Hello,

I know to put my first finger on the E and second finger on the F. But my third finger won't reach all the way to a G if I do that.

Is this something that comes with practice? Is there any exercises I could do to help?



LearnerFlute xx

You don't need to leave your other fingers down when you put 3 down, maybe take 2 off and leave 1 down 'as an anchor'.

But if you want an exercise to improve flexibility...I show my kids the finger pattern Mr Spock does in Star Trek with the greeting 'Live Long and Prosper' - if you don't know this (!) it's fingers 1&2 touching and 3&4 touching (and a gap between 2&3), they like to try to copy, it's quite hard! The next part of the exercise is to change from this to having 2&3 touching - done fast this looks cool!

General rule for left hand finger efficiency is 'Only put a finger down if you need to, only take a finger off if you need to'

Thank you! I can do that exercise really easily with my right hand but not with my left. I can do the vulcan thing but not the other way. However with the violin my fingers can easily do E, Fsharp, G and A but then I can't move my second finger to F without moving the other fingers.

Another good exercise is to have your fingertips on a flat surface in a 'piano playing hand shape' and to train each finger in turn to lift and tap when you ask it to. Then ask difference pairs of fingers to lift and tap. I do this at the dentist to help me relax!!

I can remember practising that in junior school, using the other hand to help hold the pairs of fingers apart until they got the hang of it! And the next step after that is to do one with one hand and the other with the other, then change. (can't find the code for the cross-eyed smilie!)

Sometimes it's down to the overall shape and position of your hand. If your thumb is in the wrong place then you will find some finger positions come naturally and others near impossible. The further up the fingerboard your thumb has drifted the harder it is to put a close second finger down and then reach the third in the correct place. Same if too much thumb is sticking up as it contorts the whole hand. You also have to look at where your elbow is, particularly when you go down to the G string, if your elbow is hanging back then your finger will seem impossibly short. The 'problem' is not always where it appears to be, the old tune about the finger bone being connected to the wrist bone and so on is very correct for string playing, a problem in the fingers can start with the shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, hand, even the feet!