Mapping out the fingerboard

JASON ANICK

Violin instructor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, US and at workshops and music camps internationally

Incorporating fingerboard-mapping exercises into your daily practice will help you to understand and visualise chords more quickly, so that you can anticipate harmonies in any music. As you begin to see chord shapes, patterns and larger harmonic structures more clearly, you will be able to learn music more quickly, from jazz to Bach; and when you improvise, your hand will know what to do the moment you read a chord on a chart. You will be better able to voice-lead smoothly between chords, which will improve your confidence and fluidity. To develop this skill, I have created a system of ‘Jaytudes’ (Jason etudes) that has been extremely beneficial for my own and my students’ playing. I encourage you to come up with your own personalised etudes too.

EXERCISES

These exercises are based on simple triads, to show fundamental chord shapes and patterns on your fingerboard. It is important not just to read them – you have to think. To warm up, try exercise 1 without looking at the music:

• Play a one-octave arpeggio that ascends in G major, descends in A flat major, ascends in A major, descends in B flat major, and so on

• Rise up in chromatic steps until you reach the G major triad an octave above where you started

• Work your way back down, playing the sequence of ascending and descending triads in reverse

Play slowly enough that for each note you have time to process which key you are in and where you are within the chord. It can help to practise the exercises on the piano and sing along, to make sure that you really hear and understand what’s going on, and that you are absolutely in tune.

When you can play the first sequence fluidly from beginning to end, switch the chords into first inversion. If you need to, use exercise 2 to get you started, then continue the sequence to the top and back down by yourself. Again, make sure that you are always aware of what key you are in, and of whether you are playing the 3rd, 5th or root.

Now try the same exercise again with the chords in second inversion. The more you do this, the more you will see where harmonic patterns lie under your fingers and it will feel as though the fingerboard lights up with all possibilities for each chord. Think each exercise through logically, rather than just memorising it: when you improvise, this will give you the confidence to know where to land and how to make shapes within each chord stack, from any starting point.

For a new challenge, change the interval between chords (exercises 3A–8A) and practise the harmonies in different patterns (exercises 3B–8B). Exercises 3, 4 and 5 are based on triad pairs and alternate between two arpeggios in all their inversions: exercise 3, for example, moves between a G and an F. You can try these from different starting points: next, try moving between B flat and A flat.

When you are really familiar with the exercises and you feel that your brain and fingers are working with you instead of against you, you can mix up the bowings, create new patterns and improvise around each sequence. Have fun and be free, as long as you always know where you are in each key and chord.

REPERTOIRE

Patterns similar to these exist in classical and jazz repertoire, for example in the third movement of Korngold’s Violin Concerto, and in Grappelli’s introductions and cadenzas. Having them under your fingers and in your ear will make you better prepared for everything you play. Find your own examples in different pieces of music, and explore how composers use them in their own ways.

IN YOUR PRACTICE

I recommend working on one or two exercises for at least ten minutes a day, as a regular part of your practice. Make sure that your brain is very involved: play each one until you can anticipate and visualise the next step of each sequence. The more familiar you get with each exercise, the more you can personalise it and make it your own. At the end of a week playing one exercise the same way, for example, improvise around it, even if it’s just by changing the bow stroke. See if you can add extra elements without losing the flow.

Of course, when it comes to improvising, patterns are only a small piece of the puzzle, alongside listening, playing and developing your ear. The goal is not to be thinking in numbers all the time, but to do that in the practice room so that you have more harmonic grounding, confidence and freedom when you play.

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

Each lesson, spend enough time working on one or two of these exercises to make sure that your students really understand the process and why they are doing it. It’s important that they (and you!) really see what’s happening in each harmonic sequence. Once they can do that, you can give them different exercises to practise and check in on them once in a while.

Spend some time playing them together, either in unison or in harmony. (You could play exercise 1 while they play exercise 2, for example, in the chord sequences indicated or in a cycle of 4ths.) It can be fun to think of them as a weekly challenge. With my students, I’ll play the first chord, they’ll play the second, I’ll play the third, and we’ll throw the harmonies back and forth, as though it’s a game. I also make key flash cards and pick them at random while they are playing, so that they have to react to whatever comes up next. Less confident students can start with arpeggios; more advanced students can try to voice-lead between keys. After a year of focused practice I find their visualisation of the fingerboard really improves, and they develop a much better understanding of how harmony unfolds across all genres of music.

INTERVIEW BY PAULINE HARDING

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