Music Theory
Intervals
Chromatic Scales
Diatonic Scales
Keys
Fingering
Relating
keyboard notes, strings and frets
Fret location of
notes for diatonic scales
Now, finally, we see how to determine the location of all twelve
notes per octave fall on the neck of your instrument,.
Example, short-necked instrument:
Instrument: Viola or Mandola
Key: D major
From previous web pages, you determine that the key of D major has two
sharps, F# and C#, and begins on a D, like this:
D, E, F#,
G, A, B, C#, D
Let's take the easiest octave first as an example.
Start the scale on the open D string. The fret locations you want
are:
Fret position
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Note
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
G#
A
Scale degree
I
II
III
IV
(V)
Finger
1
2
3
(4)
.
then continue on the A string as follows:
Fret position
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Note
A
A#
B
C
C#
D
G#
E
Scale degree
V
VI
VII
I
Finger
1
2
3
Your finger spacing reflects the interval spacing in the major
scale.
Where two scale notes are a M2 apart, your fingers are wide
apart. Where two scale notes are a m2 apart, your fingers are
close together.
And note that on a short-necked instrument, you don't leave out any
fingers. The only reason we show the fourth finger on the D
string in parenthesis is because you normally use an open A
instead. And we entirely left out
the fourth finger on the A string because it plays an E, which is above
the one octave D scale in this example.
Now, let's do the lower octave of the D scale, which is a bit harder
for small hands to reach.
Here's the C string first.
Fret position
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Note
C
C#
D
D#
E
F
F#
G
Scale degree
I
II
III
(IV)
Finger
1
2
3
(4)
And here is the G string fingering for the last half of the lower
octave of the D major scale.
Fret position
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Note
G
G#
A
A#
B
C
C#
D
Scale degree
IV
V
VI
VII
(I)
Finger
1
2
3
(4)
Again, we put in parenthesis the fourth finger on the C and G strings,
because you can use the next higher open string instead. Notice
how there is wide spacing between first and second fingers, and
between second and third fingers. That is what makes the lower
octave harder for people with small hands.
This example shows the fingers used at the low pitch end of the neck,
in what is called 'first position.' There are other
positions. In those positions, your hand would be farther up the
neck of the instrument. But that is a subject better left for the
violin lessons part of the web site. Basically, when you move
your first finger up to the next letter-named note, you have moved up
one position. For example, on a violin or viola D string, first
finger on E is first position. First finger on F is second position: on
G is third position: on A is fourth position: on B is fifth position:
on C is sixth position: on D is seventh position, etc.
An important thing to notice here is that you can use all your fingers,
because the fret positions are close enough you can reach all the notes
that way. This is pretty much a one-to-one match between your
fingers and notes in a diatonic scale. But on a long-necked
instrument like cello, that doesn't work. Instead, you have a
one-to-one match between half-steps in a chromatic scale and your
fingers. So to play a major or minor scale, you would frequently
need to skip using some of your fingers.