Contents Introduction Introductio n 4NPS versus versus 3NPS Nextt Note, Nex Note, Next Finger Different Scales Scales,, Different Stretches Melodic Minor Melodic Minor How to Practic Practicee Harmonicc Minor Harmoni Natu Nat ural ral Minor/Aeolian Minor/Aeolian Mode Mode Merging 4 NPS and and 3NPS Patterns 4NPS Guide Patterns Patterns Alternate Alterna te Pickin Pi cking g Thee Mirr Th Mir r or or Image (Beyond the 12 th Fret Fret)) Techniquess (1) Technique The Modes Modes Improving Improvi ng Speed and Accuracy Accurac y Interlock ing ing Patterns More 4NPS 4NPS Per P erm mutati utation onss Symmetrical Symme trical Scales Techniques Techniqu es (2) Tapping Tappin g Tappi apping ng wi with th Slides Legato So far, so good? Other Oth er Useful Scale Sca le Patterns Altered Scale (1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b ( 1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7) 7) Super Locrian (1,b2,#2,3,#4,#5,b7) Lydian b7 (1,2,3,#4,5,6,b7) Mixolydian b6 (1,2,3,4,5,b6,b7) Phrygian Phry gian Dominant Dominant (1,b2,3,4,5,b6 (1,b2 ,3,4,5,b6,b7) ,b7) Hungarian Minor (1,2,b3,#4,5,b6,7) 2
Harmonic Major (1,2,3,4,#5,6,7) Lydian Augmented (1,2,3,#4,#5,6,7) Lydian Minor Minor (1,2,3 (1,2,3,#4,5,b6, ,#4,5,b6,b7) b7) Eight Tone Spanish Scale (1,b2,#2,3,4,b5,b6,b7) Enigmatic (1,b2,3,#4,#5,#6,7) More from Unlock the Guitar
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Introduction While building up speed is an important part of being able to play shred guitar, guitar, an equally important, important, and often overlooked overlo oked side sid e of shred s hred playing pl aying is fretboard dexteri dexterity ty:: the the abil ab ility ity to use all al l four four fingers fingers of the the fretting hand hand to execute fast passages without having to compensate for a weak or unused finger. In the upper echelons of fast but accurate playing you’ll find the likes of Allan Holdsworth, Shawn Lane, Jason Becker and a few select others. What distinguishes these players is their mastery of fretboard dexterity i.e. the the use of all al l four fingers fingers in equal proporti pr oportion on and and with w ith equal strength. strength. In this this eBook we’ll we’ ll look at how to achieve this this dexterity throu through gh the the exploration explor ation of four-note-per-string (4NPS) scales. This is not a scale theory book; what we’re concerned with here are the mechanics of this aspect of speed playing and how to develop them. 4NPS scales are the perfect vehicle to explore these mechanics and apply them to your playing, especially if you’ve already alr eady gotten gotten your your 3NPS or CAGED patterns patterns down, do wn, and are looking for for that extra something to take your shred playing to the next level. Let’s get started! Graham www.unlocktheguitar.net
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4NPS versus 3NPS Grab your guitar and take a minute to play through this 3NPS pattern:
I’ll bet that you you played it with w ith the the followi foll owing ng fingeri fingering ng from low to high: high: 1-24, 1-2-4, 1-2-4, 1-2-4, 1-3-4, 1-3-4. If you study your hand while you play this scale, you’ll notice that on the first four strings the third finger becomes trapped or does nothing, and on the B and E string stri ngss the second sec ond finger finger is just there there in midmid-air. air. You should should (if (i f you wanted to develop deve lop shred-master type fretboard spans) play th this pattern with th the following fing fingering from low to high high: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3
This This way you free free up the the fourth and second fingers fingers respective res pectively ly as you play the pattern. This might be a bit of a stretch down at the nut, but the further up the fretboard you go, the more relevant this becomes, and the more possibilities possibi lities are ar e opened opened up. up. As men mention tioned, ed, Shawn Shawn Lan Lanee did this, this, as did Jason Becker, and of course the legendary Allan Holdsworth, and even Eddie Van Halen. It’s quite recognizable as it’s a different hand position/grip position/grip to when you play 3NPS 3NPS scales the the ‘standard’ ‘standard’ way. way.
