Just playing through scales never makes much sense to the up and coming student. Reasons for it include understanding the fretboard and having control over note selection. What seems to trump boring scale studies is real music. By altering scales and playing them in new ways we can find musical ideas. Playing what I call, “folded scales,” is a trick I learned from a guitar instructor, but it applies well to musical mandolin scales. Being familiar with my lesson #1 for the beginner will help with this, although I do go over the straight scale first. Below is a video where I show a way to “fold,” the A major scale.
