Text in Fingering Pallet

• Jan 20, 2011 - 21:00

r 3507

Can anyone tell me what the second set of "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" numerals and the "p, i, m, a" text and the "6" are for?

I looked at the handbook but found no info.

Thanks


Comments

I think the second set of numerals is supposed to be circled (if I am not mistaken, it is on my pre-release, cannot check right now).

What the 'a', 'i', 'm', 'p', '6' are for I don't know, but I'm confident someone has an use for them (musical notation is an endless pit...)

Ciao!

M.

Specifically, the 1,2,3,4 are the left hand fingers (zero means an open string), p,i,m,a are the right hand fingers. The numbers in circles would be used to indicate which string a note should be played on where it isn't obvious (though I can't imagine what the zero is for)

In reply to by fatwarry

I just struck me that the names of the fingers in Italian are "pollice", "indice", "medio", "anulare": P, I, M, A?

I don't know where the little finger ("mignolo") is gone; nor I do know how the thumb ("pollice") of the right hand can be used to play anything on a stringed instrument.... (but I only play a bowed one).

M.

In reply to by Miwarre

Miwarre,
Close. They're actually Spanish : Pulgar = Thumb, Indice = Index Finger, Medio = Middle Finger, Anular = Ring Finger. The right hand little finger is rarely used - it's too short for most people - though I believe it's used in some Flamenco techniques. I think it is called the "C" finger though I don't know the Spanish word.

The RH thumb is used mainly to pluck the bass notes (bottom 3 strings) though sometimes the thumb will be used on higher strings and sometime a finger will be used for one or more of the bottom 3 strings. As always it's the demands of the piece that dictates.

pima are standard right hand guitar fingering, from spanish I think, little finger varies from book to book I usually use e but sometimes c or l are used.

One set of numbers places fingering to the left of the note. Second set of numbers places fingering above or below the note stem.

In reply to by geetar

Yes. To be more precise, the first set - which places above by default - is accordance with the most common convention for piano. The second set - which places to the left by default - is in accordance with the most common convention for guitar LH, and if you hover over the number in the palette, you'll see thaey are labeled "LH Guitar Fingering"). it's actually the same type of elements, just a different text style applied.

Note in the Piano case, the fingers move to the left of the notes for chord of >1 note. This isn't really ideal - they should stack above/below the chord - but the way fingerings are implemented, it was much easier to make this work than any automatic stacking, and it seemed a decent compromise. You can always stack them manually.

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