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Next Note, Note , Next Finger Finger Wasted fingers on the fretboard mean a reduction in finger stretching, and a reduction in possibilities for the sake of a ‘comfortable’ hand position. What we need to do is capitalize on those wasted fingers and apply the, ‘next note, next finger’, rule i.e. adjacent notes are always played by the adjacent finger, so there should be no trailing or dangling fingers in between any two notes being played in succession.
Look at the following 4NPS pattern:
This is a 4NPS Major Scale pattern starting on the low F. 4NPS patterns that start on F are the hardest to play because they involve the widest stretches. Play through the pattern SLOWLY using alternate picking from the low F to the high A and back again. If the stretch is too much for you at this point, feel free to start the pattern on the low A or further up the neck where it’s more comfortable . As you play more more of these these scales scal es your your stretch will widen, even if you have small hands, and you can work down to the F. Remember: You don’t have to learn this as a scale pattern to replace your 3NPS knowledge, we’re more interested in the mechanics of it in order to leverage leve rage them and transform our overall over all shredding shreddi ng ability abil ity.. Here’s Here ’s a 4NPS 4 NPS pattern patte rn startin sta rting g on the Bb on the A string: string:
Play through it SLOWLY up and down using alternate picking, or move it up the fretboard if the stretch is too much at this point. 6
Notice Notice that that 4NPS 4NPS patterns patterns transcen transcend d scale shapes and and pass throug through h all of them. If you know your 3NPS shapes well, you may see them appear as you move through through the the 4NPS pattern. This This is what we want as it’ll it’l l help us to leverage 4NPS patterns. As you play through these patterns you’ll notice some initial discomfort but keep going (as long as the pain isn’t is n’t unbearabl unbearable) e) and play through through it; stop if i f you feel anything anything mor moree than mil mild d stretching s tretching and move further up the fretboard. Note Note also the the chang changee in th the position of of you yourr hand, hand, which should should now be more ‘spread’ ‘sp read’ compared compared to the the 3NPS hand hand position, pos ition, and don’t be discouraged by the initial discomfort.
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Different Scales, Different Stretches The different interval permutations of different scales will provide new stretches in 4NPS scale patterns.
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Melodic Minor Here’s Here ’s the Melodic Melodic Minor Minor scale pattern patte rn startin sta rting g on the low F: F:
And And the sam s amee scale startin sta rting g on Bb:
Make Make sure s ure you play throu through gh these these scales scal es slowl sl owly y and and precis pr ecisely; ely; there’s there’s no rush. As you play through these patterns you may find you need to lift the previous fing finger er in order for th the adjacent fing finger to be able to to fret the the note; note; this this is perfectly okay. okay.
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How to Practice Play through the scale using alternate picking, then move the whole pattern up a semi-tone until you reach the F on the 13 th fret. You can also start on the F at the 13 th fret and work w ork down, dow n, whichever you find find more comfortabl comfortable. e. Remember to take a rest if you tire, or you feel more than mild stretching.
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Harmonic Minor The Harmonic Minor scale is an excellent one to practice as it features a gap of 3 semi-tones to negotiate.
Here’s the Harmonic Minor scale starting on the low F:
And And the sam s amee scale startin sta rting g on Bb:
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Naturall Mi Natura Minor/Aeol nor/Aeoliian Mode Once you’ve gotten the hang of the Harmonic Minor pattern, try the less demanding natural minor pattern which should feel fairly comfortable by now. Here’s the pattern starting on F:
And here it is starting on Bb:
Continue to practice with all patterns we’ve covered so far; as you get past the initial discomfort you should start to see any previously learned scale patterns patterns appear as you you move throug through h the the 4NPS pattern patterns. s. Wh When this this happens, happens, you’re ready for the next chapter.
