Originally Posted by: iiiiiii-0Hey I wrote quite a lengthy post a few days ago about the CAGED system.[/quote]

I remember. :)

Originally Posted by: iiiiiii-0I've gone through various tutorials about both the 3 string pattern and CAGED. I'm feeling overwhelmed with the options out there and want to improve my musicianship and understanding.

I think at this point it might be helpful to clarify your skill level & your goals. Why are you working on those huge fretboard scale patterns? What do you hope to do with them? How will you apply them to music? What songs are you learning? What songs do you want to learn?

Because the answers to those questions will be absolutely necessary in order to answer your question . . .

[quote=iiiiiii-0]So my question is how should I practice scales?

It depends on what style of music you want to play. Some styles use certain scale patterns more than other. But the physical skill of playing single note lines will always be useful.

The PDF you linked didn't explain how to apply any of that beyond which key to practice on which day. At the end it showed a chord progression & said "practice scales with this chord progression!". But it didn't say how. That's a whole lot of data will no end goal.

At the beginner stage a student is just starting to learn:

1. The physical motions required to play single string melodies.

2. The sound & intervals of the scales as the building blocks of music; essentially aural or ear training.

So guitar students usually start with scales in open positions & just one octave (or so) of a scale in order to achieve the 2 steps above:

1. Build physical skill.

2. Apply those scale patterns to music & understand how scales are used to play melodies & connect chords.

For example, Lisa shows a bunch of open scale patterns in GF 2. If you are able to do those, then you are doing fine to practice them, keep progressing in a course & start learning songs.

You will be ready to learn how to use those patterns to connect chords. For example, like this.

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=426

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=427

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=428

What kind of music do you want to play? This will determine how you should practice scales. Often looking at how scales are used in the songs you like will help give you an idea of how to practice them.

If you want to play acoustic styles, then you will want to practice basic major & minor scale patterns as they relate to chords. See the above.

If you want to play country, then Anders does a great job of showing you how to apply scales to song intros, outros & melodies in the country courses.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=24263&s_id=1988

If you want to play blues, then Anders does a great job of showing you how to apply scales in that style in the blues courses.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14119

If you want to play classical style, then you can learn to apply scales in this way.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=15129

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=15170

So what is your skill level? Are you working through the Guitar Fundamentals courses? Are you beyond those in skill & knowledge level?

The next question is what are your goals? and what kind of music do you want to play?

Hope that helps!