Group 4
Breaking Your Scale Speed Limits with Eduardo Inestal!
Virtuosity and speed go hand in hand when it comes to freeing your musical expressiveness from technical limitations. One key element in classical guitar performance is the ability to play fast scales with ease. Together, we will explore exercises that will enable you to push your speed limits and improve your scale skills while retaining relaxation in both hands and gaining a richer tool set to express your musical ideas.
- Sign-Up Period: August 11 - 14
- Course Period: August 15 - 26
- Class Size: 4 Groups á 10 Participants
- Optional check-In via Zoom: August 23, 11 am PST
Assignment for the first week:
Play the first exercise (Slow) while paying attention to the following:
- Keep the tempo
- Always alternate i-m
- Be "lazy” (move your fingers, both right and left hand, and yourself as less as possible) to keep the relaxation
Do the same with the 2nd exercise (Faster tempo)
Once you control this exercise, you can gradually choose your tempo, increasing the bpm. Pay attention not to lose your relaxation!
Have fun!
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Exercise No. 3 by Eduardo
Goals:
1) keep the tempo
2) Be as "lazy" as possible (move your fingers (an also your body) as less as possible).
3) increase the tempo gradually.
Start with 50 bmp and speed it up till 100 bpm Submit 2 videos with both tempos (slow and fast)
scales group 4
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Dear friends, here is a recording of yesterday's Zoom class for everybody who couldn't attend!
scales group 4
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Here is Eduardo's final video for his (more than) Two Week Intensive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EBsPbGViOM
scales group 4
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For Week 1, please look at this exercise after watching the assignment video!
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I am finding it impossible to figure out the pattern of the exercise without having a score. Would it be possible to get it written out so I can understand it?
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Eric Phillips Mircea once created this awesome technique sheet, the exercise that Eduardo is referring to is 5b (it is a bit cryptic, though maybe you're able to decipher it!)
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martin Yes, thank you, very helpful! I was just having trouble getting my head around it.
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Don't forget to tune in to today's live stream with Eduardo!
https://guitar-community.tonebase.co/t/g9hnxj1/eduardo-inestal-breaking-your-scales-speed-limit
scales group 4
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Aug 30 Exercise 1 slow
Here is the first exercise played slowly. I didn't want to speed up until I get some feedback to make sure I'm doing it well.
As a related question, recently I am struggling with using my i finger in scales and arpeggios, and I don't know why. I am finding m-a much easier than i-m for some reason. Looking at my video, do you have any thoughts about this?
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Eric Phillips Hi Eric! Thank you for uploading your video. Great Job!! it was very good. You were able to keep the tempo and control the sound. Very nice! On the RH I don´t see any problem at all. Everything looks fine. How the I-M fingers are moving is correct. What I would suggest is to pay attention to your 4 finger (LH), because i feel it is a bit far away from the fret and with a lit of tension. That means, that when you would need it, it is gonna take more time to reache the fret/string and also the possibility of making mistakes rise.
Looking foward to see the faster one. (it doesnt necesary have to be as fast as I played. You can find a middle tempo, and then faster one. Choose a Tempo where you find yourself confortable!
Cheers!
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Eduardo Inestal Thank you so much, Eduardo, that all makes sense and is very helpful.
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Eric Phillips Glad to hear it!!!
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Hi Eduardo,
Thank you so much for your time and expertise. I'm thrilled to have the chance to learn and receive feedback from you. Here is my video of working with the exercise so far.
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Mark Baran Hi Mark, Awesome Job! It sound very good (beautiful sound, precise, and good tempo). There are a couple of things that maybe we can improve.
The first one it may sound a bit silly but I can guarantee you that it makes a big diferent. For me it is very important to have the most stability as posible between my guitar and my body. Sometimes we loose it for not important reasons, and in your case, using a rolling/moving office chair is not helping. Sometimes if moves by itselfs, and destabilize your body creating tension. A miminum movemente can have a huge impact on our body. My Advice, use a normal chair.
The second thing (very small one) that we can improve here is while you make your shiffts. Sometimes are not precise. Try to make a fast precise movement. Try not to correct the position of your left fingers once you arrive, but from the very beginning reach it perfectly. That means, we are avoiding noises. Dont forget that Scales involes both hands!
But in general, fantastic job!! you are pretty much ready for the next exercice. Try to master this one and speed up a bit.
