BoogieMan,
Too bad we can't actually sit together and discuss this with guitars (and maybe a refreshment) in hand
We are not disagreeing with one another, but may have somewhat different perspectives.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time at the moment to get into a long explanation of my perspective, but possibly I can point you to where it comes from.
I assume that you actually have the SBS course and manual available.
The most common perspective of the box pattern approach, is that at any position on the neck, that box will contain ~12 notes not including the blue notes. For that specific position on the neck, the box will contain 2 or 3 root notes for the current key you are playing in, and those roots will fall on 2 or three different strings.
By contrast, when your perspective is the "4 pattern major minor" pattern, and you relate it to a box position, a given box has about 24 different possible root notes (without moving your starting hand position). Knowing what root you want to start from, and whether you want a major or minor, or composite sound, you pick from one of the 4 patterns, or mix them together. It's just a different approach.
If you look at the 4 patterns, you will see that those patterns are contained
within the different boxes that you already know.
Here's the key - look at the chart that Griff provides on page 36 of the manual. This relates the
root note string to the
4 patterns to the
box that contains that pattern.
It may take some study to see these relationships clearly - it did for me. You may need to draw them out for yourself. But that chart is the key to it all.
I think it's not so much a
distinction (as you mentioned) as it is a
relationship and perspective. The 4 pattern perspective is broader in scope and more flexible in application in my opinion, and that is its potential benefit. It does require that one be able to change your perspective quickly with relationship to the underlying chord or implied root in the music, and that is definitely a challenge that takes time to master. But then you can get whatever "flavor" of sound that you want at a single position on the neck, and from any string as a starting point.
I hope this helps a little bit. I guess it turned out to be pretty long anyway.
Tom