Saturday, 27 December 2014

Basic Positioning

There are a total of seven regular positions for beginners. There are more positions which advanced players use, but they usually are less concerned with the positioning and are more focused on playing a piece with more comfortable fingering. There are 4 strings on a Cello. The thickest string, which is the closest to you when you are a right-handed person, is the C string. The string pitches go up in the order of C, G, D, A.


1.       The easiest and the most basic position is the 1st position. The 1st position, like any other, requires you to put your thumb behind the fingerboard.

2.       Then you put your first finger right on the C-string, pushing against the fingerboard, around 2inches from the nut.

3.       That is the first whole tone after the open string is played. (Open string means that the string is played without any finger put on the fingerboard to change the note.)

4.       Add the second or third finger depending on which string you are on, while not releasing the thumb and the first finger. If you are on a C or G string, place your third finger a little bit away from the first finger. On the other hand, if you are on a D or A string, place your second finger just a little bit away from the first finger. (We are more than halfway done so don’t give up!)

5.       Place the last finger (pinky) on the fingerboard a little bit away from the third finger if you are on sting C or G, and a little farther away from the second finger if you are on string D or A.

That is it for the 1st and the most basic position for beginners. There are numerous positions after that, but are easy to do once you master this position. Good Luck!






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