Dear Stewart, obviously I haven't made myself as clear as I'd have wished. I do not at all try to avoid using the 3rd finger.
--------------------------------------a-r2-d4- ------------------------------a-b1-d4--------- ----------------------a-b1-d4----------------- -----------------a-r2------------------------- ---------a-r2-d4------------------------------ -a-r2-d4-------------------------------------- is just as good to me as --------------------------------------a-r1-d3- ------------------------------a-b1-d4--------- ----------------------a-b1-d4----------------- -----------------a-r1------------------------- ---------a-r1-d3------------------------------ -a-r1-d3-------------------------------------- only, I'm sometimes kind of lazy, trying to avoid changes of position, which is necessary in the 2nd example. All I wanted to say is that with 1-3, 1-4, 2-4 combinations you can have a more powerful (= easier) grip on the fretboard. Moreover, with this fingering there is always one finger set free to do other things required at the time. You can find this kind of fingering as early as in Newsidler (1536, klein fundament) as well as in Waissel (1592, von der applikation). A close look reveals that French lutenists like Denis Gaultier, Jacques Gallot(s) et al still applied it, with Mouton deviating (he sometimes has neighbouring fingers). I seem to remember that also the famous Dresden ms. with music by Weiss has fingerings of this type. -- Best wishes, Mathias Mathias Roesel, Grosze Annenstrasze 5, 28199 Bremen, Deutschland/ Germany, T/F +49 - 421 - 165 49 97, Fax +49 1805 060 334 480 67, E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
