Up to now, we have dealt mostly with exercises that work a static position on the neck. Now let’s add another level of difficulty by incorporating position shifts. These exercises are longer, but as you play through them, the objective is the same: to obtain consistency and accuracy in execution. From there, you’ll be able to incorporate greater range and contour into your phrasing. 

If you have never worked through shifting exercises, you may find you need to concentrate to keep your shifts from sounding unsettled or urgent. Ultimately, you don’t want to hear the mechanical effects of shifting positions while you play. Each consecutive note should sound smooth and evenly executed, whether or not you’re making a shift. Slower tempos will reveal your limitations because the duration of each note will be longer. Don’t rush into faster tempos just because your plucking and fretting hands seem to be synchronized; instead, spend even more time with the slower tempos, working to hide your shifts with smoothness. 

Be sure to follow the hand positions dictated in the tablature before experimenting with your own. These fingerings are specific to each focus form and help to regulate the frequency of position shifts for each exercise. As with the previous focus-form drills, pluck with strict two-finger alternation.

Ex. 1 is an eight-note form that cycles through the first five notes of the G major modes. Start with your fretting hand in 3rd position, with your 1st finger on the E string’s 3rd-fret G. Shift your hand into the next position with each consecutive bar, always using your 1st finger to play the pattern’s 1st note. Since each eight-note phrase fills an entire bar, you can look at each bar as representing a hand position.

The focus forms in Ex. 2 are based on the harmonized arpeggios of Ab major, starting with the 3rd of the II chord (Bbm), and once again shifting each bar. This exercise begins with your fretting hand in 1st position with your 1st finger lined up on the A string’s 1st-fret Bb. This is a very musical-sounding exercise because it is made up entirely of chord tones. This time the shifts are in diatonic 3rds, except for bar 6, which reaches up a 4th for the transition to the descending pattern. Since the shift distances are larger and the pattern doesn’t begin with the 1st finger, to maintain smoothness you really need to look ahead on the fingerboard before changing positions.

Next time, we’ll get into some more challenging patterns that really build endurance.

Adam Nitti currently plays and tours with Steven Curtis Chapman. He is also the Chief Learning Officer at musicdojo.com, an online music instruction site. Adam's latest solo CD, Evidence, was released on his Renaissance Man label. www.adamnitti.com.