Difficulty with the major scale

[King Jug]

I've been playing guitar for over 5 years now and never went very deep into music theory. I'd just play what sounded right. Lately I've been playing a lot more and can't stand not understanding theory for the simple reason that I feel anything I write is a blemish because I know very little about how songs are constructed.

So I began studying music theory...and I'm stuck on the major scale. Just the major scale itself seems impossible to memorize. I understand the formula (WWHWWWH), but is can anyone out there offer me some help one memorizing it in different position? For now I can play it going down any single string, but is there anything that could help me memorize it in different positions?

Also, how important is it to learn and understand both steps AND intervals? I have no problems learning with steps but grasping intervals is like rocket science to me.

[Jerusalem]

http://forums.tabcrawler.com/index.php?topic=3702.0

[Illyich]

If you're having trouble running a scale on the guitar, I'd suggest going only to the 5th degree and back down until you're sure you have that memorized and then add the rest.

For instance, for a d major scale:


D|----4-5-7-5-4----|
A|5-7-----------7-5|