Should I hold down my fingers on scales?
A student asked, “Should I hold down my fingers on scales?”
The short answer is yes.
I recommend you learn to hold down your fingers as you walk up the scale.
This allows you to play faster.
When going down the scale, practice placing all the fingers and then lifting one by one.
Practice by playing a D Major scale, only going down.
How you finger something will ultimately depend on the tune or context.
If I’m quickly playing D2-3 (a trill), it makes sense to hold down D2.
But if I’m playing Harvest Home, it makes sense to lift D2.
D0-A0-D2-A0-D0-A0-D2-A0
In general, experiment with different ways to do the same thing. That’s why they call it “fiddling around.”
When playing scales, practice holding your first finger down while you play second, and practice holding first and second down while playing third. for certain parts of fiddle tunes, this will help you play faster and with more ease.
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