Major Scale In 3rds

This lesson will help you create more melodic solos on guitar - playing scales in 3rds!


View the full lesson at Major Scale In 3rds | JustinGuitar

I find it helps when alternately saying “skip” & “back” to find the correct note without too much calculation.

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I was the same way. I tried counting by scale position and by fret number. Counting by using ‘skip’ and ‘back’ was much easier.

This exercise really drills the major scale position home. (•‿•)

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Interesting that finger rolling in pattern one with little finger caused the string rolled to to be slightly bent out of shape - slightly sharp? String is pushed towards direction of roll.
I’m off to hunt down the finger rolling video to see what I missed…

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Hi Andy,
It’s always good to look back when something doesn’t go 100% right…but this is quite a tricky one for many people and is often a matter of even more and slower practice, the exact right placement on the string from which you going to roll is the most important thing for me anyway,… good luck and have fun,
Greetings ,Rogier

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After so long of playing the whole scale in order, this takes some serious concentration and brain power!

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Welcome to the community Mike. Guitar is a great way to exercise the brain. Keeps that grey matter thinking.

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I’ve tried this exercise a few times already and it indeed requires some effort. I often find myself playing it in descending pairs (for want of a better word) instead of at an even tempo, so I will have to work on that aspect.

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Hi, What’s the picking style for this activity? Is it just regular down - up all the way? Thanks

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Hey Pete,

Once you get it under your fingers, switch to alternate ( down/up) picking. I believe Justin recommends this, perhaps not in this lesson.

Cheers, Shane

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My brain is melting trying to do it backwards. I can’t conceptual it at all in my head so I’m just doing it slowly and letting muscle memory take over

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It great that your brain is melting. It means its pliable and primed for manipulation. :rofl:.
Seriously though, you’re on the right track with ‘slowly’ and ‘muscle memory’. Its just time and focused practice. Before you know it, you’ll be using it over all the scale shapes as a warm up before practice.

Cheers, Shane

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Thanks man, getting more of a hang of it today!

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I’m pretty visual so I created this color-coded fretboard diagram using Neck Diagrams to help me understand this lesson.

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This so hard. How many BPMs should my end goal be before moving onto the 2nd position?

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Hi Zwee,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun :sunglasses:

There is no set goal of a fixed speed … if you can play it flawlessly a few times in a row and it is therefore well in your head/vingers, then you start playing music within pattern - licks-four in a row etc. and when you have a pattern completely in the fingers and can really make music out of them then you will learn the next pattern…it is just the same notes positioned slightly differently…

Don’t focus too much on speed…Speed ​​will almost follow automatically if you keep placing your fingers neatly :smiley:

Greetings,Rogier

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I found this much more of a challenge than a normal scale. It shows how much you are used to routine. It certainly shakes you out of the nor…

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when alternate picking this, are we supposed to end up on an up pick for the root note (last note)?

If you play like Justin does at the start of the lesson, with a pause on the highest root note …
Start each of the two sections with a Down and end on a Down.

If you play without pausing from low root back to low route, making sure to hit the low F# on the 6th string, it starts and ends on a Down.

but for the highest root note (1st string 3rd fret) arent we meant to play it twice?