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Eduardo Inestal Thanks so much for the feedback. Here's my second attempt after some additional practice. I tried to take it at a faster pace. Had a few mistakes in it so I'll likely back the tempo down for the rest of the week to really drill it in. I moved to my normal playing chair and tried to focus on more precise shifts. I still feel a little slow in my shifting, but feel like it's improving.
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Mark Baran Damm it!!! that was good!!!! Perfect. Nothing else to say. You are more than ready for the next exercise.
Regarding the small mistakes... no problem, you are going to master it!
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Eduardo Inestal Woohoo! Thank you.
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August 16 Exercise 1 at 184
Today I sped things up a bit, but not as fast as you (Eduardo) did in the second video. At first, I tried speeding up without a metronome, and I found myself getting frustrated because I was speeding up too much and making lots of mistakes. I then tried to regulate my speed increase by using a metronome. The problem is that the irregular pattern requires that the metronome click with each note played. Anyway, using the metronome, I was able to bring the speed up to about 184. In your second video, your speed is somewhere around 240 I think, but my metronome will not go that high.
Toward the end of the exercise I started making mistakes, so maybe I am going too fast too soon. I find that when the notes change more quickly, I have to fight the urge to change to free stroke (tirando), probably because I almost never play with rest stroke (apoyando), and so it makes me feel less secure.
As you suggested, I tried to pay attention to my left hand pinky, making sure that it was relaxed. Watching this video, I see some improvement, but it's still a problem. Let me know if you see improvement or not. I shot the video from further back so you can see both of my hands more easily than in my previous video.
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Eric Phillips Much better, definetly!!!
One thing I can tell you. Dont let the fingers LH leave the frets. Stay there as a Train goes throu the rails. Remember: the less movement, the better.
Regarding your Pinkyfinger, much better.
One thing I´d like you to ask yourself is: Is the movement of your body necesary? Why you do it? it is for Musical reasons.?
If you are getting troubles with the rhythm, there is one trick you can use: Use animal names:
For 4 notes say: Tarantula or caterpiller
For 3: Elefant (or butterfly)
for 2: Beetle (or dolphin)
for 1: Cat
So for the patter 4-3 could be: caterpiller-elefant caterpiller-elefant... etc
Is going to let you focus better on the rhytm. Try it an let me know if it helps you.
Cheers!!!
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https://youtu.be/I_GpSrAftXM
Hola Maestro Inestal and Tonebase community.My name is Jaime Zaldua and this is my first attempt at the exercise.
I look forward to developing and improving throughout the next couple weeks.Kind regards
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Jaime Zaldua Hola Jaime!!! Thank you for your video! Good Job!!
I really like very much how you move your fingers aswell your position. You seem very relax!
The only thing I suggest you to do, is to master the exercice in order to avoid any mistake. For instance, try to play slower paying attention to the patter. I saw you change it several times. Try to keep:
4-4
4-3
3-3
3-2
2-2
2-1
1-1
Remeber if we make a mistake and we ingnore it and keep playing, our body and brain is woing to thing we played right, so we integrate the wrong mov. So, when we make a mistake, we stop, analize why we did it, and start from the beginning. If you can name the mistake, you have the answer how to resolve it.
I would love to see you again playing the exercise slowly and without mistake!!! (I know it require a lot of concentration, but I am sure you are going to master it!!!
Cheers!
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Eduardo Inestal
Gracias Maestro, I appreciate your advice. Great to hear my posture and relaxation was ok, I have been working hard on this. It is helpful to see the numbers and realise I got my mathematics wrong… I had been trying
4-4
4-3
4-2
4-1
3-4
2-4
1-4
I have tried again with the right sequence making myself stop at every mistake so as not to internalise the wrong patterns. In doing this I realised I have an ingrained habit of never stopping
so thank you for your wisdom and insightful comments.
Un abrazo, Jaime -
Jaime Zaldua Keep doing this terrific Job! Glad to help. Abrazo!!
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Some help please. I’ve uploaded a video to my YouTube account as unlisted. How do I get it posted to our group 4 forum? Sorry to be bothersome but haven’t done this before. Thanks
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I think I’ve got the link posted now.
Hello Eduardo and thank you for the great lessons. I am discovering that this exercise is very effective at getting me to focus on right hand accuracy. This is something that I need to work on because a lack of consistent good tone and too much noise is a problem with my playing in general and I attribute this to needing to be more accurate with the right hand. I will make this exercise a part of my routine and continue to work on it and extend it to other right and left hand fingers. Thanks for this. I am trying to be slow and controlled in my video and still some accuracy problems but I feel that this is helping get there.
