now,noteherethatwemovedpositionuponefretisallbutititisworthnoting.Allthreenoteperstringscaleswillinvolve2
or3positionshiftsthroughoutthescale.Thisisnotabigdeal,butmeansalittlepracticeisneededwhenplayingtosmoothly
moveuptheneckatthesametimeasyouarechangingstrings.
Eventuallyweendupwithacompletedoctaveofthispattern.

Howeverthisisnotenoughforus,asoneofthemainbenefitsofa3notesperstringistobeabletoplayascaleovertheentire
fretboard.Sowewillcontinuetobuildthispatternuntilwehaveusedall6stringsandhave3notesoneach.

Secondpatternandbeyond!

Nowthatyouhaveconstructedthisfirstmajorscalepatternyouareabletoplaythemajorscalestartingfromanynoteonthe
lowEstringastheroot.However,usingthisonepatterncanbelimitingsowewillcontinuetobuildmorepatterns.

Todothis,wewillstartfromthesecondnoteintheCmajorscale,D.
Applyingwhatweknowaboutconstructinga3notesperstringscalewilllooklikethis.

..andeventually..

Yournextguesswascorrect,we'llbuilda3noteperstringscaleoffeverydegreeofthescalestartingonthelowEstring.
Heretheyallarelaidoutforcomparisonandasyouknowthefirstpatternstartsfromthefirstdegreeofthescale,thesecond
patternstartsfromtheseconddegreeofthescaleandsoon.

Pattern1

Pattern2

Pattern3

Pattern4

Pattern5

Pattern6

Pattern7

(you'llnoticethatweranoutofroomonthenecktheresothispatternisshownstartingatanoteanoctavelowerontheE
string)
Andsothatyoucanseehowitallfitstogether..

Youcanseethatapatterncanbeusedattheotherendofthefretboardwhetheritbeinganoctavelowerorhigherasitcontains
thesamenotes,inthesameorder,sowecanusethesamepattern.
WhySevenPatterns?

OurregularCAGEDboxesonlygiveus5patterns,sowhydo3noteperstringscaleshave7patterns?Theanswerissimple
everyscalewillhavetheexactnumberofpatternsthattherearenotesinthescale.Pentatonicforinstancehas5patterns,
whereasMajor,Minorandthemodeswillallhave7aswehaveseenabove.ThetrickhereisthatfortheCAGEDsystem,we
aresimplifyingthingstomakeiteasierforalearnertopickup,whereas3noteperstringscalesaremoreadvanced.Forthis
reason,intheCAGEDsystemwemissoutacoupleoftheboxesthatareseparatedfromthepreviousboxesbyonlyone
semitonetoavoidclutteringthingsup(thesewouldbeboxes4and7ofthemajorscale).
Moretocomeyetthough,lookoutforthesecondpartforhowtousemodestohelpususethesepatterns!

kaznie_NL

Jun192008,03:58PM
Wow..GreatworkDR!!

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Fran

Jun192008,04:02PM
ReallyusefulDR!Thanks

Post#3

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TreyDeschamp

Jun192008,04:06PM
thatsreallyusefulthanksalot

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TreyDeschamp

Jun192008,04:06PM
thatsreallyusefulthanksalot

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AndrewCockburn

Jun192008,04:11PM
ExcellentlydoneDR!

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Slammer

Jun192008,05:59PM
Wow!!!
IhadnoIdeaabout3npsScales,Thanksforshowingthem!!

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IvanMilenkovic

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Jun192008,06:03PM
ExcellentworkDeeproots,veryuseful!

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skennington

Jun192008,06:06PM
WellexplainedDeep.Settinghereatworktakingthisallin,unfortunatelynoguitarwithme.

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CheckOutTheVirtualBands
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DeepRoots

Jun192008,10:44PM
Thanksguys!
QUOTE(AndrewCockburn@Jun192008,04:11PM)
ExcellentlydoneDR!

GettodaChopper!

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ThanksagainforyourhelpAndrew.

Post#10


SpeeedyT

Mar52009,01:32AM
Sweetposts.Thanksguys.

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RatedHtr

Mar52009,01:42AM
Nicework,thanksfordoingit

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