Three notes per string
Scale fingerings with exactly three notes on every string; regular patterns for picking, legato and sequences.
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Content under musical review. It may contain inaccuracies.
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Scale fingerings with exactly three notes on every string; regular patterns for picking, legato and sequences.
Applied
In the three-notes-per-string system (3NPS) you always place three scale notes on each string before moving to the next. A seven-note scale gives you seven patterns, one for each starting note. Their big advantage is regularity: the same number of notes per string makes alternate picking, legato and sequences easier.
The G major scale in a single 3NPS pattern, from the 6th string at the 3rd fret up to the 1st string, across two and a half octaves:
The first strings of the pattern, one at a time:
Step 1 of 4 · 6th string
String 6, Fret 3: G2 · 1 · Root
The full scale on the neck, so you can see where the seven patterns come from:
String 6, Open: E2 · 6 · Scale tone
Turn on the 3NPS system and step through the seven patterns. Notice how each one overlaps the next:
Three-notes-per-string patterns Metronome in tripletsWith strict alternate picking and three notes per string, each string starts with a different stroke: down-up-down on one, up-down-up on the next. Practise that switch slowly, because half the string crossings happen from outside the strings and half from inside. Another option is economy picking: when you cross to the next string in the same direction, you let the stroke carry through.
3NPS patterns ask for five-fret stretches on some strings. If you feel tension in your hand, start around frets 5 to 12, where frets are narrower, and don't force wide stretches cold. Each of the seven patterns starts on a scale degree, so you can also read them as the seven modes of the major scale: the pattern that starts on the sixth note holds the Aeolian mode. Pentatonics, by contrast, have only five notes and are played two notes per string.