Suggestions on fingering for this part?

**newbreedbrian** · Mar-15-2023, 9:27am

Specifically the tail end of 37 and all of 38. Cant seem to find a fingering that flows at all well at speed. Any suggestions on what might work well?

**Jim Garber** · Mar-15-2023, 10:14am

You have to work with the chromatics. Bar 37 can all be played in first position. You just have to use the fourth finger on he D#/Eb on the 6th fret or you could use yours pinky. Bar 38: you will have to move up to third position, first finger on the fifth fret note and play chromatically up to fret 9. I assume this is Bach… one of the sonatas and partitas?

**Benjamin Gieseke** · Mar-15-2023, 11:08am

Jim's advice is good! you could use your 3rd finger on the 6th fret Eb in 37 as well. 1st finger for 1 and 2, 2nd finger for 3 and 4. Shift to third position (1st finger on 5th fret) on the A in 38, then 2nd finger for 6 and 7, 3rd finger for 8 and 9, then you are all set up to use your 4th finger to catch the 10th fret in the start of 40. 2 frets per finger is a good chromatic rule of thumb, at least for starters.

Bach Cello Suite No. 1, Prelude, correct?

**newbreedbrian** · Mar-15-2023, 11:44am

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys, it's very much appreciated. It is the Prelude indeed; good eye!

I will give it a go. This has been my first toe in the water of classical as I'm usually likely to be on the fiddle tune/bluegrass end of things. It's been really fun to give this a go, and hoping to pick something else relatively easy as my next challenge. Any suggestions along the same lines/difficulty would be welcome. Thanks again guys!

**ChrisWallace1** · Mar-15-2023, 3:45pm

I just got JS Bach for mandolin by Robert Bancalari and I'm really liking it. The pieces aren't too difficult and there is standard notation and tab.

**newbreedbrian** · Mar-15-2023, 7:25pm

Originally Posted by ChrisWallace1

I just got JS Bach for mandolin by Robert Bancalari and I'm really liking it. The pieces aren't too difficult and there is standard notation and tab.

Thanks for the suggestion!

**Jim Garber** · Mar-16-2023, 11:12am

Not that it is a terrible thing to have TAB but most of the Bach repertoire is available for free download from sites such as IMSLP.org. If you can read notation you are at an advantage for a couple of reasons. One, that you can read music for other instruments aside from mandolin, for instance flute and oboe which are in the same range. Also you are not locking into others choice of fingering. It is a good thing to seek out the best fingering for you. Just my not too humble opinion, especially if you want to get deeper into classical repertoire.

**ChrisWallace1** · Mar-16-2023, 3:14pm

Thanks Jim! I didn't even know that resource existed. I guess I coulda saved myself a couple bucks!

I was just poking around in there...boy there sure is a lot of information. Just my opinion but the OP was looking for something "relatively easy" and I don't think that site is going to fit the bill although it is certainly something to work towards. Also I'm not sure about other books with tab but the JS Bach for Mandolin book doesn't indicate suggested fingerings that go along with the tab...it's just the frets to play in the event the person can't read standard notation. Fingerings are left up to the discretion of the mandolinist. Thanks again for the link!

**Jim Garber** · Mar-16-2023, 6:10pm

Originally Posted by ChrisWallace1

Thanks Jim! I didn't even know that resource existed. I guess I coulda saved myself a couple bucks!

I was just poking around in there...boy there sure is a lot of information. Just my opinion but the OP was looking for something "relatively easy" and I don't think that site is going to fit the bill although it is certainly something to work towards. Also I'm not sure about other books with tab but the JS Bach for Mandolin book doesn't indicate suggested fingerings that go along with the tab...it's just the frets to play in the event the person can't read standard notation. Fingerings are left up to the discretion of the mandolinist. Thanks again for the link!

If the OP or anyone else is able to read standard notation, even if slowly, then they should have no problem working through this. If they can only read TAB then, yes, the Bancalari book would be helpful.

**ralph johansson** · Mar-17-2023, 3:10am

bar 38 involves a position shift, facilitated by the open strings. The exact point shere to shift is something I would find only in actual playing. Probably my main concern would be the right hand. Downstrokes on the higher course, upstrokes on the lower one, hmm...

Moving this piece from the cello to the mandolin to my mind turns it into a different piece altogether, one octave and a fifth higher. And I suppose all those cross-string figure require a rocking motion of the bow fot which there is no analog on the mando. Different, not necessarily worse.

Recently I looked over one of my earliest compositions för guitar, written in 1969. It is in the key of c minor and features a lot of arpeggiated, cross-string, figures which don't carry over to the mandolin, because of the fifths tuning. So I played the same figures in normal diatonic mandolin fingering, picking only about every second note. To my surprise I found that I was also swinging the eighths whereas I had been playing them straight on the guitar. But I did play the two versions in the same octave.

**newbreedbrian** · Mar-20-2023, 5:54am

I can't read standard, but that looks like a great resource. Usually able to work out fingering based on position, this part just tripped me up as it's quite different than what I'm used to. Close to finishing the Prelude, and thanks again to anyone who took the time to offer advice.