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Merging Mer ging 4NPS and 3NPS 3 NPS Patterns If you haven’t already, try improvising using the 4NPS concept (not the scale patterns); use the scale shapes you’ve learned from the 3NPS or CAGED systems. Remember the next note next finger rule and see what happens. What you’ll find is that as you expand your hand reach on the fretboard, your ‘fretboard ‘fretboar d visio vi sion’ n’ (the picture of the fretboard in your your mind) expands expands too as the 4NPS concept will always force you to go outside of any 3NPS or CAGED scale pattern. Notice Notice the the difference difference between between th the position of you yourr hand hand in th the 4NPS position and and when playing playing 3NPS and and CAGED CAGED patterns. patterns. You You may need to adjust your stance and your strap a little, but these initial discomforts will soon pass.
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4NPS Guide Guide Patterns P atterns The next thing to do is bring the 4NPS patterns back in as a guide to movement on the fretboard. The very nature of a 4NPS pattern implies movement. When you were applying the 4NPS concept over 3NPS or CAGED scale shapes, you probably prob ably noticed that you you hit hit a lot of repeating r epeating notes, or the same notes on adjacent strings, or you moved your hand in much the same way as you did before. 4NPS patterns come into their own when they’re used in conjunction with horizontal and diagonal movement on the fretboard. Using the 4NPS patterns as a guide will help you avoid repeating notes, although these can be used to great effect in some situations.
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Alternate Picking You may have noticed I’ve been suggesting you use alternate picking when playing playing 4NPS scales. There’s There’s a good good reason for for this this because we have an even num number of notes notes on each string, and and since s ince alternat al ternatee pickin pi cking g is strictly stric tly up-down-up-down or vice versa, it’s very consistent. Refine your alternate picking skills by varying whether you start on an upstroke or a downstroke; both are just as efficient.
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The Mirror Image (Beyond (Beyond the 12th Fret) When using 4NPS patterns it’s a good idea to see patterns beyond the 12 th fret as a mirror image, almost as if they were two separate fretboards. 4NPS patterns patterns become become very usable usable above the the 12 th fret due to the close clos e proxim pr oximity ity of the frets themsel themselves. ves. Take a look l ook at our F Major Majo r scale s cale starting on the the 13 th fret.
As you can see the pattern doesn’t complete complete on a guitar guitar with wi th 24 frets (4NPS ough note notess to ‘ge ‘ gett us patterns patterns can span up up to 17 frets), frets), but there are e nough into’ the 4NPS concept so that you can fill in the gaps with your knowledge from other scale systems. Allan Holdsworth uses this idea to great effect when he plays above the 12 th fret. Choose any of the scale patterns we’ve looked at and see if you can replicate them starting on the 13 th fret. Use the pattern to get into the 4NPS concept and see what you can come up with.
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Techniques (1) Once you’re comfortable with the hand position for 4NPS scales, you can start to bring br ing in techn techniques iques such s uch as slides, sli des, hamm hammer-ons, er- ons, pull-offs pull- offs and bends. I’d suggest over-using your pinky here to bring it up to speed. Slides. You You can slide sli de using any any fing finger er and slides sli des are a good way w ay to expand expand your ‘fretboard vision’ even further, just be sure to maintain the 4NPS hand position and and not not revert back to 3NPS 3NPS or CAGED CAGED grips. Hammer-ons and Pull-offs. These are the key to legato playing. Again, make sure you incorporate your pinky, and that the volume is consistent for all notes. Bends. Your original bending technique will be just as effective in 4NPS playing playing, just be sure sure to bend bend with you yourr pinky pinky to bring bring it up up to speed.
This is the perfect stage to bring in these techniques as they all serve to again widen your ‘fretboard vision’ and further break free from scale patterns patterns and and into into some some interesting interesting shred terri territory tory..
