So let's have this CAGED conversation...

Wtf do these people know about guitar playing!!!!……….kidding Offcourse ;)
Well…BB king supposedly had no system…that doesn’t make “no system” a good system either…and he’s obviously still a great player ;)…although he probably won’t make it through giant steps…so “means to an end” applies.
BB had a system…. Every player has a system of some sort, even if it’s a system of suck.
 
So I've been pondering this 12(9) vs 7 vs 5 position thing.

I realised why the 12 thing is sorta annoying to me.
I only spread the pinky when absolutely needed and use my middle finger instead of ring when the pinky needs stretching.

Plus having toilet seat cover size hands it matters a lot less.

Anyways with that in mind during my 3nps string days I used to play with starting a scale on each finger.

Meaning c to c starting on the 8th with index for me is 8th position, it of course be 9th as well.
As in for me it's cde frets 8 10 12 is index middle pinky.
Whereas in 9th position ala classical it'd be index middle pinky and in 9th it be index middle pinky.

Anyways, for me I practiced it as 8 10 12 I m p
Then m p index on 7 next string.
This also could be I r i

Etc...
Eventually I broke it down two either start on the lowest finger 1 (index/middle interchangeable), in-between finger 2 (middlle/ring) or highest 3 (ring/pinky)
That gives the permutations 123, 231, 312.
 
I only spread the pinky when absolutely needed and use my middle finger instead of ring when the pinky needs stretching.

Exactly the same here. Most of us simply aren't Paul Gilbert (who actually seems to prefer stretching the pinky in many situations when he could as well stretch the index finger).

Anyhow, on further inspection of my own playing and how I "think" while playing (I actually don't exactly think), I could condense things down to just 5 main positions - but it's pretty hard to tell as I really never play over the entire set of strings within one position. I always move out of position at one time, simply because it's easier, allows me to bend a certain note better, gives access to some chordal shape - you name it.
If anything, breaking out of position playing (or any kind of fixed pattern such as 3NPS and what have you) for me is the most important thing ever in terms of scale (and partially also chord) playing.
 
Exactly the same here. Most of us simply aren't Paul Gilbert (who actually seems to prefer stretching the pinky in many situations when he could as well stretch the index finger).

Anyhow, on further inspection of my own playing and how I "think" while playing (I actually don't exactly think), I could condense things down to just 5 main positions - but it's pretty hard to tell as I really never play over the entire set of strings within one position. I always move out of position at one time, simply because it's easier, allows me to bend a certain note better, gives access to some chordal shape - you name it.
If anything, breaking out of position playing (or any kind of fixed pattern such as 3NPS and what have you) for me is the most important thing ever in terms of scale (and partially also chord) playing.
Yeah the going out of position or connecting positions is pretty much where I live as well. I mean it also depends on sound and flow.
Say descending line 2nd position coming from A4 going to A3 (A3 to A2 fire midi guys) on g string I might switch to an upper position when going down like say...

---5---3
----------6--5--3
--------------------5--4---
---------------------------7--5---
---------------------------------8-7 etc
 
Exactly the same here. Most of us simply aren't Paul Gilbert (who actually seems to prefer stretching the pinky in many situations when he could as well stretch the index finger).

Anyhow, on further inspection of my own playing and how I "think" while playing (I actually don't exactly think), I could condense things down to just 5 main positions - but it's pretty hard to tell as I really never play over the entire set of strings within one position. I always move out of position at one time, simply because it's easier, allows me to bend a certain note better, gives access to some chordal shape - you name it.
If anything, breaking out of position playing (or any kind of fixed pattern such as 3NPS and what have you) for me is the most important thing ever in terms of scale (and partially also chord) playing.
As for the Paul Gilbert thing, the reason I hate the Rin pinky spread is that those two share a tendon, whereas mddlle ring or middle pinky have their own.

Literally the only time I speed ring pinky if I do like a 4nps thing.
And half the time I likely prefer a slide there.
 
And half the time I likely prefer a slide there.

Amen to that! Seriously, sliding is overlooked very, very often.
I actually made some kinda "tests" a while ago. Well, it's not even real tests, anyone can check things in seconds.

I think that there's a kind of misleading "general consensus" that slides can't be performed as flawlessly or fast or that they would always produce a sliding noise or whatever. But I don't think any of that is really true.

Very obviously, alternating between just two notes on one string is a *lot* easier and faster to do in case you play them within one position using two fingers. Slides typically can't do these back and forth movements as fast. But that's changing instantly once you only have to slide from one position into another and then stay there for a while (even if that "while" is just 2-3 notes).

To illustrate:
Take, say, an A on B/10 and a C on B/13. Using the index finger for the A and the pinky for the C will allow you to do quick alternating between the two, regardless of whether you pick them or use hammer-ons and pull-offs. When you try to do the same with just the index finger, sliding/moving between the two, you'll likely notice a huge decrease in speed and fluidity. One of the reasons possibly being the mass of your hand that you have to move back and forth, which obviously requires a lot of physical energy.
But now, just take the A to C movement in an isolated fashion (so you'd leave a bit of time between this and the next round). When you concentrate on that for a while, you will likely notice that you'll be able to slide from A to C (regardless of which finger you're using) almost as fast as you could when playing them with fingers 1 and 4. And once you're a bit more fluent with sliding, you may not even notice the slide anymore and could as well pick both notes or even create a legato movement - simply because a single slide can be performed pretty, pretty fast.

