This post is part of the Three-Note-Per-String (3NS) Scale System series
1.Introduction 2.Ideology behind the 3NS Scale System 3.The Three Fundamental Finger Patterns 4.The Horizontal Transitions 5.Arpeggios
Introduction
Scales, up and down the neck, although necessary for making conscious musical decisions, are often regarded as tedious chores that kills passion and desires for music making. How long have you been practicing or struggling with them, learning all the positions, memorizing the fingerings for each position, and managing your way through the mistakes? Half a year? Two years? Or more? What if there is one system that takes you less than a day to memorize, less than a week to comprehend, and only few months or even weeks to start making practical use of it, wouldn’t that be exciting?
That’s the role of Three-Note-per-String scale system, or abbreviated as 3NS. It is a well-known system, and had been explored physically by many talented musicians. However, the logic behind this system had been neglected, and is unfortunately presented as merely another set of patterns to memorize. Well it’s not supposed to be so. I guarantee that once you get through the logic of the system, you will be able to apply it immediately!
Prerequisite
Because this system is based less on hard-core memorization and more on logical and musical derivation, thus, inevitably, some basic music theory is required to understand the concept. You will need to know that a diatonic scale within an octave contains 7 scale degrees, labeled as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, repeating themselves every octave. You will need to know that there is an extra note between each scale degrees, using sharp # or flat b to arrive to from nearby natural degrees, except for 3-4 and 7-1 which are adjacent to each other. Fortunately, by reading the above two sentences, you are now equipped with sufficient theory to advance into the main topic, the Ideology behind the 3NS Scale System.