Why practice moving three-note chords across all of the strings?
Moving three-note chords across the strings helps develop the technical intuition to focus on specific areas of the fretboard. Many guitarists would casually say ‘playing in a position’, which is defined by fret position of the first finger. For example, 5th position would mean the first finger of the fretting hand is positioned at the 5th fret. On fretboard-like instruments how the open strings are tuned is intrinsic to how the notes are spaced along the fingerboard. The musician has to account for any tuning changes.
Moving three-note chords along the string.
Another option for navigating the fretboard is moving along the string, read the post, Moving chords along the strings to find out more. In the post it explains that three-note chords, not only tertian based triads, are a useful practice too for developing fretboard intuition. One reason for this is because their physical fretting and aural patterns are commonly found within tertian based chordal harmony and diatonic scales.
If you want to find out more about tertian harmony registered users can access the guide,
An Introduction To Three Part Harmony: Triads, Voicing, and Inversions
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General Practice Guidelines
Although fretboard diagrams can be useful for learning new things or for reference there are some significant but subtle disadvantages when practicing using illustrative diagrams. The video below offers advice regarding how to avoid potential pitfalls.
Use it in the music you play.
Playing simple exercises doesn’t necessarily encourage creativity. It’s a little bit of a Mexican stand off, a catch-22 or a “What came first chicken or egg?” situation. IF we’re too rigid in practice, we can’t be creative, yet if we don’t practice effectively we cannot implement a complex or technical musical concept. Although there are no definitive answers to the problem, it’s really important to try and include what you’re practicing alongside what you’re composing, improvising or learning to perform with. The video below explains this in more detail.