3 Note Per String Scales (3NPS)
3NPS — three notes per string — is one of the most widely used scale systems on the guitar. Players like Joe Satriani helped popularise it, and for good reason: the consistent three-notes-per-string layout makes scales predictable across the fretboard in a way other systems don’t. The picking patterns are uniform, the positions connect logically, and once the system clicks it’s fast.
The problem is the way it’s usually taught. Most 3NPS methods give you seven patterns per scale — one for each mode — and send you off to learn them all before anything becomes useful. That’s a long road before you’re actually playing.
This PDF takes a different approach. By streamlining both the patterns and the picking system, it reduces the learning overhead dramatically — three scale patterns instead of seven, and two picking directions instead of multiple. The same fretboard coverage, significantly less to memorise.
Download the PDF →What’s inside
- A streamlined 3NPS system covering a wide variety of scales all over the fretboard
- Three scale patterns per scale instead of the usual seven
- A unified picking approach — one pattern in two directions — that works across all the scales in the book
- Scales mapped consistently across all 12 keys
- A genuine woodshed resource for building picking technique, speed, and fretboard fluency
What it isn’t
This isn’t a theory book and it doesn’t cover pentatonic scales. It’s a practical, pattern-focused system designed to be worked on in the practice room. The thinking has been done for you — your job is to put the repetitions in.
If the 3NPS system appeals to you but you want a more musically focused approach to scales and improvisation, 25 Guitar Scale Hacks covers the fretboard from a completely different angle — less about patterns, more about making music with them.
25 Guitar Scale Hacks →