My friend Randall at a practice with his band in Wellington
In general, you'll use the four fingers of your left hand to fret notes on the neck. Your four fingers will alow you to cover four frets without having to change the position of your hand on the neck. For simplicity, we'll refer to the fingers on your left hand as follows: i=index, m=middle, r=ring, p=pinky. Sometimes it's easier to use numbers to designate the fingers of the hands. In that case 1=index, 2=middle, 3=ring, and 4=pinky. When these letters or numbers are written below a piece of written music or tabulature, they are given as suggested fingering guides for either the left or right hand (when the context doesn't make it sufficiently clear, I'll label them "left hand" or "right hand"). The fingerings you ultimaltely use are a matter of personal preference. Below is a simple line with the fingering indicated below:
---------------- -----------5-7-- -----5-6-7------ -5-8------------ i p i m r i r (left hand, using letters to designate fingering) 1 4 1 2 3 1 3 (left hand, using numbers to designate fingering)
Be sure that you press down on the string just behind the
fret, not directly on top of it. You can experiment a bit to find out just how
far behind the fret you need to be, but if you're too far behind the fret or
directly on top of it, you'll have get a weak and/or buzzing sound.As you can see, each finger is responsible for one fret. And
since the pattern begins on the fifth fret, we call this "playing in the fifth
position." Here's the same line, played in the seventh position:
----------------- ------------7-9-- ------7-8-9------ -7-10------------ i p i m r i r (left hand, letters) 1 4 1 2 3 1 4 (left hand, numbers)
In order to build strength in your left hand (and to train it
to playing in possition), you should keep pressing down on the lower notes on
the same string while you fret the upper notes. In the first two notes of the
above example, you should keep you index finger pressing on the seventh fret
while you fret the tenth with your pinky. When you get to the fifth note of the
passage (9th fret of the A string) you should have your index finger on the
seventh fret of the A string, your middle finger on the eight fret of the A
string, and your ring finger on the ninth fret of the A string.When a pattern involves open strings (strings which are played
without fretting them) fingering changes somewhat. Consider this example:
-----------------------
-----------0-2--- -----0-1-2------- -0-3------------- o r o i m o m (left hand; o=open) 0 3 0 1 2 0 2 (left hand; 0=open)
There are many different ways to finger (or fret) a given passage. The fingering you choose will always involve a tradeoff between comfort and speed. Certain fingerings will be more comfortable but will slow you down. Certain others will be more efficient but more difficult to maintain for long periods of time. Fingering is subjective. Different players favor different ways of fingering the same passage. Your own style of playing will dictate you fingering of any passage. And after a while, you won't think much about fingering unless you're learning a new piece or trying to find a better way to play something. Fingering will become, to a large degree, automatic.
Fingering in the Lower Registers
Trying to keep to the "one finger per fret" rule that I've been describing can be very difficult, and often unneccesary, in the lower registers of the neck (i.e. below the fifth fret). Consider the following line:
Trying to keep to the "one finger per fret" rule that I've been describing can be very difficult, and often unneccesary, in the lower registers of the neck (i.e. below the fifth fret). Consider the following line:
--------------------------------- ----3-----3-----3-----3-----3--- -------------------------------- -1-----1-----1-----1-----1-----
If we stick to the one finger per fret rule, we'd play this
line with the first and third fingers of the left hand. But if you were playing
a long song made up of a lot of patterns similar to this one, your left hand
would fatigue fairly quickly. Therefore, below the fifth fret (on simple lines
like this one) you might want to consider letting your fourth finger substitute
for your third, which will allow you to relax your left hand a bit but still
play the line well.
Extended Fingerings
Extened fingerings are ways to finger patterns which involve a stretch (i.e. a span of more than four frets). These can be extremely difficult in the lower registers (i.e. the lower part of your neck, below the fifth fret), so much so that you might not be able to use them. But they are usefull in the upper registers (above the ninth fret). How much you'll resort to extended fingerings will vary according to the size and flexibility of your hands. Here's a scale using extended fingering:
Extened fingerings are ways to finger patterns which involve a stretch (i.e. a span of more than four frets). These can be extremely difficult in the lower registers (i.e. the lower part of your neck, below the fifth fret), so much so that you might not be able to use them. But they are usefull in the upper registers (above the ninth fret). How much you'll resort to extended fingerings will vary according to the size and flexibility of your hands. Here's a scale using extended fingering:
---------------------- -----------------9-10- ---------8-10-12------ -8-10-12-------------- i m p i m p i m (left hand) 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2 (left hand) 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 (left hand, using 3 instead of 2)Here's the same scale (the same notes) using a different fingering:
-----------------------------
-------------7-9-10--- ------7-8-10---------- -8-10----------------- m p i m p i r p (left hand) 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4
There's room for differences here too. Some players would
choose to finger the first two notes of the above example with the index and
middle fingers (i.e. shifting from the 7th to the 9th position) and then shift
back to the eighth position to finger the rest of the notes.
A Quick and Dirty Definition: Scales
A particular
sequence of notes with a definable intervalic structure (i.e. sequence of whole
and half steps), from which melodies can be written, is refered to as a scale.
We've been using two scales in the above examples, the blues scale and the major
scale. Scales are named for the note they start on and for the particular
pattern of whole and half steps which define the scale.
---------------- -----------5-7-- -----5-6-7------ -5-8------------
The example above (starting on the fifth fret of the E string,
which is A) is the A minor Blues Scale (we'll get into why it's called minor
later), which is often simply called the "'A' Blues Scale" or even more simply
"'A' Blues." Below is a reprint of the second example (starting on the seventh
fret of the E string (i.e. B):
----------------- ------------7-9-- ------7-8-9------ -7-10------------ i p i m r i r (left hand, letters) 1 4 1 2 3 1 4 (left hand, numbers)
Since it starts on B, we call it the B Blues Scale. Scales are
sometimes easier to represent using fretboard diagrams. The A minor blues scale
can be represented in a diagram as follows:
|---|---|---|---| |-0-|---|-X-|---| |-0-|-0-|-0-|---| |-X-|---|---|-0-|
5
A key to Fretboard Diagrams
I'll be using diagrams like the ones above quite a lot to explain concepts on this blog, so it would help if I told you how to read them, wouldn't it? In these diagrams, the black dots represent the root notes of the scale and the white dots (the Os) represent all other notes in the scale. The horizontal lines represent the strings and the vertical lines represent the frets. The digram is drawn as if you were looking down on the fretboard of your bass laying on a table in front of you. The strings go E, A, D, G, from the bottom of the diagram to its top. The number below the diagram (5) indicates the fret on which the pattern begins.
I'll be using diagrams like the ones above quite a lot to explain concepts on this blog, so it would help if I told you how to read them, wouldn't it? In these diagrams, the black dots represent the root notes of the scale and the white dots (the Os) represent all other notes in the scale. The horizontal lines represent the strings and the vertical lines represent the frets. The digram is drawn as if you were looking down on the fretboard of your bass laying on a table in front of you. The strings go E, A, D, G, from the bottom of the diagram to its top. The number below the diagram (5) indicates the fret on which the pattern begins.
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