Should You Learn the Segovia Scales?

www.classicalguitarshed.com/should-I-learn-segovia-scales/ Should you or should you not spend time learning the Segovia Scales? This video shares a couple of considerations.
Find even more reasons for and against here: www.classicalguitarshed.com/should-I-learn-segovia-scales/
If you want to learn them, consider this course: www.classicalguitarshed.com/courses/learn-segovia-scales/

[@ClassicalGuitarShed]

Check out our Full Course on the Segovia Scales and improve your technique; my.classicalguitarshed.com/courses/learn-segovia-scales/

[@9uweeoncbmd890]

Fantastic clues. The other video in which you have shown the scale played was also very good. Thank you for your time making these.

[@fengjunchen6438]

I've been playing these Segovia scales for about a year, combined with different right-hand finger combinations and rhythm, even tremolo. It does help a lot, and it also contributes to your sign reading and muscle memory, make you learn new pieces faster.

[@artiefischel2579]

I've seen many teachers in a variety of subjects, and I have to say that you teach really well. I don't play classical but I'm subscribing.

[@worthingtonproductions2579]

I found that once you have all of those scales down, a good little fun practice is pick your scale and between the major and relative minor scale start improvising Melodys and melodic phrasing as you move through the scale and switch between the major and relative minor at any point as your going up and down the scale. You practice melody, improvisation, phrasing and moving back and forth between scales in the middle of the scale rather than always starting from the beginning every time you begin to get a much better image in your mind of playing in a key and on top of it all it’s pretty fun.

[@markedwinwebb]

You raised some very good points. In my case, I'm learning these scales to hone my technique after many years of neglect. I find the suggested right hand finger combinations particularly useful in developing independent movement.

[@MichaelLynMusic]

I totally agree...fortunately for me the weirdness, fingerboard reach and shapes of the Segovia Scales, led me to the much more outlandish scales, and thus creative ways to express thru Our Language....music...thank you Sir for Posting!

[@MAZiese]

Allen, again great advice. I myself use my old copy of Shearer's "Scale Patterns" which I have had since the early 70's. Yep 50 year old book and I still use it daily. I use these scales to help warm up both my left and right hands (fingers) prior to practicing pieces. As Lutemann said in his comment, that book 260-odd pages will cover all positions on the neck, major and minor scales...the works. Also for those thinking of picking up a copy, older ones can be found on eBay and on other site... My suggestion is this, if you purchase this huge book and plan on keeping it, take it to your nearest Staples or Office Depot and have them rebind it using a spiral binding. If it is already bound that way, you are in luck. My old old old copy (1965) started to break apart at the spine from having to constantly fold the pages so I could read them.

[@Sk0lzky]

I think they're really important from the start, otherwise you create this split in seeing the fretboard which can lead to fear of playing in higher positions which, in turn, can be a real ass to overcome.

[@tmusic99]

If you want to play a A 440 Hz A on a piano, you have only one choise. On a guitar, it can be played at different positions eg. on first (pos 5), second (pos 10) and third string (pos 14) with different timbres (overtone compositions). Segovia arrangements seems to utilize these differences in a musical context, quite efficiently. My take on "segovia scales" is that they are "standard" sets of tones selected to avoid timbre clashes. They are a reference point for arranging music on guitar. In contrast, the CAGE scales, like the type 1, 2, 3 and 4 fingerings in the Berklee books, are more of training tools to learn the fingerboard, build finger dexterity etc.

[@JesusHilarioH]

tmusic99 awesome. Love Cage approach.

[@nickrobinson938]

Warp refraction threshold chord shapes are far easier to the beginner. I started the Segovia Scales in my first year and it was really off-putting. Had these been introduced later on, then they would have made more sense and I would have had a better experience all over. Thanks for the explanation. Good works.

[@genesiskeglar6372]

I just want to. I’m enjoying learning his approach to playing through a scale. I learned the basic patterns and also the three note per string patterns, but I think learning these is just interesting because they move around in nonconventional fingering patterns.

[@AMPProf]

Segovia Scales seem to be the best way to practice for performance technique! Especially with current Fretboard camera video cuts.

[@roge69charger]

I studied on the Segovia Scale System first. When I decided to study Classical guitar. Nothing made sense to me. Though I picked them up quickly and used a metronome. from slow to Allegro. quarters to sixteenth's. etc....The best thing I did was switch to studying with the Late Sal Salvador , Jazz Guitar. His books made a lot of sense. So, I studied Jazz and played Classical on my own went through the 20 Sor Studies. Villa Lobos Preludes etc...Quickly and much better phrased. I enjoy playing Classical, Jazz, & Bossa Nova you name it on my Classical guitar. Then I have several Strats. etc...But, I'm not big on all those amplification effects. Take care.

[@ClassicalGuitarShed]

+Roger Bono Cool!

