Hey, there & welcome to GT! I encourage you to work through the Guitar Fundamental 1 & 2 courses. We cover the basics of scales & theory in a practical way for beginners to understand & use.

Originally Posted by: thelivingladyI am trying to find a simple explanation of playing the G scale.

The G major scale is this group of notes any place you can find & play them on the guitar: g-a-b-c-d-e-f#

The simplest place to play them is like this.

||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
g ||---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
d ||---|-e-|---|-f#|---|---|---|---|---|
a ||---|-b-|-c-|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||---|---|-g-|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Or like this in tab form.

|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------0-----------------------|
|-------------0-2-4--------------------------|
|-----0-2-3----------------------------------|
|--3-----------------------------------------|

Or in text as you requested.

Low E string 3rd fret.
A string open.
A string 2nd fret.
A string 3rd fret.
D string open.
D string 2nd fret.
D string 4th fret.
G string open.

Hope that helps!