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Suzuki Book 1. Lightly Row. Line 2 beginning at the 3rd bar, where it goes A, C, E, E, C, C, C_. My pinkie and ring finger think they're 1 finger and I'm playing A, C, E, E, B, B, B_ because I'm lifting too many fingers!!!!
It only happens sometimes and not every time. Grrr!
Maybe tomorrow will be a brighter day.
The good news is that I'm singing the notes as I read them and playing what I sing (until my ring finger and pinkie decide to become conjoined twins) rather than paying any attention to the finger notations. Which means I did finally learn to read the score as written. Now if only I could play it.

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ELCBK said
@RDP -I think I'm excited for you, but I'm a little confused.
Are you playing 'A' on the D string and 'E' on the A string with your pinky? If you are, that's wonderful!
Otherwise you don't use your ring finger or your pinky for any of those notes. 🤭
It's all on the A string. Apparently that's the way they teach it even though the score has an option for using the E string instead of a pinkie on the A string.
I'm sure I'll get it, eventually. After all, I can ascend with 2 fingers from A to C and from C to E without a problem but descending with only 2 fingers instead of 3 is a different story.
An interesting tidbit here: I've been "listening ahead" and Lightly Row shows up again in Book 2. Your post has got me wondering if it's going to be used for teaching how to change strings for the notes instead of fingering for them. I'm not going to look that up because we shall see what the deal is when we get there.
Meanwhile... Grr!

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@RDP -
Thank you for explaining.
Practice slowly, because fast should only be tried after slow is perfect!
I do feel ya here - been playing almost 2½ years and only started to feel like I was getting my pinky under some control within the last 6 months! I really should have used my pinky instead of any open strings - for everything, when I started playing. 🙄
So, it's important to spend good time on getting the pinky to have independent control as soon as possible.
It's all about slow, deliberate, repeated movements - good intonation.
- Emily

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I'm having to start slow every time because of the trouble I had learning how to read the music/notes. I usually spend an hour a day on this and so far it's been several days just on Lightly Row, bowing and stopping to reposition my fingers for each note until I could do it fluidly several times in a row without mistakes at a very slow pace. Then I started increasing my speed by trying to be even more fluid rather than trying to bow faster. I'm still not quite up to tempo/beat without mistakes (obviously) but I think in a couple of days I'll be there.
I'm dreading the Twinkle variations when we finally get to them. Just looking at them in the book makes me want to shake my head no, no, no, no... It can't be that bad, right? I mean little kids learn this stuff so how hard can it be?
There's a couple of Suzuki instructors on YouTube. ProAmStrings is one. I know it would be a step backward after 2 1/2 years (and the lesson plan is geared for kids) but the lessons might help you with strengthening and controlling the pinky finger if you need it. You can get the book on Amazon for <$10 and you don't need the Book/CD combination. You can probably find all the music on the internet too for free if you look for it.
I need to stop rambling and go to bed.
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