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GMC Forum _ Practicing (Muris) _ 3 Nps Scales And Improvisation
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 16 2008, 05:28 PM
Hello my dear friend Muris 
As you know I have been practicing some of your GMC lessons very hard for some time now, and have seen good progress with lots of hours put in
I have good technique, and see results but I feel the time has come where I would like to start learning some more scales, and in particular I would like to be able to improvise using 3 note per string speed runs and licks. there seems to be little to no information anywhere on this. 
I am unsure how to approach this side of things and unsure where to start. Pentatonics are not a problem, and I have practiced 3 npsspeed runs from various GMC lessons and can play them well, but again im not sure how to use them in my own playing
I saw on the video of you playing in london and you improvised really well, and I would like to learn how to do the same. 
So how do I go about this praticing this skill? I am guessing like anything else I have acheived on guitar, it is a matter of practicing runs over and over untill you can use them to improvise?
thankyou!!
matt
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 17 2008, 10:14 AM
Hi Matt
3nps are most common patterns in todays playing
as pentatonic of course which is 2nps mostly.
So first of all it's good to learn positions of many scales over whole fretboard,
the more you've learn the better are chances to apply it easier into your own playing.
Now,to get best from it I would suggest you to try jumping from one position to another also,
not just playing up and down the scale,note by note.
As you imagine,fretboard knowledge is important here.
Another important thing is timing.
3nps runs are usually executed as triplets cause it's easier to track it down
but try 8th,16th etc as well,that will give more color to your playing.
So,once you learn bunch of 3nps licks from GMC lesson
(and I know you have learned many of them by now )
simply try to incorporate them into your own playing,
which means you'll have to do some transposing as well
cause not every lesson is in same key or scale.
Improvising is not really improvising in total,
80% of it are some licks we learned before,
it's just that we use them in different contents and situation.
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 17 2008, 11:17 AM
Awsome reply Muris, thankyou so much for your help Are there any scales / key's that you would recommened me starting my 3nps journey on? Is it just a case of Starting with the key of say A major for example and learn them all, or perhaps just learn the ones Im most likely to use?
What i dont want to do is spend hours learning keys I am not likely to use 
thanks again
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 17 2008, 11:30 AM
You can start with A major if you feel comfortable with it,sure.
Try it all over fretboard,apply some licks you learned before
and transpose them into A major if they are in some other key.
Good thing about guitar and scales is that we have same patterns
all over fretboard for every scale of same type,major scales per example.
I'm talking about whole and semi tone relations inside of scale/s.
Just follow root and maybe fifth as a guide and you'll have no problems,
even when jumping from one position to another.
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 18 2008, 06:09 PM
thats great help thanks muris I was wondering what were the first scales you learnt? also is transposing easy or do i need to read up?
thankyou!!!
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 18 2008, 06:24 PM
I really can't remember what was the first scale I learned,
probably Amin pentatonic or som. 
Transposing,well it's easy and it is not at the same point.
Here is how I do it.
When I play the song I try to watch degrees and chords I have in use,
lets say I play tune in key of A and progression is
D,E,A,Bm.
That is IV,V,I and II, right?
Very important thing here,I don't even try to
see D as D or E as E,I only look at them as degrees
and that's easiest way when you want to apply it to trasposing.
Now,the same rules as we discuss on msn recently 
You move the tune in key of F# and you locate
those degrees in F# scale,notes are B,C#,F# and G#.
Major will be major,minor will be minor and we have progression
that goes like this Bmajor,C#major,F#major and G#minor.
Now,this explanation doesn't have much to do with soloing
cause we were talking about chord progression BUT
it's pretty common rule for soloing as well.
Example,Always with me Always with you(Joe Satriani),
it's in key of B and first notes in main theme are B(sometimes swallowed),D#,E,F#.
Those are I,III,IV and V degrees in B major scale.
Now you wanna try it in key of G,
you simply start with G as I in G major scale and go for III,IV and V,
you get G,B,C and D,piece of cake!
This was only tip for transposing tho but will help you
for improvising as well cause you will always be aware of
notes that you're playing,which degrees are those in scale that you use
and you'll have less chances to play wrong note.
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 18 2008, 06:26 PM
You can transpose fairly easy mate by shifting the position you are playing left or right to the key you wanna transpose. As Muris stated - fretboard knowledge is the key to success here, Try to memorize notes (at least the main ones) on the fretboard.
Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Aug 18 2008, 06:31 PM
Some great advice in here from Muris.
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 18 2008, 06:35 PM
Thanks ESJ,hope it helps somehow.
Posted by: seagull Aug 18 2008, 06:49 PM
Really great reply Muris! I learned a lot from it, thanks!
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 18 2008, 07:09 PM
Excellent, thanks again Muris! and top tips from Ivan too
The really good news is I have absolute fretboard knowledge with pitches so no problems there!
This is really exciting for me as I will be able to use all my hard practiced licks and runs in my own stuffs
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 18 2008, 07:12 PM
The really good news is I have absolute fretboard knowledge with pitches so no problems there!
This is really exciting for me as I will be able to use all my hard practiced licks and runs in my own stuffs
Awesome,give as some mp3s so we could help you even more!!
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 18 2008, 07:27 PM
Of course! I hope to upload some mp3's or videos soon
I can learn more here at GMC in an hour than I have from a live lesson in the UK !!
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 18 2008, 07:29 PM
I can learn more here at GMC in an hour than I have from a live lesson in the UK !!
Great!!
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 18 2008, 07:37 PM
We're glad to help in any way!
If you need some 3nps patterns I can upload some as well
I'm currently recording similar serial to my pentatonic series, but this time we go full throttle into modes, using - 3nps patterns! Stay tuned!
Posted by: SensE Aug 18 2008, 07:44 PM
Thanks Muris for the great tips. The degree transposing really helps a lot.
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 18 2008, 07:50 PM
I just realized this is your board Muris 
(I got here through "view new posts" link so havent' noticed). Excuse me mate!
Posted by: mattacuk Aug 18 2008, 07:55 PM
If you need some 3nps patterns I can upload some as well
That would be great Ivan thanks
If you need some 3nps patterns I can upload some as well
That would be great Ivan thanks
Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 18 2008, 07:56 PM
(I got here through "view new posts" link so havent' noticed). Excuse me mate! No need to excuse at all,
your help is always appreciated Ivan.
Posted by: jacmoe Aug 18 2008, 08:05 PM
Really looking forward to it, Ivan!
Great topic - I really enjoyed reading it. Mainly due to Muris' first class replies! Kudos.
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