Segovia Scales, Gospel or Guideline?

[AndrewF]

Are Segovia scales still played by everyone, or are there alternatives? If you do play Segovia Scales, do you stick to them rigidly or do you discover your own variants? In other words, are all Segovia's choices, where there appear to be choices, technique-driven rather than arbitrary? I haven't said anything specific yet. I can be specific if you want, although that might trivialise my question.

[Philip.Lawson]

Honestly, I would say guideline at best. A scale is just notes going up and down, Segovia chose to finger them a certain way.
if you want to practice lots of shifts they're great but I'd never use them in a piece. E.g. if I had to do a 2 octave C major scale at 140bpm + I'd use a three notes per string pattern- Voila no shifts needed! Same with the C melodic minor.

There have been a good few debates about the Segovia scales, there should be no problem finding them with the search function
If you're looking for alternative fingerings you could take a look at Carlevaro's and I'm sure there are others.

[AndrewF]

I've got the sheet music of the Segovia Scales. I think, were I qualified to make a suggestion, that he at least (probably) covers all the available, or at least sensible, shifts and, rather than use his scales in a piece of music, you can at least use what you have learnt from them to design your own choice of shifts for each particular piece, but I'm just theorising.

[Philip.Lawson]

I've got the sheet music of the Segovia Scales. I think, were I qualified to make a suggestion, that he at least (probably) covers all the available, or at least sensible, shifts and, rather than use his scales in a piece of music, you can at least use what you have learnt from them to design your own choice of shifts for each particular piece, but I'm just theorising.

Sorry Andrew, I hope it didn't come across as if I was saying they were useless. They're a good point of departure, and you can learn a lot from them about where to shift and where not to shift. Personally, I don't think his 3 octave G major is particularly sensible but that says more about my scale preferences and says nothing about whether it would suit your playing style. Basically all I was saying in the last post was that 'they're definitely useful but not gospel'

[maxixe]

They should be studied as much as any other scale pattern you can think of. There is no single way to shift through a scale that is "most effective". Any piece that has a scale run demands different phrasing. Even though the 3-on-a-string scale can be quick, it leaves a bit to be desired tonally (especially at moderate tempos). You are changing through 5 strings every 3 notes and the color and inevitable accents from the string changes make it less fluid - but they sound great when you slur and rip them.

[joestone]

If you ignore the Segovia scales in favour of others you are breaking the second commandment of classical guitar, as written by El maestro himself:

"Thou shalt have no other guitar gods before me."

[Jeff Kross]

Then what's the first?

[Wesjr1]

If you ignore the Segovia scales in favour of others you are breaking the second commandment of classical guitar, as written by El maestro himself:"Thou shalt have no other guitar gods before me."

Then what's the first?

"I am the GUITAR LORD your Guitar God, who brought you out of the land of Musical Nothingness, out of the house of ignorance."

[Jeff Kross]

Sorry I asked.

[Kent]

The Sagreras Advanced Technique scale program is completely different from Segovia's. I think he did it on purpose. I would recommend checking it out for it's value. And there are others that will be mentioned here.
I usually take a "Segovia" scale and play it in every conceivable position on the guitar, in every pattern I can conger up. Makes them more interesting. Don't forget to add the ima, ami, and the little pinky into the mix.

[robin loops]

guideline... Boring at best. Half of them also go higher up on the fretboard than is commonly used... Awesome for warmup and development of technical ability

[LVR]

Check out Aaron Shearer's scales.
Check out Brouwer's scales.
They're interesting and useful, too.

[rever]

Like lots of exercises, the Segovia scales help to develop a stable coordination between the hands. I have seen players greatly improve their ability to play fluidly in all positions on the guitar and keep the right hand in better control after taking up the Segovia scales. Would others work? I am sure they would. The Segovia scales are fairly complete, but I like to add a-m-i-a-m-i patterns and some p-a-m-i as well. I have picked up my scale speed a bit by use of the a-m-i pattern, but it was hard for me to learn it.

[WilliamSchart]

Seems to me that learning a number of different patterns would be beneficial. One particular pattern might work better in a certain situation than another.

[pablus]

While it is very important to practice scales, I don't think Segovia's scales are any better than other scales mentioned above.
However, I think its still better to practice some musical fragments that contain scale runs. This way it is easier to train how to make music, to sound less robotic.
Also quite often scales begin or end with some other muscial content and it is also important to practice transitions from, say, arpeggio to scales etc.