One position

Playing a scale along one string proves the pattern but wastes the instrument — six strings exist so your hand can stay put while the notes climb. This exercise gives you the major scale in one position: hand parked in one place, all six strings, two octaves of G major.

What a position is

Park your index finger over the second fret. Now assign one finger per fret: index takes fret 2, middle takes 3, ring takes 4, pinky takes 5. That’s second position. Your hand doesn’t slide; only your fingers and your pick arm move.

The pattern

G major in second position. Diagrams as always: columns are strings, low E leftmost; rows are frets. Here o is a scale note and R marks the roots (the G notes, degree 1):

G major, second position
    E A D G B e
2   o o o o . o
3   R o . . o R
4   . . o o . .
5   o o R o o o

notes per string, low fret first:
E: F#(2) G(3) A(5)     A: B(2) C(3) D(5)     D: E(2) F#(4) G(5)
G: A(2)  B(4) C(5)     B: D(3) E(5)          e: F#(2) G(3) A(5)

Notice the pattern starts on F#, below the root. A position pattern covers everything reachable from where your hand sits — it’s a territory, not a staircase from 1 to 8. The scale’s home, G, is at the R marks: low E fret 3, D string fret 5, high e fret 3.

The drill

1. Learn the path. Ascend from F# (low E, fret 2) to A (high e, fret 5): on each string play the lowest fret first, then cross to the next string. Then descend the same path in reverse. No metronome yet; just make the route automatic.
2. Add the click. Metronome at 60 BPM, one note per click, up and down without pausing at the top or bottom. Alternate your picking — down-up-down-up — so the pick is never stranded. When a full pass is clean, add 4 BPM. There is no finish line tempo; there is only even.
3. Say the names. Same drill, slower, speaking each note name aloud as you play it: “F sharp, G, A, B, C…” This feels clumsy for everyone at first. It’s the step that turns a finger pattern into knowing where the notes are, which the rest of this course leans on.

What to listen for

As you play, the two half steps of the recipe are still in there — F# to G, and B to C — twice each across the two octaves. Hear them tighten. Same scale as last exercise, same recipe, new geometry: the W-W-H-W-W-W-H ladder, folded across six strings so your hand never has to travel.