Bonus with slides: You can as well easily cover quite wide position shifts and intervals pretty flawlessly, once you've practiced to hit the proper fret a little.

I think Yngwie Malmteen make a lot of use of sliding (and single string playing). And he's not particularly slow or sloppy. Django Reinhardt is possibly making even more use of them (due to his injuries), his way of playing actually wouldn't even be possible without intense use of slides. I think Josho Stephan mentions it at one point on his Rick Beato visit, too.
 
Amen to that! Seriously, sliding is overlooked very, very often.
I actually made some kinda "tests" a while ago. Well, it's not even real tests, anyone can check things in seconds.

I think that there's a kind of misleading "general consensus" that slides can't be performed as flawlessly or fast or that they would always produce a sliding noise or whatever. But I don't think any of that is really true.

Very obviously, alternating between just two notes on one string is a *lot* easier and faster to do in case you play them within one position using two fingers. Slides typically can't do these back and forth movements as fast. But that's changing instantly once you only have to slide from one position into another and then stay there for a while (even if that "while" is just 2-3 notes).

To illustrate:
Take, say, an A on B/10 and a C on B/13. Using the index finger for the A and the pinky for the C will allow you to do quick alternating between the two, regardless of whether you pick them or use hammer-ons and pull-offs. When you try to do the same with just the index finger, sliding/moving between the two, you'll likely notice a huge decrease in speed and fluidity. One of the reasons possibly being the mass of your hand that you have to move back and forth, which obviously requires a lot of physical energy.
But now, just take the A to C movement in an isolated fashion (so you'd leave a bit of time between this and the next round). When you concentrate on that for a while, you will likely notice that you'll be able to slide from A to C (regardless of which finger you're using) almost as fast as you could when playing them with fingers 1 and 4. And once you're a bit more fluent with sliding, you may not even notice the slide anymore and could as well pick both notes or even create a legato movement - simply because a single slide can be performed pretty, pretty fast.

Bonus with slides: You can as well easily cover quite wide position shifts and intervals pretty flawlessly, once you've practiced to hit the proper fret a little.

I think Yngwie Malmteen make a lot of use of sliding (and single string playing). And he's not particularly slow or sloppy. Django Reinhardt is possibly making even more use of them (due to his injuries), his way of playing actually wouldn't even be possible without intense use of slides. I think Josho Stephan mentions it at one point on his Rick Beato visit, too.
Yes!!!!
The django alternate picked chromatic one Octave slide got me started on that.


One of my faves is sliding 3 16th triplets to 16ths back like…

On b string slide (16th triplets)5-6-7-(16th)8-6-5(down beat)
 
Amen to that! Seriously, sliding is overlooked very, very often.
I actually made some kinda "tests" a while ago. Well, it's not even real tests, anyone can check things in seconds.

I think that there's a kind of misleading "general consensus" that slides can't be performed as flawlessly or fast or that they would always produce a sliding noise or whatever. But I don't think any of that is really true.

Very obviously, alternating between just two notes on one string is a *lot* easier and faster to do in case you play them within one position using two fingers. Slides typically can't do these back and forth movements as fast. But that's changing instantly once you only have to slide from one position into another and then stay there for a while (even if that "while" is just 2-3 notes).

To illustrate:
Take, say, an A on B/10 and a C on B/13. Using the index finger for the A and the pinky for the C will allow you to do quick alternating between the two, regardless of whether you pick them or use hammer-ons and pull-offs. When you try to do the same with just the index finger, sliding/moving between the two, you'll likely notice a huge decrease in speed and fluidity. One of the reasons possibly being the mass of your hand that you have to move back and forth, which obviously requires a lot of physical energy.
But now, just take the A to C movement in an isolated fashion (so you'd leave a bit of time between this and the next round). When you concentrate on that for a while, you will likely notice that you'll be able to slide from A to C (regardless of which finger you're using) almost as fast as you could when playing them with fingers 1 and 4. And once you're a bit more fluent with sliding, you may not even notice the slide anymore and could as well pick both notes or even create a legato movement - simply because a single slide can be performed pretty, pretty fast.

Bonus with slides: You can as well easily cover quite wide position shifts and intervals pretty flawlessly, once you've practiced to hit the proper fret a little.

I think Yngwie Malmteen make a lot of use of sliding (and single string playing). And he's not particularly slow or sloppy. Django Reinhardt is possibly making even more use of them (due to his injuries), his way of playing actually wouldn't even be possible without intense use of slides. I think Josho Stephan mentions it at one point on his Rick Beato visit, too.
Something like this for the sliding thing..

 
Yeah, here's another slide thing I like to use. As you can see, it easily covers 2/3 of the fretboard and there's no stretches or whatever needed. Good old Am pentatonic.

 
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