[ragser]

I've been playing the major scales from Kirks "Ultimate Stretching excercise" and I've learned them quite well. Now that I started to look around on youtube about major scales I found several videos about it and none of those major scales were the same as kirks lesson. Here's one of them:
YouTube - Mastering The Major Scale - Guitar Lesson

I'm very confused about all this. I thought there were 13 major scales and that all were included in kirks lesson but that is something similar but yet different from that lesson. Could someone explain to me firmly and simple as you can how it works? (Keep in mind that I've only been playing guitar for about 2-3 months and I knew nothing about guitar playing before then)

[allthumbs]

The guy in the video is just cataloging different finger positions for playing scales. Remember that the neck has many paths that can be taken to play a scale. Notes repeat all over the neck so there are countless ways to play scales.

[ragser]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

The guy in the video is just cataloging different finger positions for playing scales. Remember that the neck has many paths that can be taken to play a scale. Notes repeat all over the neck so there are countless ways to play scales.

But not just the position on the neck. For example, let's take a B from Kirks lesson. He plays:


-------------------------------------6---8---9-
---------------------------6---7--9------------
(Bottom E String) 7---9------------------------ (And back to the E string)

That's only 3 strings while the guy in the video went from the bottom to the top E string and back again. So he used all 6 strings. That's what confuses me.

[scotty_b]

The example you have shown from Kirk's lesson only encompasses one octave, the guy on youtube would be playing into the second octave.

[ragser]

Originally Posted by scotty_b

The example you have shown from Kirk's lesson only encompasses one octave, the guy on youtube would be playing into the second octave.

How do I do that?

[si16]

e----7---8-------------
B--------8---10--------
G----7---9---10--------
D----7---9---10--------
A----7---8---10--------
E--------8---10--------

This is one way to play C Major scale over two octaves. Move it up and down the neck for different keys. The red notes are the root notes.

[scotty_b]

Here is an example of the B major scale across two octaves.

[ragser]

Originally Posted by si16

e----7---8-------------
B--------8---10--------
G----7---9---10--------
D----7---9---10--------
A----7---8---10--------
E--------8---10--------

This is one way to play C Major scale over two octaves. Move it up and down the neck for different keys. The red notes are the root notes.

What's a root note? And am I still supposed to keep my middle finger on the 7th fret and my ring finger on the 8th fret?

[si16]

Originally Posted by ragser

What's a root note? And am I still supposed to keep my middle finger on the 7th fret and my ring finger on the 8th fret?

The root note is the key note of the scale i.e. for C major the root note is C. The fingering I would use for that scale is

e ----i--m-------------
B -------m--p---------
G ----i--r---p--------
D ----i--r---p--------
A ----i--m--p--------
E ------m---p--------

where i=index, m=middle, r=ring, p=pinky, hope that makes sense.

Scotty's diagram shows exactly the same scale except it is for B major but it also shows the order the notes should be played in.

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by ragser

What's a root note? And am I still supposed to keep my middle finger on the 7th fret and my ring finger on the 8th fret?

The root note is essentially "home pitch" of the scale, where the scale starts and ends. In si16's example, it is demonstrating a C major, so the root note is "C". Examining the pattern closely you'll find that:
The 8th fret on the E string = C note
The 10th fret on the D string = C note

Therefore, all the notes in red are "C" notes, and C is the root note of the scale.


Also, I haven't seen Kirk's lesson, but are you talking about major scales or major scale patterns? There are only 12 notes, so there can only be 12 major scales. But any major scale (for example, C major) can have many different patterns.

-tkr

[si16]

Originally Posted by ragser

What's a root note? And am I still supposed to keep my middle finger on the 7th fret and my ring finger on the 8th fret?

The root note is the key note of the scale i.e. for C major the root note is C. The fingering I would use for that scale is

e ----i--m-------------
B -------m--p---------
G ----i--r---p--------
D ----i--r---p--------
A ----i--m--p--------
E ------m---p--------

where i=index, m=middle, r=ring, p=pinky, hope that makes sense.

Scotty's diagram shows exactly the same scale except it is for B major but it also shows the order the notes should be played in.

[ragser]

Originally Posted by Tekker

Also, I haven't seen Kirk's lesson, but are you talking about major scales or major scale patterns? There are only 12 notes, so there can only be 12 major scales. But any major scale (for example, C major) can have many different patterns.

-tkr

I'll name them all from Kirks lesson:
B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A# and B again.

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by ragser

I'll name them all from Kirks lesson:
B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A# and B again.

Ah, ok.... The last B it isn't actually counted as a separate scale because it is the same as the first B scale. So there are 12 major scales.

If I understand your question correctly, I think the problem is coming from confusing "scales" and "scale patterns".

A scale is a group of notes that either ascend or descend. For example C major contains the notes:
C D E F G A B

The C major scale is one of the 12 scales, but there are many different "Patterns" for this one scale. Here is an image from cyberfret.com that shows several different patterns for the C major scale.



Each one of those patterns is a different way to play the "same" scale (the C major scale).

Hope that helps.

-tkr

[ragser]

Thanks everyone for being so helpful. I'm trying hard to understand all of this but it's a lot of new information. Let me just point out how handicapped my knowledge about the basics of music is since I knew NOTHING about it before I picked up guitar playing. Atleast now I know that there are different scale patterns for the same major scale but they don't sound the same to me at all so I'd lie if I said that I understood why this is. But hopefully I will keep it in mind and understand it eventually. I also have trouble understanding what a root note is. It's a note that a pattern end and start on like you said like Si's example with the C major scale. All the root notes were C notes but it's the same thing here. I don't hear the same note at all when I play them, and I don't even know what an octave is... My knowledge about music is so bad that I feel ashamed to ask these questions.

[SprayTech]

This may help some . Knowing the Notes on the Fretboard may shed some light on the scales .