On the subject of knowing scales in all positions. Imagine this.

If we stayed in the
same place and played all the major scales or pentatonics (minor) in all 12 keys
this would mean super smooth transitions and a really fluid sound.For inter
vallic stuff you could flap all about the fretboard confusing listeners into
believing you were playing sensibly i.e lot of scope to faff (I'm a master at
this :)). But on a serious note do try to play in one position, all the changes in
one position and you will understand the word fluid.Intervallic chaos is not fluid
its called floyd.Here is a master of the fretboard Kurt Rosenwinkel taking you
through the minor7 changes in whole steps i.e. Fm7,Gm7,Am7...etc. while playing in
the lower reaches of the fretboard only once darting to the 9th fret on the high E
string. So most of the notes are played in the region from the 1st to the 6th
fret.The mode of transport through these changes are the minor pentatonic shape.If
you moved this entire exercise a half step up you would learn the other 6 changes
namely F#m7,Abm7,Bbm7..etc.Happy noodling :)
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5qJqMU7g1nHN3ZkazlPQ2pEUzA