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You have already seen one way that a scale may be written, in tablature form. Other ways that you will see scales written is in the format of a picture that will represents all of the notes that are in the scale. You would play the scale starting on the lowest sounding note, work your way to the highest, and then come back down to the lowest note.

Horizontal scale charts

This scale chart is written from the same perspective as tablature. Meaning that the 6th string is the bottom line, and the 1st string is the top line. It is also the same perspective as looking down at the neck of your guitar in playing position with the guitar angled so that you can see the fretboard.

On the Internet you may also see a scale chart written using just plain text. The numbers in this case indicate the fingers that you should use.

|-1-|-2-|---|---| - 1st string
|---|-2-|---|-4-|
|-1-|---|-3-|-4-|
|-1-|---|-3-|-4-|
|-1-|-2-|---|-4-|
|---|-2-|---|-4-| - 6th string
      |
     5th fret

Page 1, Intro to scales - basic finger exercises

Page 2, Reading vertical scale charts

Scale primer jump zone

Intro to scales - basic finger exercises Reading horizontal scale charts Reading vertical scale charts The root of the scale