Position-Shifting Exercises

Contents

Note on Tab Slide Markings

The '/' and '\' characters in tab generally represent either

• a legato slide between two notes
• a picked slide into a note

In each case, the slide is audible. In all examples below, the '/' and '\' are intended to simply show when to shift positions. To prevent confusion I am only placing these markings in the fingering patterns below the tab and not in the tab.

Shift on every finger

--1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--7--6--5--4--3--2--1--
  i /i  m /m /r /r  p /p \p  r \r  m \m  i \i

--12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-
  i /i  m /m  r /r  p /p \p  r \r  m \m  i \i

Invisible Shifts

Here you are shifting to a note that is already being played. You should focus on making the shift virtually inaudible, so it sounds like you are simply playing each note twice. Below each line of tab are 1 or more fingering patterns. For each pattern, repeat the exercise on every string.

--1--2--2--3--3--4--4--5--5--6--5--4--4--3--3--2--2--1--
  i  m /i  m /i  m /i  m /i  m \m  i \m  i \m  i \m  i
  m  r /m  r /m  r /m  r /m  r \r  m \r  m \r  m \r  m  
  r  p /r  p /r  p /r  p /r  p \p  r \p  r \p  r \p  r

--1--3--3--5--5--7--7--9--9--11-9--7--7--5--5--3--3--1--
  i  m /i  m /i  m /i  m /i  m \m  i \m  i \m  i \m  i
  i  r /i  r /i  r /i  r /i  r \r  i \r  i \r  i \r  i
  m  p /m  p /m  p /m  p /m  p \p  m \p  m \p  m \p  m

--1--4--4--7--7--10-10-13-13-16-13-10-10-7--7--4--4--1--
  i  p /i  p /i  p /i  p /i  p \p  i \p  i \p  i \p  i

Shift Positions w/o Overlap

--1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--10-9--8--7--6--5--4--3--2--1--
  i  m  r  p /i  m  r  p /i  m  i \p  r  m  i \p  r  m  i  

--10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-
  i  m  r  p /i  m  r  p /i  m  i \p  r  m  i \p  r  m  i