Take your time to get comfortable. Your thumb can be on the back of the neck, or you can cup the neck in the space between your thumb and first finger. There is no "wrong" way to play here, but some are more restrictive than others. Choose wisely, based on your physical attributes and abilities; then be consistent! This is important in playing any instrument, a repeatable and consistent approach in executing a given technique.

Next up is the same scale, but with more fretted notes, and fewer open string notes. Again, the fingering is suggested, not cast in stone. This is what works for me. Go slow, figure it out, make your method common sensible and repeatable. You'll get it. Be patient and allow yourself the time it will take to get good at it. Take note that the ending of the descending part of the scale is slightly different than the ascending beginning of the scale.

Part of what you want to be working out, as you become more familiar with and comfortable playing single notes, is to produce good tone, and consistent volume from note to note. That means you have to pay attention to fingering - how your fingers press into the strings. You don't want to be straight up and down; an angle of about 30-40% is good, except for the pinky. The pinky will tend to lay flatter, which you'll find is pretty typical player to player. That said, some chords may require a vertical attack for one or more of the fretted notes.

You also want notes to be equally loud, or equally soft. Along with good fretting technique, "proper" picking technique is also important. How you hold a pick is really very subjective, everyone is a little different. But the one thing you want is to not let the pick dig "deep" into the string plane. So you want to hold the pick with just a little bit of the tip exposed. This will also help you not lose the pick very often. How hard you grip the pick is also subjectve. But a good rule is to not squeeze the pick any harder than is necessary to keep it from flying out of your fingers during strumming and picking passages.

Good picking technique is the means to volume control; it will allow you to control the attack, how hard or soft you strum or pluck the strings. As you learn to play single note runs, and chords as well, try to be more aware of how well you maintain a consistent volume, how you "attack" the strings, through a passage or whole tune.

Now we're going to get a bit more involved here. Because not all scales are played with open strings, you need to learn how to play scales with mostly or all fretted notes. So we're moving up to the key of A Major for the next two examples. The object is to free you to be able to move any scale into whatever key you require to be able to play a given song.

Play this next example, in A Major, slowly to get the sense of how the pattern you're playing works. Scales are just patterns after all, and as you begin to recognize certain patterns in how you play a given run, you'll find you can memorize things easier as a result. It's kind of a visual thing. So, play the next example, using the suggested fingerings, and make any adjustments you need for your particular finger size and length.

Now we remove all open string notes. We're still playing the A Major scale, but with all fretted notes. This version is movable up the fret board because it is played without open strings - which is what makes it movable. Pay attention to the patterns, as mentioned before.

Once you are comfortable with this pattern, move it up one fret to A#, then B, then C and so on. Ideally, any given scale should be able to be played everywhere, in every key. This will ensure your mastery of the fret board. And it will take time, so allow yourself the time it will take - which is different for you than for me, and that's okay. But here's the long range reality: even after playing music all my life, I still practice scales because proficiency must be maintained!

We'll cover the primary minor scale in a future lesson.

And, until the next lesson, have fun with this and try creating some melodies now, to help you navigate the scale and become comfortable playing single notes on the instrument. Start with simple stuff, like "Mary Had A Little Lamb" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". And remember: have fun!

Now, start makin' some foot stompin' music!