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Fingerboard positions.
How do you identify 1st, 2nd and the rest of the positions according to where your fingers are?
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PopFiddle

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May 29, 2014 - 12:44 pm
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I'm starting to work my way up the fingerboard and develop some technique that shifts my fingering from the basic "1st position" that depends on the open strings.  But I've checked all kinds of references and I can't seem to figure out where my fingering should be to qualify as being in the higher positions.

In first position on the G string, for example, my first finger handles G# and A.  My second handles A# and B.  My third finger handles C and C# and my fourth finger handles D.  And this parallels across to the other strings.

The way I understand it is you move you hand up and the same fingering pattern applies to the next sequence of notes so the fingers handle 7 notes with the job of covering those notes divided among the fingers the same way except there is no open string.

So, for example, on the G string, what note is my finger on if my hand is in second position, third position and etc.

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Uzi
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May 29, 2014 - 2:43 pm
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Going up the neck on the G string the positions are numbered by where the index finger would be placed to play the natural notes of the C scale. So 1st Position index finger on the A.  2nd Position: index finger on the B, 3rd Position: Index finger on the C, 4th Position: index finger on the D and so on up the neck. 

Here's a chart:

http://www.violinonline.com/fi.....vanced.htm

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright

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cdennyb
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May 30, 2014 - 2:55 am
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Using the fingering chart is a good way to get the general idea where to put your fingers but honestly, it's just going to takes hours and hours, days and days, weeks and weeks and basically years to perfect just exactly where to put your fingers. And I mean practice so that you can play that thing in the dark!

I know I have a tune mastered and acceptable to play for listeners when I can play it in the dark.

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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PopFiddle

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May 30, 2014 - 2:05 pm
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Uzi said
Going up the neck on the G string the positions are numbered by where the index finger would be placed to play the natural notes of the C scale. So 1st Position index finger on the A.  2nd Position: index finger on the B, 3rd Position: Index finger on the C, 4th Position: index finger on the D and so on up the neck. 

Thanks for that.  That's a little disappointing.  I was hoping that position would be fixed across the strings so that, say, 2nd position on G might be A for the first finger, but second position on D would be F# for the first finger.  Then the distance to change from one position to another would be the same for all strings.

I have been heavily dependent on fingering patterns for negotiating scales.  So playing G major from the open string G is the same fingering pattern for playing D major from the open string D and playing A major from the open string A is also the same fingering pattern.

If you take that same pattern and let your first finger serve as the open string in the pattern and move the pattern down the fingers, you can play major scales all over the fingerboard.  But what positions do they represent?  So if you see a position designated in sheet music, I was hoping you could pick out a fingering pattern to orient the fingering placement. 

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PopFiddle

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September 1, 2014 - 6:45 pm
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PopFiddle said

Uzi said
Going up the neck on the G string the positions are numbered by where the index finger would be placed to play the natural notes of the C scale. So 1st Position index finger on the A.  2nd Position: index finger on the B, 3rd Position: Index finger on the C, 4th Position: index finger on the D and so on up the neck. 

Thanks for that.  That's a little disappointing.  I was hoping that position would be fixed across the strings so that, say, 2nd position on G might be A for the first finger, but second position on D would be F# for the first finger.  Then the distance to change from one position to another would be the same for all strings.

I have been heavily dependent on fingering patterns for negotiating scales.  So playing G major from the open string G is the same fingering pattern for playing D major from the open string D and playing A major from the open string A is also the same fingering pattern.

If you take that same pattern and let your first finger serve as the open string in the pattern and move the pattern down the fingers, you can play major scales all over the fingerboard.  But what positions do they represent?  So if you see a position designated in sheet music, I was hoping you could pick out a fingering pattern to orient the fingering placement. 

If you look at the fingering positions, it helps to notice that for the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th positions, the positions are exactly the same distance up the fingerboard for each string.

So even if 2nd position, B, for the G string is further up than it is for the 2nd position, F, on the G string, the 3rd position for C on the G string is exactly the same distance up the fingerboard as the 3rd position G on the D string.  And 3rd position on the A and E string is also the same distance.

This really helps.

Have another look at this fingering chart to confirm this:

http://www.violinonline.com/fi.....vanced.htm

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