A quick question for you: What is the relationship between the shapes and patterns on this page and the shapes and patterns on the previous page? Take a good look.
This is a very easy question. The answer is, they are the exact same shape and patterns.
So why do you have to show them to me again?
I'm showing them to you again to suggest that you need to really look at these chord shapes and scales patterns. Notice the way in which they overlap:
The first pattern spans the open notes to the third fret, and the second pattern spans the third fret to the seventh fret. They share one fret, the third.
The third pattern spans the fifth fret to the nineth fret. The second and third patterns share three frets, see the barre they share at the fifth fret? Look on and try to see the overlapping patterns. Then try to visualize them as they would lie on the fretboard. See any patterns or scales that you recognize? The major and minor scale are two of these, and all five of them are modes. You may not know them with these fingerings, but look at the notes. Visualize the fingering of the scale as you know it, superimposed upon the overlapping patterns, as they would lie on the fretboard of the guitar, all in your mind's eye. This is not easy, but such is the nature of the beast.
When I close my eyes for bed, I see fingers dancing on a fretboard, not sheep jumping a fence. I compose music with closed eyes and no guitar. I re-think fingerings. I wake up and have to go strait for my guitar. I got valuable practice time in while dozing. I've even heard stories of classical guitarists who will study sheet music on a train or bus ride to a gig and perform that music flawlessly upon arival, never having practiced it on an actual guitar. They practiced on a mental guitar. You know the saying, "it's all in your mind," well there's much truth to that statement.
Now look at the chord shapes at the top of the page, and try to see the chord tones within the patterns. Identify the root, third, and fifth in the shapes, then find the corresponding fret positions in the patterns. OK, now forget about all that and get lost in the patterns. Stare mindlessly into and absorb the patterns. Eventually you will begin to visualize the fretboard in your own way, and that is a worderful thing.
