Hi Adam,
I've just joined MusicDojo.com and I must say I'm very impressed! Quite the nice site you've got there!
I'm familiar with your work mostly via the CCM scene, but you've recently expanded my musical horizons with your wonderful jazz work on your own label.
Having only picked up the electric bass 2 years ago at the age of 45 to fulfill a lifelong dream (and being a self-taught/book taught bassist) I found that I had plateaued in my skill set..... thus my journey to MusicDojo.com (referred by others here on Talkbass.com!)
I'm working through the 5 free lessons prior to enrolling in your Jazz Improvisation 1 class in a few weeks, and I have a question regarding the fingering pattern you've shown in the Progressive Sequences Lesson.
You show a fingering pattern for a major harmonic scale as:
G|--| 1| 2|--| 4|
D|--| 1| 2|--| 4|
A| 1|--| 2|--| 4|
E| 1|--| 2|--| 4|
I understand that this non-traditional fingering gives you 12 notes to play with, instead of the 11 you would have if you stuck to the traditional "in-the-box" scalar fingering pattern, and that 12th note ends up being the 5th of the octave (very cool!).... but I was amazed at how difficult it was for me to get my hand "moving" up and down the neck (even this little bit) to get my fingers to the frets for a clean sound on the E and A strings!
I was so used to a stationary fingering style and the "conservation of movement" school of fretwork, I really only slid my hand significantly when needed for chord changes during songs.
Your Progressive Sequencing exercise is a brilliant way to really limber up the fingers and get them flying up, down, and around the frets.
Is this fingering pattern what most jazz musicians primarily use when playing in a major key (i.e. starting with the index finger on the root)?
Looking forward to the upcoming class!
-Clint Greene aka GatorDogDoc
