Author

First, allow me to commend you on the work and effort you put into this site. Your musical background and training is extensive and obviously your passion. It is great, you want to share so much info. I am almost embarrased, to call myself a guitar teacher, although my students are thrilled with my method of teaching ( typical theory/practical stuff ).My question to you is, with the 3-notes per string Maj Scales. what are you referring to as the second, third etc. the root is B, the second C# and so on.the second scale seems like it is in A-CMin ?, is there an order to this exercise ? can you elaborate on the theory ? it seems you are starting on B, then it travels backwords through the Major scales A-G, is that correct? sorry for going on about this , but I seem to be having a seniors moment. Thanx again for such a great site.
Regards
Ken.

Okay I have just gone through the Visualizing 3-notes per string !now it makes perfect sense to me, I love how you have broken this info done, it’s perfect…can’t wait to beef up my chops with this stuff, can certainly see how this will greatly enlarge my playing vocabulary.Thanx Carl for your dedication and your love for playing and sharing what you know. I will be supporting your cause with whatever I can, you desrve it.
Respectively
Ken.

‘Basic key theory’ is not in the intemrediate guitar lesson archive. As this is the basis of so many of your lessons i’d suggest putting it in there as you say it is so we can all learn from your instruction.

These lessons are excellent. I am a new subscriber, and maybe I just haven’t been able to find it, but have you considered doing a lesson on different arpeggio positions? I mean, different arpeggio patterns that can be used when playing over a particular chord. This could be very helpful for improv soloing. If you have already done this, please let me know where

Sincerely,

Jonathan

Hello,
Can you please help me!, to grasp an understanding of Guitar musical phrashing skills etc; because I want to be able to play more cooler sounding Melodic licks/solos or just musical statements. And lastly, would you be able to send me ‘sweep picking Arpeggios’ in guitar Tab form?.
Best regards,
James T.
Intermediate guitarist

Hey there, thanks for the question.

Learning the CAGED patterns AND 3 notes per string patterns is in my opinion essential. The CAGED system really helps you get your chord playing down and be able to see how those chords relate to scales.

The reason I developed the 3 notes per string system that I teach on this site is because I felt I needed a better way to break out of the same old boxes I was always playing in. If you look at the 3 notes per string shapes as being in boxes you will probably have the same trouble freely moving around the neck that you do with the standard CAGED shapes. The idea with the 3 notes per string shapes is that you will notice that the last two notes of each shape are always the first two notes of the next one. There really is no beginning or end to the shapes once you start seeing them that way. I noticed my playing became more fluid and free very quickly after I started practicing my improv this way. It may take some getting used to, but as I am sure you know anything worth having usually takes a little work.

There are a few spots where the forms in both systems line up visually but the idea with the 3 notes per string forms is that they always stay consistent from one string to the next making many things much easier, especially your picking. I don’t think already knowing the CAGED forms would provide any shortcut to learning the 3 notes per string patterns except for the fact that your brain is probably used to learning scale forms by now and that should speed things up a bit.

Let me know if you have any more questions and thanks a bunch for coming to my site!!

Happy Holidays!! Carl..

hi thanks for the really good PDF really helped me!!

Yeah you can look at it that way but really I was just trying to get you to memorize the 7 scale forms without thinking key or mode. That is why they are all at the 7th fret. In reality every single one of those scale forms can be used to play every mode which you will see in the visualization videos.

Thanks!! Carl..

What key is the 4th shape in?

Thanks for taking the time to make these lessons. They are very helpful.

Hey,
I’d just like to say that you, sir, are the best teacher out there. i swear i’m not even lying ur site is so helpful and easy to use without any stupid advertisements and packages and other junk. you’re just a great to-the-point teacher and the stuff that you teach is what people pay loads to learn. I just thank you man for making this free and doing a favour to loads of people. please keep it this way. i’m definitely gonna donate to this site. thanks a lot man i really appreciate it personally cheers man
Shawn

I think your lessons are great stuff, I personally like to think of the three note patterns as Major mode patterns, maybe because I already know the Major modes.

Ionian Mode: Pattern from the Root note of the Major scale

Dorian Mode: Pattern from the 2nd note of the Major scale

Phrygian Mode: Pattern from the 3rd note of the Major scale

Lydian Mode: Pattern from the 4th note of the Major scale

Mixolydian Mode: Pattern from the 5th note of the Major scale

Aeolian Mode: Pattern from the 6th note of the Major scale

Locrian Mode: Pattern from the 7th note of the Major scale

Bang spot on, been playing for 40years… Your site this lesson in particular w/UNDERSTANDING KEYS… ZENmaster CB the CAGE had me trapped 3N/string or the flow has compounded the bits & pieces into some Gr8 knowledge. Thought i was an artist found out i was a painter… Will be the artist i thought i was with your grant of info:)

chrs t2

Hey Chris, the built form the 2nd, 3rd and so forth means which note in the scale that shape starts on.

If you take the key of G Major, it’s notes are G A B C D E F# .. That is 7 notes and you just number them 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. So in the case of G major the shape built from the 2nd would begin on the note A on the six string.

The shape built from the 3rd would begin on B on the six string and so forth.

Does that make more sense?

Cheers! Carl..

Hey Frank, sorry but I don’t really understand the question.

Well it depends on what scale form you are playing on that C note.

If you are playing the shape built from the root off of the F on the six string you will be playing in F Major. If you then shift up to the C and want to stay in F Major you will play the shape built from the 5th off of that C note since C is the 5th note in the key of F Major.

If you were to play the same “Built from the root” scale shape off that same C note you would now be playing the notes of C Major. The mode is really determined by the harmony you are playing over, not the scale tones you are playing since every major scale can represent 7 different modes. Hope this make sense.

Cheers! Carl..

Thank you so much Carl. I wish I could articulate in one comment how much your teaching has helped me!

Peace and love from Leeds, England