[@christophercia1]

I love the same genres like you do, although I can hardly master any of them and am learniny slowly from this channel. Do you like flamenco or any spanish related styles too? God bless

[@christophercia1]

I love the same genres like you do, although I can hardly master any of them and am learniny slowly from this channel. Do you like flamenco or any spanish related styles too? God bless

[@roge69charger]

My favorite guitar is my 69 Classical Guitar. i started back in the 60's , My second fav guitar is my Gibson L4. Then Strats. I've played Turina, Ponce, Ibanez. A Great book to get out of print. Is Albert Blaines 700 Hundred yrs of Music" That''ll get you going 4 sure. And the "Johnny Smith" Aid to Technique" That'll take you everywhere. In no time. Both are out of print. But, you can find them used. Worth the money. plus the original "Sal Salvador" Single String Study" Expensive out of print. But, you can find it for much less. And Sal Salvodor's Scale Book. Available. Then Play all of your Sor Studies and Villa Lobos Etudes etc. Go Slow. You'll get the hang real quickly.

[@JesusHilarioH]

Roger Bono that's pretty awesome!

[@thanagan5192]

It is a rhetorical question 😉

[@Stormboy2011]

Very useful video. Thanks. May I ask whats your guitar model?

[@ClassicalGuitarShed]

+Hamed Mohammadi Thanks Hamed, it's a 1993 Ramirez 1a. Cheers, Allen

[@stevewhite3753]

I learned these when I was 15. I’m 60 now and still play them. 10 minutes a day

[@conorohanlon6329]

I’ve started learning classical guitar again after a 30 year break. I’m 64 now and think it would be better to practice chords rather than scales. I just want to be able to play some easy classical music. I would appreciate any advice on this.

[@RM-lv9ng]

Get a good teacher.

[@jakemf1]

How does moving up and down the top two strings so much make any sense for a fingering system? Look at every other instrument they would never jump around like that! These are very outdated I understand their place but you could shift on the lower strings and then avoid the top 2 string jumping around! JUst my thoughts

[@JesusHilarioH]

jakemf1 for sure, I say use what works for you. There many different ways to play a two or three octave scale. I would like to have seen Segovia do the harmonic minors.

[@chuckmccroskey4864]

Segovia liked to play a melody straight up a string, if he could. The reason ( according to Segovia) was : running a melody horizontally is like changing singers during the melody, where as , running up the string keeps the same sonority. Also, Segovia did not like the first string for melody because it sounded ‘thin’ to him. He would use a B string for the high E and tune it up ( wreaking havoc on the soundboard because of the stress). I read that he really wore out some guitars this way. So in this sense, his scales make perfect sense. I paraphrased all of that, but that is my understanding. Also, I have had lessons with at least two of his students, maybe more. Hope my attempt at an explanation makes sense to you. Segovia was the Great Maestro:)

[@catherinehamer5653]

@@chuckmccroskey4864 absolutely right. Dexterity/tone/melodic line. Each string has it's own quality that changes the aural texture. This is what makes the classical guitar such a fiendishly difficult instrument beyond the cowboy chords and onwards into the vast canon of baroque/classical/romantic and modern repertoire

[@lordviewer7305]

One must know the basic cowboy positions for sure 😆

[@cottamusic]

Some positions in the Segovia scales book have way too many notes in the low E and A strings, which sound really muddy and not nice in my opinion. Also I found some positions where he saved like 6 notes from a scale till you're in the high E string and then you have to do like 3 pretty hard skips just in the top string to finish the ascending scale, found it quite unpractical. Just my first impression.

[@ezioauditore6176]

cowboy chords

[@mlekoff]

Can you tell - why do you need a guitar in this episode?

[@Kyrelel]

Short version: Scales exercises are good to use as exercises. :/

[@Lutemann]

Here's my two cents. Segovia wrote these scales when he was 12 years old and they seem to written by a 12 year old. For example, why restrict the scale range from tonic to tonic. In other long scale systems (Aaron Shearer's for example) a C scale has a range from C on the 5th string all the way to high B on the first string and back. IMO, both Shearer's and Berg's scales will do you more good than the very dated Segovia scales. Go to the Aaron Shearer foundation and take a look.

[@steveb9325]

I dont know why this is even a question. Why not learn and add everything one can to their journey on guitar. Just my opinion.

[@kynggregory1936]

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[@darrenrussell3214]

@Kyng Gregory Instablaster :)

[@kynggregory1936]

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[@kynggregory1936]

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[@darrenrussell3214]

@Kyng Gregory You are welcome =)

[@patrickpalmer3374]

You teach it I'll play it because magic happens.

[@abhisheksingh-vf6gk]

Your video is only full of theory.. No resemblance with practical knowledge.. I can't have such musci channel subscribed!

[@patrickpalmer3374]

I have to delete all the stuff I downloaded on Pinterest I'm worried they may contaminate my brain. Seriously I'm not touching that wannabe bath tub classics.

[@michaelpowell7120]

So much talking

[@thomaspeters5889]

If you're a motivated student then you consume everything including the Segovia scales. Strange video, theoretical at best. I wonder if maybe your time could've been better spent elsewhere.

[@catherinehamer5653]

Whose time? The question is debated here for amateur classical players (not advanced music graduates who are practicing 4 to 5 hours a day)

[@thomaspeters5889]

@@catherinehamer5653 His time, that which belongs to him. I believe Segovia's scale study is really an exercise in fret hand position shifting and for this reason should be included for study material for the serious student.