Am Harmonic Scale

I've been watching HPCRAZY's tutorial on Flamenco guitar and have been practicing the Am Harmonic scale, but I have a couple of questions about how to play it.

First of all, in the second octave of the scale, the fifth fret on the second string and fourth fret of the third string are played, and I was wondering why those notes aren't just the open first and second strings. The lower three strings play open notes, so why not these?

Also, while playing it as written, I was wondering about the exact fingering for hitting the fifth fret on the first and second strings. Watching the video, it looks like one plays the A with the pinky, G# with the ring finger, and F with the index finger, and then E with the pinky, D with the ring finger and C with the index finger. Would that be right? I'm not quite used to stretching across five frets like that, so I want to make sure that I'm doing it correctly.

um the reason he doesnt use open strings i imagin is so u can learn the shapes. then u can transfer them to other keys say g harmonic minor or wateva.

That's just it, though. There are open strings on the 5th and 6th strings

The open strings might be hit as part of a chord, or so that they keep ringing whilst you're fretting other notes. You'd fret the 5th fret of the b as opposed to open e if you wanted a staccato sound rather than a ringing note. Each has it's place.

If you post a link to the exact lesson you're looking at, we can probably be a little more helpful... :)

Interesting point. Thanks Ren. The open A on the 5th string definitely makes sense, since it's the root. Overall, the tutorial has been spectacular. Here is the link to the lesson about the scale:

http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=10732&s_id=369