Lesson 18 · Part 4, A scale is the notes between

Climbing

A climb plays the whole scale as one line up the neck, using every pitch exactly once.

One climb up the neck

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The climb runs from fret 5 to fret 22 and plays eighteen notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes three notes on every string. The widest stretch on any one string is five frets.

A position shows what is under your hand when it stays still. A climb answers a different question: what does the scale look like as one line, from its lowest root to the top of the neck?

A climb plays every pitch of the scale exactly once, in order, crossing strings as it goes. It follows the shape of the scale rather than the shape of a hand. Playing one shows you that the neck is a single long instrument rather than a set of separate boxes.

There is no single correct route. A route with a wider reach travels further along the neck for the same number of notes. A narrower one stays closer to one place and uses more strings. Choose the one that suits your hand, and come back to the other later.