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The Modes Let’s check out the 4NPS patterns for the modes of the major scale. We’ve already looked at the major scale (Ionian mode), so let’s continue with the Dorian mode.
The interesting thing here is the way 4NPS modal patterns lend themselves to very modal type phrasing if you stick within the 4NPS pattern. You’ll almost certainly play things you never would have thought of with the confines confines of 3NPS or CAGED patterns. patterns. The Phrygian Mode
Use these modal patterns to practice diagonal and horizontal fretboard movement while observing the subtle change in sound and dynamics. The Lydian Mode
The Lydian mode provides some demanding stretches on the lower strings; for these you’ll you’ll probably proba bly need to ‘snak ‘s nake’ e’ your your hand hand up the the fretboard, fretboar d, which w hich is perfectly alright. Be sure to keep your fingers as close to the strings as possible possibl e when doing this. this. The Mixolydian Mode
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The Mixolydian pattern is a comfortable one which you should take advantage of to build up speed. The Aeolian Mode
The Locrian Mode
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Improving Speed and Accuracy You can improve your speed and accuracy by zeroing in the different string permu permutations tations and and practicing them them separately. separately. In the the diagram below you’ll you’ll see the four permutations that feature in the major scale (shown here in the Aeolian Aeoli an diagram). Practice Pra ctice these these fragment fragmentss one o ne at a time, time, using usi ng alternat alter natee picking picking, and and slow enou enoug gh to iron out out any any inconsistencies inconsistencies in either either your your technique, or each repetition. Pay special attention to the quality of each repetition as this is the key to solid technique.
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Interlocking Patterns As we saw in a previous chapter, you can also start 4NPS patterns from a 5th string root. Here we have each mode again, but this time starting on the F at the 8th fret of the A string. Notice how these pattern interlock with the 6 th string stri ng root pattern pa tterns. s. Ionian (Major Scale)
Dorian
Phrygian
Lydian
Mixolydian
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Aeolian
Locrian
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More 4NPS Permutations Time for some more stretching. If you look again at the Harmonic Minor scale patterns, you’ll see that they feature permutations that are not found in the Major and Melodic Minor scales such as the following:
You may want to start a little higher up the fretboard when practicing fragments with wide stretches so as not to damage your hand. Remember that it’s perfectly acceptable to make little jumps from one note to the next, especially between the 2 nd and 3rd fingers fingers..
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Symmetrical Scales The 4NPS patterns for symmetrical scales also make for good repetition practice as well wel l as some some sick-sounding sick-sounding runs. runs. Check out this Diminished Scale pattern starting on the low E string.
When you’re practicing with symmetrical scales, take the opportunity to concentrate on what your fretting hand is doing, especially when changing strings. Make sure your transitions are smooth, and that you’re muting any unwanted noise from other strings. The Whole Tone Scale pattern below runs from the first to the 23 rd fret of the guitar (if you have one), and is definitely a workout for the fingers.
The The followi foll owing ng Six Tone Symmetrical Scale will help you practice the jump between the the 2nd and 3rd fingers fingers..
The Augmented Scale below has som s omee of the the widest w idest stretches stretches available, avai lable, and runs from the first fret right up to the 24 th (if you have one). Make sure you’re warmed up before attempting this one.
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Techniques (2) Now that that you you’ve ’ve gotten gotten the the han hang g of 4NPS 4NPS patterns, patterns, and and have have developed better better control control and techn technique, ique, you you can try out out some some of th the more more advanced techniques.
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Tapping Try tapping the fourth note on each string as you ascend and descend the pattern. pattern. Here’s an exam example ple using using the the Dorian scale, but feel free free to use use any of the others.
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Tapping with Slides Another common technique used by shredders such as Steve Vai and John Petrucci is to extend the scale up the string by using a combination of a tap and a slide with your tapping finger, usually between the third and fourth notes on the string as shown here.
