Customer Reviews

Diatonic Major and Minor Scales

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These scales are simply spectacular for developing both the left hand and the right (especially if you follow the right hand fingerings indicated by Segovia). At first it seems a little unreasonable to practice them for two hours a day, as recommended in the preface, but if you do as Segovia suggests and play each scale seven times, according to each fingering pattern, it takes at least that long to simply play through the book, which I would highly recommend doing every day.

This is about as simple as you can get. Eight pages long, including a one-page introduction from Segovia. The transcriptions of the scales are designed for classical guitarists, with major and melodic minor forms for every key. This is an incredible tool for learning the notes up and down the fretboard, and exactly what anybody studying classical guitar in a university setting will need.

This was recommended to me by a guitarist with a Phd in performance.

It is a very helpful booklet with all the diatonic major and minor scales. The minor scales ascend in melodic minor, and then descend in natural minor. The rule in general music theory is that when you use mel minor, you always descend in natural minor. It was created that way in order to function with certain chord progressions. I can't provide an example from early music theory, but I learned a great use of melodic minor with ii-V-i changes in jazz music.

e.g. in c minor:

ii - dmin7(flat5)>> play f mel.minor (basically the mel.minor pattern from the 4th degree of c). It hits the flat5.

V7 - G7(flat5,flat9... any alteration)>> play 'a flat' mel.minor (basically the mel.minor pattern from the 6th degree of c). It hits a few altered tones in the dominant chord.

i - cmin7


The scale exercises in this booklet can facilitate better knowledge of the fretboard, maneuverability along the fretboard, and help prepare one for navigation through diatonic chord progressions. The different picking patterns that are suggested also aid in the development of right hand technique. The "i-m-a-i-m-a-i" pattern is one that I'm skipping for now... pretty tough.

Practice it for 2 hours at a time if you can, as it recommends. It has helped my technique in both hands.

scale studies are like vegetables, not always the sweetest part of the day, but necessary and valuable. this book is a great way to get those much needed vitamins :)

This book is certainly useful in developing fluency with scales on classical guitar. It has been critcised however and you might find it worth a look at the opinions expressed by David raleigh Arnold first. He examines the Segovia system and gives his own improvements.

One point he makes is that scale practice should develop the movement up the neck which is a function of the whole arm, not just the fingers. Although this booklet has the Segovia cache, he was not necessarily the most helpful teacher.

This book contains all of the major (ionian mode) scales and all of the minor (aeolian mode) scales. These minor scales ascend in melodic minor form; meaning that the scale progresses in natural minor form until the seventh degree (tone) which is converted to major but then descend in natural minor form; meaning that the seventh degree converts back to a minor seventh (tone). A few notes worth listing are: The book itself is very light and thin, fitting easily on a music stand; it contains the encouraging words of Andres Segovia; it contains all of the scales in the aforementioned two modes; all of the scales are written in musical notation, allowing the beginner or professional to practice their sight reading skills; and all of the scales are written in ascension and descension. I commend anyone who has a desire to learn the guitar and this is a good resource to have. Perseverance, practice and most important of all asking oneself questions in exploration are what lead to mastery and creative expression on the guitar. A strong understanding of intervals is the key. Intervals are what form chords and scales and are also necessary for free improvisation.

Simple easy way to learn your basic minor and major scales (in classical form) highly recommend for any style of playing as well