PINKIE = 4

RING = 3

MIDDLE = 2

INDEX = 1

Depending on what the next note is ...


3rd fret ...........middle

5th fret .............. pinkie

3rd fret ...........middle


?????? OR

3rd fret ...........1

5th fret ..............3

3rd fret ...........1

????

"Kinda long winded very sorry but practicing with a book and got kinda stuck. "


What is the title of the book?

Hal Leonard

What is the title of the book?

Hal Leonard

is the publisher

Thanks. I see that it's not set in stone that certain fingers are dedicated to certain frets.

Hi Russ. Welcome to AB.

There are three things you need to accomplish with your fretting hand (besides the obvious one of making music).

1) Reach the most notes possible without having to move your hand. Or to put it another way, you want to minimize the movement of your fretting hand.

2) Comfort. In other words minimize the potential for injury.

3) Reduce the chances of picking up bad habits that may affect your playing later.

The most common approach to achieving these goals is to use the 'standard' one finger per fret hand position. That is use one finger for each fret starting at the nut and working up the neck in groups of four.

For example the first position would look like this.





The next position would look like this.





etc. etc.

Understand that not everyone follows this scheme religiously. It's just the best suggestion to start with.

Some people, such as myself, can't comfortably reach four frets on the lower part of the neck. I've modified my fretting hand positions to accomodate my smaller hands. For me the first position is this.





I use my ring and pinkie together on the 3rd fret. My second position is this.





My third position is this.





After the 5th fret I can comfortably reach 4 frets so I try to follow the 'standard' positions from there up the neck.

If at all posible you should try to start using the standard positions and modify them only if you need to and as experience guides you.

Hope this helps some.

That's a method from upright bass I believe, pairing ring & pinkie as "one" finger. It's used there to solve reach & strength issues; no reason it can't be used for Electric. URB-ists also switch to "finger per fret" (no frets there, but you get what I mean) as they go down the neck.

I also agree that the standard positions should be used but only if they actually work. Fingers 1 2 3+4 sounds limited compared to 1 2 3 4 not not nearly as much as it would seem if you use open strings when you can.

I'd term your first examples (the 4 finger ones) differently. I'd term first position as fingers on fret #s 1,2,3,4 then 2nd position on frets 2,3,4,5 et cetera.

I'd term your first examples (the 4 finger ones) differently. I'd term first position as fingers on fret #s 1,2,3,4 then 2nd position on frets 2,3,4,5 et cetera

I'm using the position terms from Rufus Reid's 'Evolving Bassist'. I'm not sure if it's universally accepted or not but I think the idea is generally clear.

Great book, one I'm inching my way through.

Haven't gotten to that part yet, but that terming leaves gaps. It's fine for the fingering exercises but what if you are playing a piece with notes occurring on frets 3, 4, 5, & 6? Do you shift all the time? Center yourself at Position 1.5?

You have a good point which leaves me thinking it's just terminology. I think the idea comes across though.

I'd heard it the other way. Was trying to point out different possible termings without saying yours was wrong.

I KNOW my own personal method is wrong. It's not even internally consistent. I start from the root note & use that fret #, so G (from the E's deep G) is 'position 3'. The weird part is I view it '3rd position' even though the starting finger is different if I'm in Major (finger 2) or Minor (finger 1). Screwy, but it works for me.

I know what you're saying. I'm not a position player in the strict sense either. I kind of developed my own way of playing over the years and I'm sure it's 'wrong' in any standard sense but it sort of works for me.

I've lately been getting some left hand pain from stretching over 4 frets (probably age related as I've never had it before) so I've started shifting more.

For example, if I'm playing the R,3,5,7 of a minor chord I use 2 shifts now. Index on root shift to middle on 3rd, index on 5th shift to middle on 7th. Works well for minor blues since I can drop down a string for the iv chord.

It's a lot easier on my left hand but I'm sure a lot of players are rolling their eyes right about now.

BEAD or a 5'er might help with the reach issue; G on the 8th instead of the 3rd.