Understanding scale theory is a mental process and easy to grasp, whereas playing a scale is a physical task and takes longer to master. On the guitar, there are countless fingering pattern possibilities for any given scale, so it is desirable to reduce the options to a few more manageable forms.
There are three ways we can play scales: a Linear, lengthwise movement, a zig-zag movement and a position. At this time we will concentrate on playing scales in fixed positions. To begin, we must first focus on learning to play the Diatonic scale in five basic hand positions.
A position encompasses all notes of a given scale placed withith five frets. There are open position scales played within the first four frets and utilizing notes produced by the open strings E A D G B E, and moveable closed positions, no open string notes which produce a new key at each fret.
The closed position ascends and descends chromatically moving through the entire twelve notes of music and will produce the notes of 12 keys.
There are several diatonic scale finger patterns in common usage - fingering systems developed by individual guitarists to facilitate their unique style of playing. We are using fingering patterns made popular by the late Los Angeles studio pro Jack Marshall. These five patterns relate to the five chords forms found in open postion - the open chords C A G E D. This sytem of one scale findering pattern for each chord form is used by guitarists Howard Roberts, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis.
The five patterns divide the fingerboard into smaller more manageable areas of learning, but put them end to end, they cover the entire range of the fingerboard. When we are able to visualize the entire fretboard as a whole, fingers becomes a personal preference.
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