Tone Production and Scale Practice.

David Raleigh Arnold

“To some extent, the limitations (on power of sound in performance) are still those of the player.” —Segovia

Why anything new?

I conceived a desire to address this by hearing one of today’s best players pushing his limits to get greater dynamics in his playing and failing to produce the desired result. That together with the fact that the debates over use of right hand nails just go on and on without producing anything positive, and a growing suspicion that the players of two centuries ago knew something that we have failed to learn, convinced me that something other than a stubborn adherence to traditions is indicated.

Strokes for Scale Practice

It is not necessary or desirable to practice every type of finger and thumb stroke in practicing scales, but rather to provide the player with concentrated practice at the extremes of a range of strokes.

YouTube in this brief hour of history has brought us an heretofore unparalleled opportunity to see and compare the techniques of many of the best guitarists in the world, and to me the most remarkable thing which I have seen is how much variation there is in how the right hand fingers of master players attack strings. I am confident that this new approach will lead to much less difficulty in finding and maintaining a good hand position. Of course hand position is only a description of one instant of string attack. Better to say that, by practicing a range of strokes, the student will be much better able to find his way, with fewer hindrances, to excellence.

There are three basic strokes to use in practicing scales:

1. Appoggiato

If the digit comes to rest on the neighboring string after sounding a string, the stroke is appoggiato, or appoggiando or apoyando if you insist. It is not merely a technical term but a playing direction which is sometimes used to indicate a certain sound or tone color, and such directions are traditionally given in Italian. Obviously, in thumb and finger combinations in scale practice neither thumb nor finger should play appoggiato. Either a note is played appoggiato or it is not, but some notes are a lot more appoggiato than others.

The right hand is pronated sufficiently to address the nail to the string somewhat sideways, but also to draw the finger almost straight across the string. The thumb rests on all the strings lower than the one you are playing. The string is pushed toward the top, and the string is carried along the nail from left to right. File away any portion of the nail which snags the string when leaving it. The contact surface should be as blunt as possible to minimize noise from the windings, but if you must have totally noiseless playing, play some other instrument.

2. Corto

The short stroke is the same except that the finger does not come to rest against another string when playing. Some straightening of the finger on contact will give a better tone, and you will lose this touch if you play amplified too much. Be warned. There is no relaxation. This is the usual manner of playing, but the problem is that it is an extreme limit to how short your stroke can be to still realize the best tone without sacrifice of speed.

3. Lungo

The long stroke is playing very like a contrabass playing pizzicato. The pronation of the right hand approaches 45 degrees, and the finger is extended as much as you can toward the bridge, so that as much as practicable of the side of the finger is in contact with the string along its length. You play with no nail at all, or too little to notice. This stroke is suitable for playing very loudly, and there is a characteristic popping sound, especially on very high notes. A lungo stroke may also be used as Sor suggested, to barely rub the string for a nailless pianississimo. Fortunately, you can practice this without playing loudly, to develop calluses slowly and avoid blisters.

How does this relate to playing real music?

In playing pieces you seldom have a pure short or long stroke. They are usually much more short than long, but lengthening a stroke is indicated for splitting the middle and annular fingers across several strings or carrying a melody forte in a tenor voice with the index. You will also be able to play chords very very forte and still sound good. This practice will make you much more comfortable with a good right hand technique.

Combinations

Legato is of course not a stroke but a reminder to play the scales legato. Your legato is your speed, because it is the distance between one note and the next. The hand must be very steady to do the combinations using the thumb. The thumb should not be bent back all the way at the end joint, to make sure that the end joint is used somewhat, and to avoid snagging the string with the corner of the thumbnail. The thumb is also laid across the lower strings to mute them except as necessary to play a string.

The Carcassi “scales” are good for thumb appoggiato and a compromise or lengthened stroke with index and middle.

Start with  C   E   Ab    C   E   Ab    C   E   Ab
               Set I        Set II       Set III
lungo       mi  ia  am    ia  am  mi    am  mi  ia
corto       am  mi  ia    mi  ia  am    ia  am  mi
appoggiato  ia  am  mi    am  mi  ia    mi  ia  am
(legato)    ti  ta  tm    ta  tm  ti    tm  ti  ta

Stick with set I for a while (a year?) and then rotate later. Lungo is slow, and each of the others is a bit more rapid than the last. When you are learning them, if setting speeds is a problem, you might use a metronome:

2 notes/beat = lungo
3 notes/beat = corto
4 notes/beat = appoggiato and (legato)

This method will be expedient in learning suitable velocities to practice scales, but abandon the metronome as soon as you can do them decently. A metronome is great for music, but bad for pure tech.

A scale has speed but not tempo, tone but not timbre, etc., because a scale is not music. Each should be beautiful because of its mechanical perfection, but not in some way which cannot be quantified and leveled, because control is the goal.

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