Using your current knowledge of the bass system, you will now attempt playing a simple scale. Using the diagram below as reference, play a "C major" scale using the following directions.
- Play the middle "C" with your third (middle) finger.
- Reach up and play the "D" two rows above with your second finger.
- Play the "E" on the counterbass row with your third finger.
- Hit the "F" on the main bass row immediately adjacent to the "E" with your fourth finger.
- Play the "G" two rows above with the second finger.
- Now go down several rows on the counterbass row and find the "A". Hit it with your fourth finger. (This is the biggest stretch of the entire scale, it might take a while to find it.)
- Play the "B" on the counterbass row two rows above the "A" with the third finger.
- Hit middle "C" with your fourth finger.
- To play the scale again, repeat parts 3 through 8. To play a scale going downwards, simply do parts 2-8 in reverse order.
Try to "learn" where the distances between notes are so you are able to perform the scale smoothly and without thinking too much about it.
The beauty of the Stradella system is that it's key-neutral and makes transposing very easy. If you move the entire pattern described above up or down several rows and use the same fingerings, you'd play another major scale in another key. Play a major scale in the keys of "F" and "G" simply by starting a button lower or higher and playing the same pattern with the same button distances. (The middle "C" button having a marker might confuse you, so just ignore it.)
This concludes the bass-study section of this book. Although you're probably not completely comfortable with the basses yet, you're well on your way to Stradella fluency.
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