Three Notes Per String

Three notes per string is a way of playing a scale with exactly three notes on every string. Its shapes climb diagonally up the neck, rather than staying in one place like the box shapes on the Scale pages.

A scale with seven notes, such as the Major Scale, has seven of these shapes. Each starts on a different note of the scale on the low E string, and together they cover the whole neck.

With the same number of notes on every string, the picking stays even, which suits fast alternate picking and legato playing.

These shapes are in G Major, and each one is movable: slide it up or down the neck to play the Major Scale in another key. Moving every shape up two frets gives A Major.