Ok, a lot of people will just give you the box shapes and say "Here, go practice these." While theory buffs will explain to you that scales are made up of whole steps and half steps. And that the Major Scale is WWHWWWH and a Minor Scale is made up of WHWWHWW or else they'll go into intervals and get you even more confused while not giving you any patterns and thinking you'll figure it out yourself.
I'm gonna try to give the best of both; give you the patterns to practice, and then explain it so you understand how it all makes sense while throwing in some theory as well. And don't expect to learn this all at once, it'll take time and practice.
Ok, now that the pretty little introduction is out of the way, I'll start with the box shapes. In these shapes the numbers have nothing to do with the frets. They stand for what degree of the scale each note is. R is the root note, or first note of the scale, and this determines what key you are in.
For example, G Major in the first position would be:
Code:
|-----------------------------2-3-5--|
|-------------------------3-5--------|
|-------------------2-4-5------------|
|-------------2-4-5------------------|
|-------2-3-5------------------------|
|-2-3-5------------------------------|
These are all relative to whatever note you decide is your root note, which is what scale you are in. Here are the shapes of the Major Scale
Code:
1st position
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|
|---|-5-|---|-6-|
|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|
2nd position
|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---|
|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|
|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
3rd position
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|
|-5-|---|-6-|---|
|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|
4th position
|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|
|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|---|
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---|
|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|
5th position
|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|
|---|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|
|-7-|-R-|---|-2-|---|
|---|-5-|---|-6-|---|
|---|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|
|---|-6-|---|-7-|-R-|
And these are the Minor Scale shapes:
Code:
1st Position
|---|-1-|---|-2-|-3-|
|---|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|---|
|---|-7-|---|-R-|---|
|---|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
|---|-R-|---|-2-|-3-|
2nd Position
|---|-3-|---|-4-|
|---|-7-|---|-R-|
|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
|-R-|---|-2-|-3-|
|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|
3rd Position
|---|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
|---|-R-|---|-2-|-3-|
|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|---|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|---|
|---|-7-|---|-R-|---|
|---|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
4th Position
|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|
|-7-|---|-R-|---|
|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
|-R-|---|-2-|-3-|
|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|
5th Position
|---|-7-|---|-R-|---|
|---|-4-|---|-5-|-6-|
|-R-|---|-2-|-3-|---|
|-5-|-6-|---|-7-|---|
|-2-|-3-|---|-4-|---|
|---|-7-|---|-R-|---|