This lesson begins the study of scales. The official definition of a
scale from the Harvard Dictionary of Music is "The tonal material of music
arranged in an order of rising pitches." That definition covers an enormous
amount of variety and I won't attempt to provide a complete theoretical
study of scales. The definition of a scale that we will use in these lessons
is that "a scale is a path from somewhere in the music to somewhere else."
As you travel over that path you will be creating the fabric of your personal
musical interpretation. Scales provide the means to transition from one
musical idea to another. They can be long extended journeys, or short trips
which define or enhance some new harmony or tonal movement. When you see
a scale written on the printed page you should always understand the musical
purpose before you try to play the notes. This lesson will deal with the
physical aspects of moving the hands properly and the musical elements
of creating the sound you want with the scale passages you play.
I remember once, when I was much younger, sitting in my music studio
where I was giving a lesson to a beginning guitarist. There was a sound
which we heard from an adjoining studio that we both concluded must have
been someone using an electric drill. After listening for a minute or two,
we realized that we were hearing a guitarist practicing his scales. That
person has since become quite renowned in "guitar circles", but, not surprisingly
to me, has never been recognized in the much wider realm of "classical
musicians." Why? Because although he had learned to play scales faster
and more even than I had ever heard anyone else play, he did so at the
expense of making music. I will never understand how anyone can sit for
hours listening to a mindless stream of notes. It's like listening to a
computer recite Shakespeare. I can't listen to a minute of it before I
find myself screaming in panic and running to a Segovia CD to clear my
mind.
Back to reality
Ok, enough with the esoteric sojourns, let's talk about the how-to's
of scales. As always, the fingers have to move properly in order to have
the guitar respond to your ideas. There are three distinct physical motions
that must be addressed in order to handle the general case of playing a
scale. The simplest case is where all the notes of the scale are on one
string and can all be reached without moving the left hand up or down the
neck. Unfortunately, this is by far the least common case - however - it
is a very important case to use when learning more subtle motions of the
fingers which allow you to paint your music with more than a few basic
colors. The second case is where your left hand fingers remain on one string
but you must move the left arm during the scale so that you can reach all
of the notes. Finally, the last case is where you must switch strings as
you play the scale but you don't move the left arm up or down the neck
of the guitar. We will approach each case separately so that all of the
required motions can be understood before trying to combine the cases to
face the most common situation where all three cases must be seamlessly
interwoven.
Case 1 - one string, no left arm motion
- First the left hand...
In previous lessons, we've talked about minimizing extraneous motion.
Let's go right to the guitar to demonstrate how this can be applied to
a scale. Get into "playing position" and move your left hand up the neck
of the guitar until the frets are close enough together so that each of
the four fingers of your left hand are just above four sequential frets.
The place on the neck will vary according to how big your hand happens
to be. Segovia could have done this at the first fret - I'm not so lucky
:-(
Lower all four fingers using just enough weight in your left arm to
cause the string to make firm contact with the frets. Using rest strokes
with the right hand which alternate between the i and m fingers, play the
note slowly as you adjust the weight of your left hand until the string
just begins to "buzz", and then add slightly more weight. Keep you right
hand touch as even as possible and ONLY use the rest stroke. All four fingers
of the left hand should be touching the single string, the note being sounded
is the note defined by where your 4th finger is pressed.
We are now going to play permutations of the left hand fingers to get
you used to moving all four fingers independently AND...to let you start
to understand how you can create a much more connected sound between notes
by preparing the next lower finger while a prior note is still being sounded
by a higher numbered finger of the left hand.
To begin, let's play just two different notes and repeat those notes
several times. First, lift all four fingers off of the neck. Next, play
the note below the fourth finger, followed by the note below the first
finger, then the fourth, then the first, then the fourth, etc.. The first
time you do this exercise, lift each finger after you play each note and
only touch the string with the left hand finger that is actually creating
the tone. The second time you do the exercise, leave the first finger down
the entire time - only lift the fourth finger up to play the first finger
note, and lower the fourth finger to play the fourth finger note while
you keep the first finger firmly planted on the string. Notice that when
you lift each finger and then place the next finger there is a noticeable
discontinuity in the sound. The string itself must move a longer distance
vertically between each note if the first finger is not planted before
the fourth finger is lowered. Repeat both exercises for every combination
of two left hand fingers, first by lifting both fingers, then by keeping
the lowest finger planted.
