seeing/hearing patterns on the neck

[tjcurtin1]

While working on the standard scale patterns, I have begun wondering how other folks internalize them. It seems that the idea is that you aim to learn the visual shape of the patterns on the fretboard, and some of them I do see visually. However, I kind of doubt that I would ever be able to store and keep separate a large number of such different patterns (even though I am beginning to grasp the idea that there are shared elements among the different patterns). The further I go, I seem to find that I'm kind of 'auralizing' patterns rather than visualizing them; that is, I feel where the next interval will be (not always with 100% success, tho!) rather than 'visualize' the pattern. Does this make sense? Is it safe to proceed this way, or am I missing something and making a big mistake thinking I can progress this way? How does this work for other Fretters?

[Robert]

You should do both! When I play, I can "see" the intervals and scale patterns, but I also know what they will sound like before I play them. The key for me has been learning intervals well. Learn the intervals by ear - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_training#Interval_recognition

Learn the scales and notes - it all comes together with practice and you can learn to see and hear where notes are. That way, you don't have to guess and risk hitting the wrong notes.

[tjcurtin1]

Thanks, Robert! I can see, given what you said, how the two aspects are working together at the same time. I'm getting better at hearing intervals before playing them, and am slowly working on the spatial aspect of how that translates from the fret/string I'm on and where I need to go next.

Ted