Originally Posted by: snpfarmIf I understand correctly you're saying that I have to follow the pattern of the scale.[/quote]

It depends on what you are trying to do.

At the beginner stage of learning it's best to play one octave of any given scale straight up & down from root to root in one area of the neck. This helps you start to learn to integrate the pattern & the sound in your fingers, with your eyes & ears.

As you progress you should try playing the scale in various patterns to get used to it. Play it in more than one octave, play it in various areas of the fretboard, play it in various patterns (3s, 4s, pedal point, starting on different notes). This helps you develop your skills & understanding even further.

So far all of that is merely practice, working out, but then . . .

Originally Posted by: snpfarmHitting notes in the pattern on the 6th string to the 5th string etc. I understand if you're actually playing the scale following the "pattern".[/quote]

Yes, and that is a helpful part of the process to build your physical dexterity & ear. But you're not playing music yet.

When you start to play actual music you need to play the notes of the scale in the order that you want in order to create specific sounds. That's why you practice the scales in the first place: to get used to how the notes of any scale sound in relation to each other while building the physical dexterity to play them.

But then, when we play music we use scales to understand why the notes of a song, riff, lick, solo, etc. sound they way the sound. And organize our own thinking about them, and to communicate to others about it.

Originally Posted by: snpfarmI thought if you wanted to improvise or make up your own riff the scales were like a suggestion...all the notes sound good when used together.

Yes, when you are making up your own music you are not required to play the notes in any given order. You can make up your own order. Ultimately when you find you like the sound of some group of notes it's because of the specific order you choose. In this case the scale is like the alphabet & you are making different words with the basic raw materials.

[quote=snpfarm]Meaning you can improvise as long as you play the notes in that particular scale no matter the order????

Let's use the alphabet analogy again.

If you want to spell "cat" you have to use 3 specific letters in a specific order. You can use those letters to spell "act" if you want to instead. And that's fine if you want the result of the word "act". You're free to use whatever letters you want. But it's wrong if you wanted the result to be the word "cat". Only those 3 letters in that order will get that result.

So, you can use the scale degrees in any order you want. But it helps to know how they sound & why & when to use them. That's why we practice scales in the first place. So when we want to make music (copy a song, or make our own) we know which notes to use in which order.

[quote=snpfarm]Now I remember why I got frustrated with scales all those years ago...lol

If you are going to play music you don't have any choice about using scales. They are the basic raw materials of melodies, licks, riffs, chords. If you play music, then you will be implicitly using scales. The only choice you have is how well you choose to understand them, so you'll know what you are doing.

Make sense?

What are you trying to do with scales?

You might want to have a look at these tutorials on improvisation. I explain how & why understanding scales is helpful in the context of these tutorials.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/learning-to-improvise

This tutorial cover the same ideas but in a blues style context.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=217

Hope that helps!