Finger substitution

[vkioulaphides]

News from the front— wait! or is it the rear? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

I have often written of my heretofore little interest in the technique common amongst violinists and, in general, players of bowed strings: "finger substitution", i.e. playing the same note alternately with a different finger, thereby "forcing" the need of a shift, where otherwise there would have been none.

My misgivings to date were based on the fact that, once executed cleanly, a shift on a FRETTED instrument is effectively —and ideally— inaudible; a violinist, au contraire, could easily defend his/her choice of a finger substitution on grounds of the slight portamento, barely audible but still effective/affective musically.

I stand corrected—#hardly a better mandolinist but, at the very least, a less BAD one. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Finger subsitutions are good, good... They do wonders in smoothing out our shifting technique, gaining access to the higher positions, offering ready familiarity with the upper end of scales and arpeggios, etc.

Also, even if the substitution itself is inaudible, it most certainly contributes to a VERY audible —and highly desirable— legato approach to an instrument which otherwise, in the hands of the inept (e.g. Yours Truly) tends to sound rather choppy and dry, not mellifluous and lyrical.

OK, friends: enough talk; back to practice, finger substitutions and all. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[glauber]

I'd like to substitute my fingers for some that are longer and thinner. Can you help me?

[Stephanie Reiser]

I've been practicing my current project (Bach's BWV 1005 allegro) for two hours tonight, when I noticed this thread during a break. Man, this piece has position shifts all over the place. And the end of the first part had me puzzled as to a fingering decision. I finally settled on one. The first part of this number every other note is a C and in the second part every other note is a G, it seems anyway. Making it all come out as smooth sounding as the violin recording I have of it is a challenge. My little finger carries a heavy work load in this tune, too.

[Embergher]

Hello Victor,

You are right, finger substitution is for a mandolin player as important as for a violin player... and although "inaudibly executed", it is very audible!
(and even "more audible" when not executed http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif)
It makes all the difference when it comes to making an interpretation, playing legato ... #being a violin player you just think it's normal to use finger substitution and you do it all the time, but it seems that most mandolin schools today don't teach it as such, or at least it doesn't get the attention it should get.

[bratsche]

I'd like to substitute my fingers for some that are longer and thinner. Can you help me?

Glauber, you crack me up! #In a good way, of course. ;)

I second everything else said here. On viola (and mandola), often the most effective shifting more resembles walking up and down the fingerboard in small steps begun with replacing a third finger with the second, or second with first (or vice versa).

Carry on (as Moose would say)....

bratsche ("shift happens!")

[margora]

Ditto. I use finger substitution all the time, mandolin, guitar, mandola, whatever.

[Bob A]

I'm not exactly clear on this. I've been known to shift up or down a fret to enable a smooth trill, for example, and not have to execute it with the third and fourth fingers, which do not yet have adequate control or strength, but I always felt I was "cheating"; I figured that I should be able do perform it with any pair of fingers, and that practicing to do so would eventually bring more or less favorable performance (though it doesn't seem to be working all that well). Is this sort of thing what you're describing?

[margora]

Bob A: no, not really. Here's an example (at least, as I interpret finger substitution). Suppose I play a D, second string, fifth fret with the first finger followed by an E, second string, 7th fret, with the second finger. Next, I (very smoothly, hopefully) replace the second finger with the third finger (if I do this correctly, the E still sustains). Before the substitution, I was in third position. After the substitution, I am in second position.
Those with true bowed string instrument experience, please confirm (or deny or clarify).

[bratsche]

Practicing toward the goal that one should be able to do anything with any combination of fingers is a good thing; but then, when all is said and done, one should use the fingers that do the job best to make the best music, IMO. #There is no cheating in choosing one's fingerings. #(And #no crying in baseball...)

bratsche

[vkioulaphides]

Bratsche is absolutely right in her "music above all other considerations", as is Bob A. in his limited/specific application of the technique (namely, to facilitate a trill), as is Bob M. in his broader description of what it is, how it works, etc. #

I have found it particularly productive to approximate the violinist's need of coordination between a continuously flowing bow and finger-substituting left hand by practicing all sorts of exercises requiring this technique with tremolo: the rapid alternation of down-up pickstrokes calls for lightning-fast shifts.

But, of course, this is to be accomplished gradually, violin-like: first, one thinks of the "phantom note" as a quarter, later as an eighth, later yet as a grace-note of sorts, and finally as a totally inaudible "way-station" to the new position. Good, wholesome stuff to practice...