Excerpted from Weekly Workout: Move It On Up | by Scott Nygaard
This workout starts with octaves on the E and D strings and continues with octaves on the B and A and then G and E strings. You’ll notice that some of the octaves on the G and E strings (measure 3) require a bit of a stretch.
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But we can also play octaves on string sets with only one string between them, as in the second half of this workout (measures 4–6). Notice that we have to start with octaves four strings apart down by the nut to get all the notes in.
Most methods for learning the fingerboard concentrate on learning notes in four-to-five-fret sections, running scales across the strings and learning how all the notes relate within those positions. Approaches like this (the C-A-G-E-D system being one of the most well known) are essential to learning the fingerboard, but it’s also helpful to learn how scales move up the fingerboard on each individual string. Doing this will help you connect the fingerboard positions you know so you can move up and down the neck more smoothly. In this month’s workout we’ll look at scales, intervals, and chords that move up the fingerboard, not across it.
