The Segovia Scales by Sean Thrower

The Segovia Scales
Illustrated with Standard Notation, Tablature, and Fretboard Diagrams
by Sean Thrower

Buy or look inside the book via Amazon: The Segovia Scales by Thrower

You might remember my recent and positive book review of Traversing the Fretboard by Sean Thrower. There are many great books for learning to read music and using scale patterns (think Shearer’s Scale Supplement or the Benedict books), but if you want to just get down to business and learn the patterns over the fingerboard then this book is for you. Plus, these are classic fingerings that inspired a whole generation of guitarists. In the end, once you understand how a scale is played you don’t really ‘read’ the notes anymore anyway. So for scales I think diagrams and tab are fine supplements for students…just don’t forget to follow it up with theory classes and sight reading. I’ve looked through the book and he’s added some extra snippets of theory, technique, and practice tips too. I particularly like the overview of the 8 patterns used for all 24 scales: one page almost says it all! As with Thrower’s previous books, this publication is clean, easy to use, and helpful to students gaining fretboard knowledge and understanding. Here’s the promo blurb:

The Segovia Scales: Illustrated with Standard Notation, Tablature, and Fretboard Diagrams is a re-illustration of the Diatonic Major and Minor Scales that Segovia published back in 1953. The goal of this project was to make the Segovia scales easier and quicker to learn for more guitarists. Here is the write up on the back of the book:

“Diatonic Major and Minor Scales by Andrés Segovia was published in 1953 and consisted of 24 scales, 12 major and 12 minor, for which he applied his own unique fingerings. Here in this book, those scales are re-illustrated using a combination of standard notation, tablature, and fretboard diagrams. This makes them easier to read, quicker to learn, and accessible to more people. Also included in the material is an explanation of how Segovia organized the scales, a reference page displaying the 8 finger patterns used to play all of the scales, and practice tips for increasing speed and accuracy.”

The Segovia Scales is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.