Continue this exercise until you can hear the difference in sound. Once
you can hear the difference in sound, play with the sound. Intentionally
lift both fingers to make the sound stop between notes and then carefully
work to make the transition between notes as smooth as possible by preparing
the lower finger. Practice this until it becomes easy to lift the finger
or keep it down - continue practicing this until the motion becomes automatic
in response to your intention to create the sound you want. Once you feel
you understand this, try combinations of three and then four fingers, lowering
ALL of the fingers which lie below the note being played to give you the
smoothest transition between notes. Vary this technique by using only the
very lowest finger to act as a pivot point for the benefit of all of the
notes above that finger - that is actually the most common usage of this
technique in "real life" playing. This technique will also be very important
later on when we talk about slurs and ornaments such as trills, the rapid
lifting and lowering of a finger to sound the string without even playing
the note with the right hand. The important thing to know is that the technique
is not limited to just ornaments and slurs. It is an integral part of playing
"legato", or "connected" sound between notes of a scale.
- now the right hand...
This simple case of scales is also an excellent place to start to open
up to the possibilities of color within the right hand. We did the previous
exercises with a rest stroke because I didn't want to inject any variation
of sound into the mix that may be caused by the right hand. That's why
I stressed ONLY using the rest stoke. Now that you can hear how variation
in left hand touch can alter the sound between each note, lets explore
how variations in the right hand can alter the sound of each note you play.
Many people get totally hung up on shaping or sizing the fingernail
of the right hand in order to control the sound produced on the guitar.
While I don't want to understate the importance of having properly shaped
fingernails, that is a means to an end, not the end itself. If your fingernail
gets stuck on the string as it crosses the string then you probably need
to change the shape of the edge. Don't expect the fingers to "feel" the
same as they go over the string. Focus on the sound. The goal is to control
the sound, however, you have to be aware of the possibilities of the sound
before you can control it. Let's experiment with the sound.
Before you start exploring the sound you can get from your instrument
you need to clear your mind of expectations. Don't try to control the sound
yet - explore, understand, and then control. You may ask "what does this
have to do with scales?" The answer is simple. Everything. The sound you
create as you move through a scale is exactly what will drive your music
forward. If it's flat and boring - guess what? - so will your playing.
As your ability to understand the music grows, your ability to play fast
and clear will also grow. If you focus on playing fast and clear then you
might achieve those goals, if you focus on understanding and controlling
the music than you will become a musician.
You will not use the left hand at all for this first step. We are going
to explore the range of sounds you can get from your right hand without
moving the right arm. Most guitarists change the color of the sound by
gross movements of the right arm, bringing right hand closer to or further
from the sound hole. We are going to use the free stroke with alternating
i and m fingers of the right hand. Then we are going to go through a range
of movements of the right hand by only moving the hand at the wrist. Vary
the angle of the fingernail across the string by turning the right wrist
left or right. Vary the angle that the finger makes with the string by
lifting or lowering the right forearm and adjusting the up and down angle
at the wrist. Finally, vary the speed of the stroke from quick and short
to long and slow. Initially these actions will be purely physical, but
as you listen to the sound of each stroke try to correlate the various
motions of the finger and wrist with variations in the sound. Work to accentuate
a particular aspect of the sound - brittle, soft, smooth, quiet, loud,
rich, thin - apply your own additives - these sounds must start to develop
a character. You must begin to "own" the sounds and be able to find a desired
sound at will.
The next step is to start playing the Case 1 scales again, but this
time color the sound as you move from one note to the other. Be patient
and listen V E R Y closely. Don't expect to control the sound in one sitting.
Explore, understand, and then control the sound.
Case 2 - one string, left arm moves up or down the neck
I hope at least a month has gone by before you started studying Case
1, if not, go back to Case 1 and practice some more. The motions and their
correlation into controlled sound have got to be automatic before you try
to tackle this next step. You have to be able to think of a sound and automatically
do what's necessary to make it happen. A person can only focus on one new
thing at a time, so please don't try to rush the process.
The most critical physical factor in this next step is timing. Remember
when we talked about the moment of preparation between notes? That minute
moment of silent preparation must be there. Surprisingly, it must also
be there to make the sound appear connected. That fraction of a second
of preparation fixes, or anchors the string so that the next note will
resonate properly. Physically, you must time the move so that your fingers
are prepared on the next note with exactly the same amount of time between
notes as you allowed when you didn't move the left arm. Prepare the move
mentally before you actually move your arm. The motion should be smooth
and not jerky, it should be very deliberate and not sloppy. Place you finger
onto the next note and don't slap it down. The guitar will sustain the
music when the note is played properly.
