"Looking at double-stops" - My FingeringBoard Journey (4/12)
Channel: Bill Fitzpatrick's Videos
Date: 2023-04-16

So let’s continue my FingeringBoard Journey by looking at how we can visualize the patterns in doing sixths and thirds. 

Let’s start with sixths. First put a first finger on the A string for a B natural. Now a second finger on C. Move the second finger C over to the E string and in doing so we now can see a minor sixth. Have a listen …

We can now visualize on my FingeringBoard the distances involved in producing these intervals.
 
So it was at this point that I noticed that in fact major and minor sixths looked like whole and half steps. So with that observation I stopped thinking of them as major and minor and called them whole and half steps. You see visually it made more sense this way especially when looking at them on my FingeringBoard. 

When describing this to students I would tell them that it was like turning a 3D image, which to me was looking at all four strings… turning that into a 2D image, which to me meant merging them onto one string and in doing so making them look like whole and half steps.

It was after playing around with this for a few years that I observed a pattern when playing a major scale of sixths up the A and E strings: half step/whole step-whole step/half step-half step/whole step-whole step; etc. 

I never noticed this pattern before… have you? Well for me this was a totally unexpected reveal.

 Working with this pattern helped me to make sense of 6ths and this led to a much better understanding of thirds. So, why don’t we explore thirds now.

Start with an E first finger on the D string. Next F sharp with the second finger and then G with the third. Move the first finger to the A string and you have a Major third. 

Notice that the second finger is a whole step away from the first finger and a half step away from the third. This reduces the third into smaller distances, half and whole steps. Making them more manageable. 

Now for a minor third the distance between the fingers, the pattern is whole step, whole step. When using 2-4 the third finger grounds the pattern. 

Do note that the second or third finger should be lightly touching the string when possible. If this is an issue for you then hovering over the string can work but just avoid getting tight at all costs! 

Visualizing these patterns can become a really helpful organizational tool, as being able to visualize these patterns allows the distances become clearer in the mind. 

You can even close your eyes and imagine yourself doing them, practicing them, problem solving, in your mind.  

So do take care and thanks for watching!