It is but you start on the root note so you don’t play it until you come all the way back up the scale. If you started on the F# you’d be playing the Locrian mode
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Ah, I see my mistake. I was looking at a diagram earlier in the lesson, before he explained about the 16 notes matching up nicely with a metronome and then playing the lowest note (F#) and ending up back on the root note. (Heavens! I don’t wanna play the Locrian mode! Yikes.)
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I’m the same. The hardest bit for me too, by far. I haven’t done the finger stretching for a while so I will get back to it. But I struggled before and that was on the higher frets 
My hands are tiny and stubby fingers toboot! I have smaller scale guitars which helps but of course the actual fret sizes aren’t much different.
Still onwards and upwards 
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Thank you and many others for helping us beginners with your knowledge and time to explain! 
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I’m working on the music theory course together with beginner grade 2. I got very messed up with learning the C major scale in module 9 around the same time as major scale pattern 1. The C major scale taught in beginner grade 2 is a different pattern. Would it make sense to change one of the lessons so that the same scale pattern is taught in both?
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Hello Enzo and welcome to the community.
Good spot - yes it is. On purpose.
No.
Justin deliberately chooses to teach the C major scale pattern in grade 2 the way he does as it is familiar territory at the lower frets and it reinforces the note names of the open strings plus fretted notes on frets 1, 2 and 3.
In some ways it is a stand alone lesson, separate to learning the full set of major scale patterns which you are now looking at in earnest.
Pattern 1 of the major scale is also often called the E-shape. This ties in with something called the CAGED system … but the learning starts on E, then D, then C, then A then G which correspond with numbering patterns 1 to 5 inclusive.
The C major scale in module 9 is a ‘C-shape’ pattern but it uses open strings. In learning the patterns 1-5 it is important to learn them using no open strings so that they can easily be seen as movable. When moved, the scale changes from G major to other major scales, depending on where the root note is placed.
See the main diagram on this post up above - and the pairs of scale patterns with chord shapes.
You are learning pattern 1, the E-shape.
The pattern in module 9 is pattern 3, the C-shape. Look at this one carefully. Imagine that all six in-line notes shown for that pattern were open strings - do you see how that is the pattern you have learned already?
I hope that helps.
Cheers
Richard
Thank you for this lesson Justin, I learned a lot here. Now I’m starting to understand the connection between scales and actual music.
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I am finding the physicality of this (and scales practice from the Grade 2 guitar lesson) really difficult.
Of course, my pinky is really weak. Because I have such short fingers (seriously it takes my entire first finger to barre the F chord), I am finding that getting the pinky up to the thickest string causes me to rotate my forearm/wrist so much that my wrist will hurt, especially if I do that and try to push with the pinky enough to get a note to ring out clear. Spreading the fingers out so far wide, while rotating the forearm, while pushing down to ring notes out just hurts my wrist.
If I try to alleviate that by really curling up my fingers (versus letting the meat of the entire length of the fingers lay flat as I work my way towards the thinnest strings), then it results in pushing my forearm/wrist outward in front of me slightly, and that causes a bent wrist, which also ends up hurting. I try to tilt the headstock up to my head level but I can’t seem to keep it there for very long, it just slides back down to be about parallel to the ground, and even with a strap, it really only feels comfortable if the guitar is sitting underneath my chin. It can’t be that that will be the only way for me to play guitar, almost no one I have ever seen play seriously plays with the guitar at their chin.
What is the best advice here for finger use versus wrist position?
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Have you tried substituting the ring finger for the pinky on the thickest string? It will require quite a jump on the lower frets, but may be easier than torturing your pinky. The fingerings are just suggestions. You can change them if it works better for you to do so.
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I didn’t think of that, but I will certainly try it. Thank you for the suggestion.
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I wanted to check on something here…
I followed this lesson some time ago and put it into practice and I feel pretty confident I have got it down now… and I can get to grips with it at varying speeds too.
The thing is, when I have re-watched the video, I noticed that when ascending the scale, Justin’s fingers appear to remain on the strings as he does it, ie fingers 1, 2 and 4 for example are all placed on the fourth string at the required frets at the same time and pull away only as he drops to the third string.
I seem to be able to do this ok too but I did not pick this up when I went through the class the first time around. I have been fretting one finger at a time.
Does it matter if the fingers ascend the strings one by one or do they all need to be placed down until the next string is due to be played? … or does it not matter at all?
Thanks All
Chris
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Stacy.
Are you wearing a strap?
Are you sitting or standing?
My advice is to wear a strap no matter which and to elevate the angle of the guitar neck some way above the horizontal. When the neck is horizontal your fingers need to go down, under, around and back up. Many people struggle to get their little finger to successfully and strongly fret notes on the thicker strings. Elevate the neck to maybe a 30 or even 45 degree angle. This will mean less of the down, under, around and back up and should make accessing those strings more manageable.
Less of this … 
More of this … 
I hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard | JustinGuitar Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Moderator
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You do not need to leave them all pressing the strings on the frets where you have just played a note before ascending to the next. You can release the pressure. You can even lift off the string (a little). You do not want to move them too far away and out of that position though as their next use will be on the same fret on the immediately adjacent string. You want them to still be very near to their next place of contact.
I hope that helps.
Cheers
| Richard | JustinGuitar Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Moderator
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Thank you so much… it helps… and a relief to know I have not picked up a bad habit along the way.
Appreciate it Richard…
Chris
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Hi!
I was wondering how important it is that your fingers only touch the string on which the note is being played. In particular, when I am descending most of my fingers usually touch the string below as well. Thanks!
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Hello @Guilherme_Franzmann and welcome to thecommunity.
That is fine. You do not need to curl and arch your fingers up and over those strings. Having slightly flattened fingers is okay here ad can also mute unwanted noise.
I’m confused here, and I don’t think I have missed anything in the previous theory lesson.
- The previous lesson stated that the intervals for the major scale pattern are : T T S T T T S
- This lesson shows a scale pattern where the interval is : S T T S T T T S T T S T T T S T
I know we are covering the sequence twice to cover all six strings, but where have the first S and last T come from?
I am also confused as to why the root note is the second finger rather than the first?
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Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone is the smallest possible complete version of the intervals to create an entire major scale from its root to its 7th scale degree and back to the root an octave higher.
Within scale patterns, the root might not be the lowest possible note available on the fretboard, nor the highest. Plus there are going to be multiple repeats of the scale beyond one octave.
I hope that helps.
Cheers
| Richard | JustinGuitar Approved Teacher, Official Guide & Moderator
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Correct. That’s the basis of all things to come.
This is the same scale pattern. The scale is played up and down in a way that the lowest root note will be played on the 1st beat of a bar, making it easier to count the beats and to keep a steady tempo.
Why the 2nd finger for the root note? This scale pattern is called the E-shape (or pattern 1) because it is based E-shape major barre chord grip. If you compare this scale pattern to an E-shape major barre chord, you will find that all the chord tones are part of the scale as well. Also, using the 2nd finger for the root note and following the fingering suggested in the lesson, you won’t have to make excessive stretches either with your 1st or 4th finger as all 4 fingers will cover the frets of this particular scale pattern.
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