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Four note per string lead playing.

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  hopkinWFG 
#1 ·
Man, am I bad at this, and it's driving me crazy. My mind just can't get around it, and as soon as I stop paying attention even for half a second, I'm back to 3NPS.

Help me out here. If I run 4NPS patterns up and down the neck, I can only do it on the beat or I fuck it up. If I stop thinking about it, I fuck it up. Even if I hit it correctly, it sounds boring as shit.

Lately I've been trying to just play a pattern of 4NPS like 3-4-6-7, or 11-12-14-15, just 5 notes with two on each end, regardless. It's hard as hell, and I don't know why. Take this:

11-12-14-15

Now, I can play an 11-12-14 at 200+ all day long. I can play a 12-14-15 at 200+ all day long. No problem. Add that one note on either and, and boom, my fingers just say "WTF".

What are some ways to get past this bastardly rut?
 
#2 ·
Play it slow as 16th notes, and the speed will come once your fingers are trained. How good are you at playing 3nps patterns as 16th notes instead of triplets? I found that if I had a tendency to go from 3 nps triplets to 4nps triplets, that I had difficulties. I had to get better at playing all note divisions no matter the notes per string before this worked for me. Or you could just play 16th notes for every 4nps riff! :yesway:
 
#5 ·
How proficient are your fingerings for fingers 1, 3 and 4? (pointer, ring and pinky) With 4NPS stuff you're using all 3 combinations of fingers, Pointer and Middle, Middle and Ring, Ring and Pinky. Chances are if youre having a problem doing 4NPS runs theres a weak link in one of these.

Here's an exercise that might help you based on what you’re sorta already practicing:

E: 11---14---16---14---11---12---14---12

This will force you to have the proper positioning in order to take on the 4 not per string stuff. Having a completely perpendicular angle against the fretboard is vital for stuff like this. This exercise is a good way to start entering 4 note per string runs, it hones in on the combinations you’ll be using at faster speeds.
 
#6 ·
The stretches are what kill me - it's almost never something 11-12-14-15, I always find myself running a pattern and having to do a 2-fret stretch between my middle and ring finger, which is tricky/unnatural at a brisk tempo for me. I also find very few guitarists do play extended 4nps scale patterns.

Maybe focus on playing non-triplet 3nps stuff? three note patterns, but with a straight 16th rhythm?
 
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