As guitarists, many of us have a tendency to play scale and melodic passages across the neck, from the lower strings to the high strings. It’s perfectly understandable, since many of the scales we’re taught, such as the standard blues box, are laid out across the fingerboard.
But, there are definite advantages to also learning to play along the fretboard. The sound is different as you play along the strings, plus position shifts get much easier. You may even find yourself trying melodies and licks you never would have found playing across the neck.
One way to practice playing along the neck is to use our old friends, scales. I’ve included three exercises, each using the G major scale laid out along the G string.
Exercise 1 simply plays the scale up and down on one string. I haven’t included a fingering, as there are a lot of things to try. Try playing the entire scale fingered with just one finger, and then try with the each of the other three fingers. Then try playing it with a more normal fingering, where you play two or three notes in each position.
Exercise 2 is what I call a “ladder” scale. You move up the neck in groups of three notes, one step at a time. Note that the rhythm is straight eighth notes, not triplets. Be sure to set your metronome correctly and to play the right groupings – this will help you develop flexibility in your picking hand for accenting.
Exercise 3 is a similar “ladder” scale, but with opposing motion in the note groupings (which, again, are straight eighth notes, not triplets – play them correctly!).
Exercise 4 (shown ascending only; continue the pattern when descending) and Exercise 5 (also shown ascending only) add a skip to the mix. As before, don’t accent the first note in each 3-note grouping – play the notes as evenly as possible, as straight eighth notes.
Here are the challenges when practicing these scales:
- Play the exercises slowly – perfection is the goal, not speed. Increase the speed as you practice, but never to the point where you can’t play the scale perfectly.
- Use a metronome to help you play them perfectly in time, including the shifts.
- Play each scale with a constant volume level from note to note. You should not hear a shift point as an accent or volume change.
- Minimize squeaks when sliding the fingers along the string for the shifts.
Any of these exercises can, of course, be moved up and down the neck to practice in other keys. And, you can use any scale you like; try working through the modes to give your fingers good variety. Finally, you can take Exercises 4 and 5 up a notch by skipping other intervals; fourths and fifths work well.