Hey & welcome to GT! Glad you are enjoying the lessons.

Originally Posted by: pwerky

There's something I'm not quite understanding. Now as I understand it a scale begins on a root note (c for example) and ends on it.[/quote]

Yes. As a conceptual unit you learn what notes and intervals a scale consists of. And then you start to play it from one root note up to the next root, or starting at the higher root note, then down through the scale notes to the lower root note. That helps you understand the essence of a scale. What it is and how it sounds.

C major scale root to root:

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

However, any scale can be continued beyond either root note as high or as low as the musical instrument allows.

C major extended below root note:

(a-b-)c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c

C major extended above root note:

c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c(-d-e)

[quote=pwerky]Why ,then, in grid patterns do the scales start and end a few notes before the root note? For example when I go into the scale finder on the Guitar Tricks Tools the C major scale (pattern 4) begins on an E and ends on a G.

Essentially because there are more notes available in that position.

The Scale Finder is a reference tool. It shows you all of the notes of any given scale in one fretboard position. It's possible to play the C major scale notes using notes below the C on the A string, and on notes on the lower E string as well.

The Scale Finder is not a teaching or pedagogical tool. It's simply a reference tool that you can use to find all the notes available.

Finally, in real music you will find that you don't always play an entire scale from root to root and then stop. Usually melodies start and, or stop in the middle of a scale. So it can be handy to know that any given scale extends above and below its root notes.

Hope that helps!