We now have to define the word "properly." What is properly? It is defined
as "the way you want it to be!" That is the essence of control and the
reason we took so much time to learn to control the sound. Now that you
know what to listen for you can use your ear to direct you when you change
positions by moving the left hand up or down the neck. The sound should
only change IF YOU WANT IT TO. A good way to verify your ability to move
correctly between positions is to move only a couple of frets so that you
can play the short scale first with no left arm motion, and then with a
short move of the left arm. You should strive to make it sound the same
- your ear can now be your guide. Graduallyy expand the length of the move
until you can easily move up and down the neck of the guitar without diminishing
the sound.
Case 3 - change strings, no left arm motion
- First the left hand...
When playing a scale requires you change strings, the left hand must
move across the strings by a motion of the left arm, keeping the angle
of the hand constant with respect to the fingerboard. This motion was discussed
in an earlier lesson.
The fingers of the left hand must prepare in the same way they prepared
for the case of the single string - except that you can now also prepare
ahead of time for ascending notes. Use the same type of exercise patterns
you used earlier but continue each repetition of the pattern by moving
from the lowest sting to the next higher string until you reach the highest
string, and then move back down to the lower string again. Practice by
not lifting any finger until you must do so in order to play the next note.
You will find that you will be holding a note on one string while you are
preparing to play a note on an adjacent string. This will apply going up
or down in pitch. The pitches aren't that important yet, it once again
the sound that is important. Repeat the same exercise you did at the beginning
of this lesson where you first lifted all fingers between each note and
then repeated the scale while keeping the fingers down where possible.
You will hear the difference in sound caused by the action of the left
hand finger, but it will most likely be occluded by the overwhelming difference
in sound caused by the fact that each string has its own characteristic
timbre. Try to filter out those timber changes and listen to the differences
caused by the left hand motion. We will discuss how to work with the natural
timbre differences between strings in the next part of this lesson. Learn
to control the sound as you did before.
- now the right hand...
The right hand must also move from the arm so that the angle of the
hand at the wrist doesn't change unless you want it to. You will notice
the right hand will require more thought, planning and control in order
to move smoothly between strings. Be careful not to tighten up your shoulder
as you move your right arm. The motion should come from the elbow.
As you practice to control the sound of each note you'll once again
find that the variation in sound caused by changing strings will be much
more obvious than the changes caused by the actions of the right hand.
Don't worry about it. You will be able to hear the changes caused by the
right hand by repeating the scales with different fixed right hand positions.
Your earlier training from the single string case will be very important
because you must trust your ear. You must experiment again to discover
what sounds the guitar is capable of producing. It is impossible to change
strings without also changing the timbre of the sound because each string
has its own characteristic timbre. Learn to appreciate the different timbres
of each string and to understand the different sounds you can get by altering
your touch. Finally, practice until you are again in control of the sound.
General Case - string changes and left arm motion as needed
By now, you probably are realizing that this general case can be mastered
by simply combining the things you learned in each previous case. What
you probably don't yet realize is that one of the most beautiful and interesting
aspects of the guitar is a result of conscious use of the variety of sound
built into the instrument. When you practiced the previous sections you
strove to control the sound by experimenting and then understanding the
possible sounds. The final part of this lesson will discuss how to use
the variety of sounds which exist in the instrument to help you color the
sound so it brings out your own musical ideas.
Most notes on the guitar can be played in several different positions
on the fingerboard. Did you ever wonder why the suggested fingerings on
some Segovia publications seem a little more difficult than they need to
be? Segovia understood how to use the guitar to produce exactly the sound
he wanted. He would very often choose to remain on a single string even
though it would be physically simpler to continue a scale on an adjacent
string. He would also change strings even if the next note of the scale
could be played without even moving his hand, but by changing the string
he was forced to move far up the neck of the guitar.
You now have the skills to play any scale in any position on the guitar.
You also know what sounds are available, and how to get the sound you want
when you want it. At this point you should begin to study some real pieces
of music. It isn't too important what pieces you choose to play, only that
you are moved by the piece. I personally hate practicing "standalone" scales!
They are boring and I lose interest really quickly. I recommend that you
find some interesting pieces of music that contain scales, and practice
the scale passages using the principles you learned in this lesson. Try
changing the fingerings so that you get exactly the sound you want. Be
creative and have fun.
The next lesson will talk about several common scales used in western music and how those scales relate to the harmonic content of a piece of music