Again, experiment with any of the scales we’ve already covered, and see if you can come come up with w ith your your own ow n licks and a nd runs; runs; these wil w illl be b e far more memorable than just playing through a bunch of generic examples.
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Legato One of the most interesting applications of 4NPS scales is legato—using a combination combination of hamm hammer-ons er- ons and pull-off pull-o ffss to produce fluid lines li nes like li ke players such as Allan Holdsworth. If you’re used to pulling off legato runs with 3NPS scales, 4NPS legato runs will throw you off at first because your instinct is to play a with triplet feel, which will often lead to the fourth note you play kind of not fitting in. I’m not a big fan of metronomes but get hold of something with a steady pulse so that you can practice with four-note ideas while keeping time.
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So far, so good? If you’ve reached this point in the book, well done! You should be feeling fairly fairl y comfortable comfortable with wi th 4NPS 4NPS patterns, and I im i magine agine they’ve they’ve started to creep into your playing. If not, you must surely have noticed the difference in hand position and fretboard movement compared to the way you played before picking picking up this this book, and and hopefu hopefully lly you you’ll ’ll have broken broken out out of scale boxes boxes a little. Keep applying applying these these concepts concepts to you yourr playing playing as part of your our practice session sessi ons, s, and you’ll ou’ll soon s oon start to to see results.
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Other Useful Scale Patterns Try varying the the scales scal es you use to practice pr actice by incorporating incorpora ting more exoticsounding scales such as the ones below. You’ll also come across some new stretches to further further widen wi den your your reach rea ch on the the fretboard. fretboar d.
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Altered Scale (1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7)
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Super Locrian (1,b2,#2,3,#4,#5,b7)
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Lydian b7 (1,2,3,#4,5,6,b7)
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Mixolydian b6 (1,2,3,4,5,b6,b7)
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Phrygian Dominant (1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7)
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Hungarian Minor (1,2,b3,#4,5,b6,7)
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Harmonic Major (1,2,3,4,#5,6,7)
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Lydi ydian an Aug Augmented mented (1,2, (1,2,3,#4,#5, 3,#4,#5,6,7) 6,7)
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Lydi ydian an Mi Minor nor (1,2, (1,2,3,#4,5, 3,#4,5,b6,b7) b6,b7)
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Eig Ei ght Tone Tone Spani Spanish sh Scale (1,b2,#2,3, (1, b2,#2,3,4,b5,b6, 4,b5,b6,b7) b7)
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Enigmatic (1,b2,3,#4,#5,#6,7)
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Indice Introduction 4NPS versus 3NPS
4 5
Next Next Note, Note, Nex Nextt Fing Finger
6
Different Scales, Different Stretches Melodic Minor How to Practice Harmonic Minor Natu Natural Minor/Aeolian Mode
8 9 10 11 12
Merging 4NP S and 3NP S P atterns 4NPS Guide Patterns Alternate Picking
13 14 15
The Mirror Image (Beyond the 12th Fret) Techniques (1) The Modes Improving Speed and Accuracy Interlocking Patterns
16 17 18 20 21
More 4NP S Permutations
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Symmetrical Scales
24
Techniques (2)
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Tapping Tapping with Slides Legato So far, so good?
27 28 29 30
Other Useful Scale P atterns
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Altered Scale (1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7) Super Locrian (1,b2,#2,3,#4,#5,b7) Lydian b7 (1,2,3,#4,5,6,b7) Mixolydian b6 (1,2,3,4,5,b6,b7) Phrygian Dominant (1,b2,3,4,5,b6,b7) Hungarian Minor (1,2,b3,#4,5,b6,7) 44
32 33 34 35 36 37
Harmonic Major (1,2,3,4,#5,6,7) Lydian Augmented (1,2,3,#4,#5,6,7) Lydian Minor (1,2,3,#4,5,b6,b7) Eight Tone Spanish Scale (1,b2,#2,3,4,b5,b6,b7) Enigmatic (1,b2,3,#4,#5,#6,7)
More from Unlock the Guitar
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