Originally Posted by: xendurancex
I'm on Guitar Fundamentals 2 Chapter 2: C major scale for beginners. I'm trying really understand the principles behind the guitar. Chris kept saying to go ''5 frets back and one string over.'' as a way of making the distance between notes on the scale shorter. What exactly is going on when you do this?

You are playing the exact same note in a different location. This works because the guitar is designed to be able to play most notes in more than one place.

The purpose of this is to be able to play a lot of notes (or a whole scale in this case) in one fretboard position. So, instead of constantly having to move your hand further up the neck on the same string if you want to play a higher sounding note, instead we merely stay in the same general location & use the next string over.

This is a very valuable way of grasping why the guitar is designed as it is & how to make the most use of this knowledge.

Hope this helps. Ask more if necessary!

Thanks to Hunter for an outstanding explanation without benefit of seeing the lesson! :)