When is your favorite time of day to Practice?

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary they refer to the position on the fretboard at which the scale is to be executed. So the ‘VII’ above the first line indicates that your first finger should be at the seventh fret throughout. Likewise, the ‘II’ above the second line means your first finger should be at the second fret. The same pitches are produced in each line, but they are produced at different places on the fretboard. I hope that is clear.

David Krupka oh, ok. So it only relates to where the first finger should be then, and not necessarily on the root (starting C note). I've tried it and except the V position where the first finger falls on for a C note, the rest of the Roman numerals don't correspond to a C note.

Thank you so much for the help.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary that’s right, in classical guitar notation, the Roman numerals do not represent scale degree, as they do in, for example, harmonic analysis. A ‘C’ major scale can certainly be played in the fifth position (I.e. first finger at the fifth fret) but the root ‘C’ would be played at the 8th fret of the sixth string, using the fourth finger. It’s actually quite useful to be able to play the various scales in a variety of positions - especially if you play any style outside of classical. (Jazz, for example.)

David Krupka very helpful David. 🙏

Dale Needles That sounds wonderful!

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary In the world of classical guitar, the ability to read music is an essential skill. It's best to master it as soon as possible. It sounds to me like you are taking the right approach at the moment: dividing your practice time between working on 'technique', learning to read music, and beginning to play actual pieces. You just need a little patience! Over time, your reading will improve, but realistically, you should expect it to take at least a year (and for many people, more) before you can read fluently. It's not something anyone masters in a month or two, so don't worry if your progress seems slow at first! Think of it as analogous to learning to read natural language. One begins with the letters of the alphabet, then moves on to words, followed by short and then longer sentences, and so on. No one begins with a whole book! Learning to read music can be approached in a similar manner: start with the simple (individual notes) and gradually work your way forward. You might find Mircea's course here on ToneBase useful:

https://app.tonebase.co/guitar/courses/player/mircea-gogoncea-reading-music-on-the-guitar-pt

What's important is to make reading part of your daily routine (as you are already doing). Try to to give yourself realistic, achievable goals for each session. (i.e. 'name and play all the notes on the first string up to the fifth fret' or 'name and play all the notes at the second fret, across all six strings'.) It's probably not necessary (or even desirable) to spend more than about ten or fifteen minutes at a time. If you indeed practice around the clock, do it twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening.

Technique can generally be practiced without knowing how to read (if you understand the exercise(s)) so this part of your routine shouldn't be a problem. Learning new repertoire, on the other hand, presupposes the ability to read music. If this is too difficult at present, then I would advise you to make use of tablature, which is widely available these days. (Tablature, if you're not familiar with it, is a system of notation that is highly intuitive, and can be learned in a matter of days, if not hours.)

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Further to David Krupka comments, there is some repertoire material in Tonebase that already includes tabs in level 2, which can be found at https://guitar-community.tonebase.co/t/q6ht780 and in level 3.

I will also add that it is important in classical guitar to learn how to read music.  So using Mircea's course noted by David will provide with a good starting position.  Then, it is important to keep using those new skills to improve.  My experience is that using it everyday, I have seen significant improvement in my reading skills.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary 

Hello, I am also a beginner and I did the Mircea's course on reading music and it is very useful.

One tip I am using (I do not remember where I got it) is using the acronym '' FACE'' which represents the notes of the blank of the staff. I also extended this acronym  using '' D-FACE-G''.

To remember the G and B open strings I just focus on the fact that they are two consecutive open strings and two consecutive lines on the staff.

I am using the level system as they have a lot of material at our level that we can work on.

Finally, in the resource section of TB there is a good document of scores of classical pieces to work on. There are a bunch of pieces for beginners which you can find lessons on TB. Here is the link.

https://tonebase-emails.s3.amazonaws.com/campaigns/flash-sale-2022/Ultimate_Sheet_Music_Anthology_tonebase_Guitar.pdf

Be patient and good luck

Andre Bernier great tips. Beginner's solidarity with you Andre 🙂

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary The first idea that comes to mind would be to practice scales (or scale passages) with m-a (and also a-m) alternation. Play them slowly enough to have good control of the articulation. Arpeggio practice should also help, using the patterns p-m-a (-m) and p-a-m (-a). Again, practice these slowly, with careful attention to control. (In my opinion, slow practice is the solution to most of the technical problems guitarists face.) As for particular studies, there are hundreds written by the composers of the early 19th century: Carulli, Carcassi, Giuliani, Sor, Aguado, and so on. Just go to IMSLP or Boije and look for something that appeals to you. (The 'method' books of Carulli and Carcassi in particular are full of useful exercises.)

https://imslp.org

https://musikverket.se/musikochteaterbiblioteket/ladda-ner-noter/boijes-samling/?lang=en

https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3c/IMSLP397073-PMLP422206-Carulli_Metodo_per_chitarra.pdf

https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/8/8f/IMSLP397088-PMLP339588-Carulli_Metodo_op_241.pdf

https://boijefiles.musikverket.se/Boije_1129.pdf

David Krupka Helpful as always.  Thank you David.