Scale question really bugging me...

[DesiThumbi]

Ok I'm starting to get into scales and I am a total newbie. I get the whole point of wh wh H wh wh wh H. And I do understand scale patterns and all. But the only thing bugging me is when do you go down a string. For example, for a c major scale the notes go C D E F G A B. And when go go from that D to E on the low e, why do you hit the E note on the 5th string and not on the 12th fret on the low E??

[girlfromdixie]

You COULD play a scale all along one string if you wanted, but that isn't very practical when you are actually playing music. Typically, it is a stretch to reach more than 4 frets without moving your hand, so it much easier to keep your hand in the same position and move it up or down a string. After all, if you are playing anything besides scales, you are going to be going back and forth to different notes in the scale and not playing them in a linear way. You don't want to have to move your hand all the way up and down the neck!

Also, if you need to play chords or double-stops or anything requiring playing more than one note in that scale at the same time, it is impossible to do that on one string. For that, you need to find those same notes on different strings, close enough together so that you can fret them at the same time.

[GeorgeC]

Understand your frustration. The pentonic scale really helped me move forward when I too had same issues. Once you get the pentonic down, and you'll have it in a week too your question will no longer exist.