3-finger Chromatic Approach
By Greg HowardSometimes I hear my reluctant 3-finger students proclaim as one of the virtues of 4-finger playing that chromatic runs are easier if you use 4 fingers rather than three. While that may on the surface be true of the run itself, I always try to look at how to integrate different sub-techniques together into a "whole technique" approach, so I can seamlessly move through the music.
My experience with the fluid motion of 3-fingered play makes me want to find a way to integrate chromatic movement more easily into that broader technique, so I've been working on a practice technique that is more powerful than the one I used before.
For reference, here's the old system on five melody strings:
| | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |I know Emmett likes to go 1-2-3-2-3 as well, but I'm not finding either of thse approaches ideal. They are most useful when you are already on the 1st or second string and you need to go to higher pitches, without additional strings to jump to.
They also reinforce "position play" as a concept, something I try to get away from, as I feel it restricts freedom of movement (movement being the whole enchilada for me these days).
From my understanding of it, the four-finger approach to playing a chromatic scale looks like this:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |Since I don't want to have to switch back and forth between 3 and 4 finger approaches on the fly, I want to have something that easliy fit into the 3-finger key-oriented approach to melodic play that I've been using all these years.
Success with a three-fingered approach, as always, comes from hand motion, not finger motion. Move the hand, don't stretch it out.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 |If I practice starting at any point in the pattern and moving up or down (try not to always start on the 1st finger....) then I find it doesn't take long to be pretty fluid with this technique.
Let's use these notes for reference,
| Eb| E | F | | | | | | | | | | | | C | Db| D | | | | | | | | | | | | A | Bb| B | | | | | | | | | | | | Gb| G | Ab| | | | | | | | | | | | Eb| E | F |If I start at the top and play the following sequence, I can practice transitions in the scale, and also intervallic movement within the scale. These are the important things to practice, not so much the scale itself.
For example use the fingerings as specified two charts above:
F - E - Eb - D | E - Eb - D - Db | Eb - D - Db - C | D - Db - C - B ... etc (make up yourown patterns)
If I need to repeat a note in the sequence, that just naturally shifts the position up or down a fret, depending on which finger I use for the repeat:
If I repeat the second note (E) with the first finger, that moves me up the fretboard toward the bridge
F(3) - E(2) - E(1) - Eb(3) - D(2) - E(1) - Eb(3) - D(2) - Db(1) - Eb(3) - D(2) - Db(1) - C(3) ...etc.
to this spot:
| E | F | Gb| | | | | | | | | | | | Db| D | Eb| | | | | | | | | | | | Bb| B | C | | | | | | | | | | | | G | Ab| A | | | | | | | | | | | | E | F | Gb|If I repeat the second note (E) with the third finger, that moves me down the fretboard toward the nut
F(3) - E(2) - E(3) - Eb(2) - D(1) - E(3) - Eb(2) - D(1) - Db(3) - Eb(2) - D(1) - Db(3) - C(2) ...etc.
to this spot:
| D | Eb| E | | | | | | | | | | | | B | C | Db| | | | | | | | | | | | Ab| A | Bb| | | | | | | | | | | | F | Gb| G | | | | | | | | | | | | D | Eb| E |The choice of which direction to go in depends on where you are on the fretboard and where you want to get to. By practicing both kinds of transitions, you're ready for anything.
Back to this position for a moment:
| Eb| E | F | | | | | | | | | | | | C | Db| D | | | | | | | | | | | | A | Bb| B | | | | | | | | | | | | Gb| G | Ab| | | | | | | | | | | | Eb| E | F |What if I want to throw a chromatic run up to G and I'm already playing a C at the 8th fret on the 2nd string and i'm running out of strings?
You can always substitute a finger for the one you would normally play in the scale (what Emmett calls "false fingering") to shift the scale and give yourself more room.
| | | 1 | 2 | 3G| | | | | | | | | | 1C| 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |or as Emmett might do:
| | | 1 | 2 | 3G| | | | | | | | | | 1C| 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |By practicing the fingering at the top of this article you can prepare ourself for this type of transition, with the 1st or 2nd finger leaping over other fingers.
These movements might seem like big ones when you look at the fingering, but they're no larger than the ones you make if you're using the 3-finger scale approach, like in this 1st finger mixolydian scale.
| | | 1 | | 2 | | | | | | | | | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | | | | | | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |The best thing about this approach is that is easily integrates into the whole key-oriented scale approach I've been teaching for 3-fingered melodic play.
You can leap out of a chromatic run back into the key at any time without having to thing about where you are or what finger you're going to use.
Just practice Chapter 6 of The Stick Book, Volume 1, and you'll see what I mean about thow they fit togther.
I'd welcome any feedback you might have for me on this.
Happy Tapping,
Greg
stickist@aol.com
© 2006 by Greg Howard, all rights reserved.