THUMB PIVOT EXERCISE FINGERING FOR GUITAR. Its important to use all 4 fingers in a systematic way on Guitar if you want an easy efficient and fast way to play serious music including Standards and Jazz. Read on.. The pivot is great to use on guitar, but your left hand will certainly move around in all kinds of angles, different than on the elec. bass....as from playing chords, your thumb can slide up and all over the place....so its not strictly the same as playing bass but yes, use the thumb pivot! The thumb usually does NOT move, allowing you many more frets of access for playing automatically. And another thing. When I teach guitarists who are usually coming from playing blues and rock and roll, they need to be sure to get used to playing 1 finger per fret ONLY....so many are so used to bending strings, they have haphazard fingering ideas....and when doing legit playing, whether its classical or standards, or jazz, you really need to make sure to use 1 finger per fret. Its a LOT easier playing then..and you quickly get used to the hump of the G-B string too and learn to adjust with any kind of chordal pattern fingerings then. The way our teacher Horace Hatchett (teacher of the best of the musicians out here, like Howard Roberts, John Gray, Jimmy Wyble etc.) got us all going with the thumb pivot was the following exercise, the 1st one is easy, the 2nd one? DO NOT MOVE YOUR THUMB! All movement is from the front part of the hand ONLY and learn to pick up each finger after using it, never lay fingers on the board once youve used that finger: Do not move your thumb at all when doing the following fingering exercise so you learn how to pivot correctly. Start with the low E string and using the fingering 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2-1 beginning with the low F note....Youll go up a fret and over a string but playing the top E string with the 2 and 1 on same top E string, and then come down and play the last 2 notes on the low E string 2-1.....play F B F B D F# F now coming down from top E string, you play after F, Db Bb Gb C Gb F now once you do that a few times, then play the same exercise, the same way, except instead of playing every fret, put a fret of space (skip a fret) IN-BETWEEN each note (using the same fingering) and youll be playing with the same fingers (DONT MOVE THUMB! your hand will move around with 4-fingers intact - not spread, but thumb remains in one spot, this is called pivoting) F C G D (7th fret 4th finger!) E G F D C A D G F and feel that hand move around without the thumb moving! Remember to keep the wrist down, dont let it move around...ONLY the FINGERS MOVE and so pick up each finger once youve played the note.....its with the same fingering: 1 2 3 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 3 2 1. This will certainly help you to develop a healthy thumb pivot for guitar playing. This doesnt work on elec. bass, only on guitar. Elec. Bass fingering is 1-2-4-4 the 3rd finger is a weak finger and you can get carpal tunnel by using it in place of the stronger 4th finger which it shares a ligament structure with. The left-hand technique is very different for the Elec. Bass, but the thumb pivot works well. Size of neck, frets, strings, power it takes to play as well as the way its held dictates an entirely different technique than any other instrument. Octaves on bass should always be 1 and 4. Playing jazz soloing yes, you can use the 3rd finger, its a lighter and faster way of playing, not causing pressure on the 3rd finger...see more in free Playing Tips under EDUCATION at website. Remember also, to do that quick fingering coordination exercise. My teacher taught me this, and Ive given it to first, guitar students, and then bass students over the years. Stu Hamm even borrowed this to put on his bass video (with credit, hes a good guy and wonderful player)... Make a fist with your left hand, fingers in, thumb pointed out to one side. Now....raise your 1st and 3rd fingers TOGETHER....youre not going to get your 3rd finger up very far, but as long as it comes up, thats important....put those fingers back in the palm of your hand and now...raise the other 2 fingers together (this is easy), fingers 2 and 4 together. Put them back and do this about 20 times - its great for your left-hand coordination for fingering also. And lastly, learn your touch-typing for fast typing, either your PC/Mac keyboard and/or your elec. typewriter. Typing with the touch-system also enhances your fingering technique, and makes playing an instrument that much easier and better. PS. Be careful not to play bass like you do guitar. Youll use the pivot yes, but bass fingering is much different than guitar -- only when youre playing arpeggios and soloing jazz is the1-2-3-4 OK on elec. bass, otherwise, with rock-funk-pop-soul styles of heavier playing, its 1-2-4-4 on bass (avoid that 3rd finger when playing hard commercial music, it shares the same ligament with the 4th finger and eventually causes CTS).......guitar players naturally finger 1-2-3-4 , the frets fit the hand yes but bass uses a different fingering system (see bass attachments, and courses in bass). Carol Kaye carolkaye/catalog/ ckaye900@gmail see Catalog for self-help guitar tutors, by Joe Pass, Carol Kaye (Jazz guitar) etc.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 19:06:31 +0000
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