Scales

[Bubba3141]

I am a beginner and I want to learn scales. I bought a couple of books on scales, but I am not sure how to play them. For instance, the D major scale in the 3rd position, the author says to start and stop on the root note, but I don't see a way of smoothly playing from the 6th string to the 1st string while also starting and stopping on the D note. Any ideas? Should I start on the root and work my way up, then start at the same D note and work my way down? But, even then that wouldn't cover all the notes of the scale, given that I have to stop on the root. I am a bit confused.

[DupleMeter]

You won't always play all 6 strings. The D Maj. in III pos. that you reference covers the 5th - 2nd strings for a complete 1 octave scale.

To get a full 2 octaves, you need to go to V or IX positions.

A scale need only be 1 octave to be complete. So, it's perfectly fine to leave some strings out of the mix. I usually teach my beginning students 4 forms for a major scale. 2 of them are 1 octave and 2 of them are 2 octaves:

root on the 6th string, start with 2nd finger - 2 octaves
root on 5th string, start with 2nd finger - 1 octave
root on 6th string, start with 4th finger - 2 octaves (requires am out of position finger stretch)
root on 5th string, start with 4th finger - 1 octave (this would be the III pos. D Major form you referenced).

I have some scale form fingering PDFs on my site that might help you see how the patterns all on the neck & across the strings.

http://www.stevedemott.com/music-instruction/

HTH

[Allman_Fan]

What does "third position" mean?

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Allman_Fan

What does "third position" mean?

Your first finger plays notes on the 3rd fret, 2nd finger on the 4th fret, 3rd finger on the 5th fret and 4th finger on the 6th fret. Delegating each finger to all the notes on a fret is called position playing. You always name the position after the fret # where your first finger is.

[Allman_Fan]

OP wrote:
For instance, the D major scale in the 3rd position, the author says to start and stop on the root note,

So, let's consider the possibilities, using the third position (which is 3rd to 6th fret)

E string – D note(root) does not exist on 3rd thru 6th frets
A string – D note(root) is on 5th fret; third position implies using ring finger.
D string – D note(root) does not exist on 3rd thru 6th frets.
G string – D note(root) does not exist on 3rd thru 6th frets.
B string – not enough strings to complete full octave.
e string – not enough strings to complete full octave.

So, it can only be the A string with the root at the 5th fret.

Since you are in 3rd position with the ring finger, for your 2nd (E) note, you can't go up to the 7th fret on the A string since you would be violating "one finger, one fret and would be out of "third position" range.

A similar thing happens when you consider the 2 note on the D string . . . in will be at the second fret, once again, violating the same principles (as above.)

So, how do you do it? I guess one could slide "out of positoin" in either way, but then the question becomes "which one is best?"

[Howard Klepper]

3d position is a very awkward place to play D major. I doubt that the author of your lesson intends that.