Technical Basics and Scales
IN THIS LESSON
ONE-POSITION SCALES & ARPEGGIOS USE ALL 4 FINGERS, ON EVERY STRING, TO PLAY ALL OF THE SCALE&ARPEGGIO NOTES LOCATED IN THAT POSITION.
These exercises can be tricky for our ears because we aren’t simply playing a C major scale that begins and ends on the note C. Written turnarounds and lead ups to the listed position help orient our ears to the key, and brackets help orient our eyes.
The finger patterns may feel new, so below you will find the string and hand frame listed for each position.
Practice Tips:
Be sure to always use your 4th finger instead of open strings - only open C may be played.
The arpeggio uses the same hand frame as the scale, so it is useful to place all fingers to feel the spacing (for example, place 12 along with 3, or 123 along with 4.)
C Major One Position Scales
A) First Position:
Finger Patterns:
C: 2-3
G: 2-3
D: 1-2
A: 1-2
B) Second Position:
Shift: On 1st finger from D to E, taking us to second position. The arpeggio has an immediate shift to 1 on E.
Finger Patterns:
C: 1-2
G: 1-2
D: Open, reach 1 back for F natural
A: 3-4
C) Third Position:
Shift: On 1st finger to F, landing us in 3rd position. The arpeggio has us shift on 2 to G.
Finger Patterns:
C: Open
G: 3-4
D: 3-4
A: 2-3
D) Fourth Position:
Shift: On 1st finger to G, taking us to fourth position.
Finger Patterns:
C: 3-4
G: 2-3
D: 2-3
A: 1-2
E) Fifth Position:
Shift: On 1st finger to F, and shift again to 1 on A, bringing us to 5th position. Extend the pinky at the top of the A string to end on the top C. The arpeggio has us shift to the harmonic on our 3rd finger, and extend our pinky to include the top C on the A string.
Finger Patterns:
C: 2-3
G: 1-2
D: 1-2
A: Open, reach 1 back for F natural
For students who are more comfortable with reading Treble clef than reading ledger lines in alto clef, fourth and fifth position are re-written in treble clef in exercises F and G.
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If you need a metronome or tuner, my favorite app is called Tonal Energy.