So down about my scales and learning in general 
for some reason my fingers are so clumsy despite finger stretches and finger gyms and chromatic exercises almost every day. Still having trouble getting my fingers to spread out onto each fret. Especially middle finger and ring finger want to be together and I get so frustrated I use my right hand to try to pry them apart! 
I guess I do get better but so slowly I donāt notice it from one day to the next. It also doesnāt help that I donāt fully understand the use of the scale patterns or how they relate to the caged system and ultimately what use it all is. I did the whole beginners course but I donāt think there was a lesson on CAGED unless I missed it? I feel like Iām missing something that should be obvious. That on top of the not being able to make my fingers go where I want them, I wonder if Iāll be stuck on grade 4 foreverā¦itās been a couple months now and I really want to move on but also I want to do things properly and not skip anything important. Rant over 
From memory, Justin uses the G major scale in his major scale intro lesson? I donāt know why he chose that, because itās a big stretch for a beginner. Try moving the scale two frets up to the A major scale. It requires much less of a stretch. Or the C major scale which requires almost no stretch at all. When youāve got the scale pattern internalised you can work your way back down to the G major scale for a bit of finger torture.
Thanks jacksprat! Itās definitely easier to do the scale further up the neck but even the C major scale isnāt completely comfortable for me. I guess I just need more practice.
Hi
Iām having a bit of trouble understanding the part about when ādescending the scale you go as low as you can.ā Iām not sure what as low as you can go means.
And, when ascending the G Major scale, doesnāt the scale end on the A note (5th string, high E string)?
Iāve done my major scale chart, and some other practical music theory. I understand that the major scale is 7 notes plus the octave (do re mi fa so la di do) and Justin mentions in the video that major scales are 16 notes.
And, Iāve counted out the 16 notes and they add up correctly haha.
Why am I not getting why the āAā while ascending and the āF#mā while descending are there?
Thanks
Andrew
Hey Andrew.
Justins instructions/ teaching here is essentially a choice made by Justin in how to initially practice the scale.
It simply makes it 16 notes up, and 16 notes down, then you go up 1 to the root and start again. Gets a rhythm going, and gets you used to hearing it all revolve that root note.
It also assists when starting to alternate pick the scale sequence. It will keep the āups and downsā in the same places on repeating iterations.
Cheers, Shane
Low as you can go means all the notes that are in the scale that you can reach from that position. So, that would include the F# (string 6, fret 2). Same with the high A note at the top of the pattern (string 1, fret 5).
As for the why, they are included in the pattern because they are notes in the scale. Thereās no rule that says the highest and lowest notes in a pattern must be root notes.
Also, as Shane mentioned above, there is a good reason for having an even number of notes in the pattern, regarding repeating the same picking pattern each time through the pattern.