Which scales to practise now
Not all at once. Here's the order, and where you are in it.
The ladder
| Stage | Scales | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NOW | G, D, A, C major (1 octave); E natural minor (1 octave) — plus the matching arpeggios | all first position; this is your target for this stage |
| NEXT | G major, 2 octaves (still first position — the shape twice); F and B♭ major (the low-1 pattern); E harmonic and melodic minor | as your fingering vocabulary grows |
| LATER | the full major/minor set; two octaves everywhere; broken 3rds; the chromatic scale; faster bowings | |
| ADVANCED | three-octave scales and arpeggios; double-stop scales (3rds, 6ths, octaves) | Stage 6 and beyond, once shifting is in place |
Your NOW set
The other four (G, D, A major, E minor) all appear as full annotated lines on the practice page and in Scales and arpeggios to play. Rotate through two or three of them per practice session, plus their arpeggios.
A benchmark, not the curriculum
The graded exam systems (ABRSM, RCM) ask for roughly this same set at their first grades: D and A major one octave, G major two octaves, E minor one octave, with separate and slurred bowings. That's a useful external check on where you are — but it's a benchmark, not your syllabus. Your syllabus is this course.
And a reminder from the last lesson: those systems test scales and sight-reading separately, because they're different skills. A session needs both.
Try it
Try
Pick two scales for today — say G major and E minor (they share a hand shape, so it's a good pair to feel the difference between). Run each through the six-step routine from the last lesson, then play their arpeggios. Tomorrow, pick a different two. Over a week you'll cover the whole NOW set a couple of times.