Week 9: linking the positions up the whole neck
Week nine of a 32-week guitar practice path: joining the pentatonic positions so the scale runs unbroken from the 5th fret to the 12th.
- Week
- 9 of 32
- Days
- 7
- Played as
- blues or rock
The positions stop being separate rooms. Linked through their shared frets, the pentatonic runs the length of the neck, and that connected map is the same skeleton the CAGED system describes for chords.
The test in both tracks is the same: can you start a phrase anywhere and let it travel? If every line begins at the bottom of a box and ends at the top, you are still playing positions. Roaming is what turns the fretboard from five destinations into one surface.
Blues treatment
Connect the pentatonic positions and roam the whole neck, one scale from the 5th fret to the 12th
Two positions become three, and three positions become one long scale. Boxes 1, 2 and 3 cover the neck from the 5th fret up to the octave at the 12th, and each pair shares notes at the join, so the whole thing is a single connected shape rather than a set of rooms with doors between them.
The practical test of whether you have connected them is whether you can start a phrase anywhere and let it travel. If your lines always begin at the bottom of a box and end at the top, you are still playing positions. Roaming means the neck stops being a series of destinations and becomes a surface.
The daily session · ~25 min
- Warm upHands + rotate the boxes4 min
- Boxes 1, 2 and 3Three positions up the neck4 min
- Slide through the seamsLink the positions6 min
- Roam over the formOne line, three positions6 min
- Jam, 12-bar blues in APut it together5 min
Check yourself
- Play A minor pentatonic from the 5th fret to the 12th and back as one continuous line.
- Start a phrase at the 12th and let it descend through all three positions to the 5th.
- Over a chorus, use at least two positions without your phrasing getting worse.
Reference
Rock treatment
Connect the pentatonic positions and shred the whole neck, one scale from the 5th fret to the 12th, the CAGED map
The positions stop being separate. Linked through their shared frets, the pentatonic runs the length of the neck, and that connected map is the same skeleton the CAGED system describes for chords.
The point is not to be able to run the neck fast — that is a byproduct — but to stop being trapped. If every phrase you play starts at the bottom of a box and ends at the top, you are still thinking in positions. Being able to start anywhere and travel is what makes the fretboard feel like one instrument rather than five.
The daily session · ~25 min
- Warm upHands + rotate the boxes4 min
- Positions up the neckThe CAGED map4 min
- Shift through the seamsConnect at tempo6 min
- Run the neck over the vampCover ground in time6 min
- Jam, minor rock vampPut it together5 min
Check yourself
- Run A minor pentatonic 5th fret to 12th and back as one line, in time.
- Start a phrase at the 12th and descend through every position to the 5th.
- Over the vamp, use two positions without your phrasing getting worse.
Reference
How the week runs
Whichever accent you pick, the material stays the same for all 7 days and the tempo and intent move. Day one takes it slowly, day two chases clean notes, day three brings it to target tempo and into the jam, day four pushes past comfortable, and day five drops back to tempo to record and listen. Days six and seven are yours.
You can switch accent any day without losing your place — it is the same week either way, so week 9 means the same thing in both.