Give the Four Positions Fixed Addresses

Day 1 | about 24 minutes

D: Positions I and II

Focus: meet the first two fingerings as places rather than as patterns.

• 2 min: Without playing, point to the lowest root, 3rd, and 5th you expect in Position I. Position I puts the index finger on the root, D, on the G course at the seventh fret. The 3rd is F sharp, the same course at the eleventh fret under the ring finger, and the 5th is A, the D course at the seventh fret under the index again, straight across from the root. Point at the three of them without sounding a note and say the names out loud, then check the first board.
• 7 min: Play D major through Position I, then II. Say scale degrees on the ascent; note names on the descent. Position I runs D, E, F sharp, G up the G course at frets 7, 9, 11 and 12, then A, B, C sharp, D up the D course at the same four frets, one finger to each note in order. Going up say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight; coming down say D, C sharp, B, A, G, F sharp, E, D. Then play the same octave in Position II, which starts the middle finger on that same low D and moves the top of the shape onto the D and A courses: G at the fifth fret of the D course, A at the seventh, B at the ninth, C sharp at the eleventh, and D at the fifth fret of the A course.
• 7 min: Alternate four notes in I, four in II. Shift only on a note shared by both positions. The two positions hold six of their eight notes at the same frets, which is what the third board shows: five of them are drawn gray, E, F sharp, A, B and C sharp, and the sixth is the low D, which stays orange because it is the root. Play D, E, F sharp, G up the G course with the Position I hand, put the middle finger on the A at the seventh fret of the D course, which both positions hold, and carry on B, C sharp, D with the Position II hand. Nothing jumps and nothing is reached for: the hand changes its mind on a note it was already holding. Turn round and come back the same way.
• 6 min: Make four 2-bar phrases: two that stay in I, two that cross into II. A two-bar phrase here is about eight notes with a breath at the end, counted over a steady eight beats. Two of them are written out below; the other two are yours to invent, and the only rule is that a crossing one changes hands on one of the gray notes rather than in mid air.
• 2 min: Log the transition that hesitated. Name the crossing note you slowed down on, in words that will still mean something on Sunday. Lost the A on the D course coming back down is worth writing; bad shift is not.

• Stays in Position I: A, B, C sharp, D up the D course at frets 7, 9, 11 and 12, then D, C sharp, B and hold the A.
• Crosses into Position II: D, E, F sharp up the G course at frets 7, 9 and 11, then the A at the seventh fret of the D course taken with the middle finger, and finish B, C sharp, D.

What a shared note is: Two FFcP positions of one key are two fingerings of the same octave, so most of their notes are the same pitch at the same fret, played with a different finger. The A at the seventh fret of the D course is the index finger's note in Position I and the middle finger's in Position II. That is a shared note, and it is where you cross: the note keeps sounding while the hand changes position around it. On the third board those notes are the gray dots.

• End-of-day check: Start both positions without the diagram.

Day 2 | about 24 minutes

D: Positions III and IV

Focus: put the ring finger and then the pinky on the root, and keep the upper zones even.

• 2 min: Visualize the tonic locations in III and IV before touching the strings. Position III takes the low D with the ring finger, the G course at the seventh fret, and its octave is the D at the fifth fret of the A course under the middle finger. Position IV takes that same low D with the pinky and that same high D with the ring finger. Picture both hands on the neck before you touch a string, then check the first two boards, where the numbers in the dots are fingers rather than degrees.
• 7 min: Play each position from its lowest available scale tone to its highest and back; name notes once. Position III runs D on the G course at the seventh fret with the ring finger, E on the same course at the ninth with the pinky, then across to F sharp at the fourth fret of the D course with the index, G at the fifth, A at the seventh, B at the ninth, and on to C sharp at the fourth fret of the A course and D at the fifth. Position IV runs D on the G course at the seventh with the pinky, then E, F sharp, G and A on the D course at frets 2, 4, 5 and 7, then B, C sharp and D on the A course at frets 2, 4 and 5. Name each note once on the way up and let the way down be silent, so the descent is about the sound rather than the talking.
• 7 min: Loop the III to IV joint in groups of 3, then groups of 5. The two hands share four ordinary notes, drawn gray on the third board: F sharp and G at the fourth and fifth frets of the D course, A at the seventh, and C sharp at the fourth fret of the A course. Groups of three means three notes out of Position III, cross on one of those gray notes, three notes out of Position IV, cross back, over and over without stopping. When the threes are smooth make it five notes a side, which forces a different crossing note, because five will not fit between the same two.
• 6 min: Improvise one chorus in III and one in IV over a D drone. A chorus here is one time through the eight bars the band plays, thirty two beats of D with nothing changing underneath. Open the drone link below, set the speed where your eighth notes stay clean, and play the first chorus using only notes under the Position III hand and the second using only Position IV. You are not trying to be clever. You are finding out whether a zone gives you something to say when nothing underneath is helping.
• 2 min: Mark which position still feels like a fingering rather than a place. A place is somewhere you can start from. A fingering is something you recite from the bottom up. Write down which of the two you could not have started in the middle of, and which note you would have had to count up to.

• One group of three each way: F sharp, G, A with the Position III hand, then B, C sharp, D with the Position IV hand, crossing on the A at the seventh fret of the D course, then turn round and come back.

How to loop a joint: A loop is not a scale run with a shift hidden in it. Pick the crossing note first, play up to it out of one position, let it sound, then let the other hand own it and keep going. If you hear a gap, a click, or the note getting louder or quieter at the crossing, it is the loop that needs the work rather than either position.

Play a D drone with the bandEight bars of D going around under a recorded bass and guitar, at whatever speed you set. Nothing changes underneath you, so your ear can hold the key while your hand is somewhere it does not know yet.mandolintrainer.com/app/#jam?c=1~D~D%20drone~Chords.1.D%7CD%7CD%7CD%7CD%7CD%7CD%7CD&go=play

• End-of-day check: Roots found on first attempt.

Day 3 | about 25 minutes

D: Build the route

Focus: connect the four positions into one road instead of four separate exercises.

• 3 min: Call I, IV, II, III in random order and place the correct root finger silently. All four positions in D own the same low D, the G course at the seventh fret, and what changes is the finger on it: index for I, middle for II, ring for III, pinky for IV. Say a numeral to yourself in a random order, put that finger on the seventh fret of the G course without picking, and let the other three fingers fall where the shape needs them. The brackets under the first board tell you whether the rest of the hand went to the right frets.
• 8 min: Connect the four positions in order, I to II to III to IV, then come back from IV to I. Never restart after a shift. The numbers go up, but the hand does not go up the neck. Every position in D plays the same eight notes, D up to the next D. What changes is the finger on the low D at the seventh fret of the G course: index, then middle, then ring, then pinky. Each change slides the hand a fret or two toward the nut, and the brackets under the first board show where it lands. Follow the route written out below. When the hand changes position, keep the notes coming. If you stop and start the next position from its own D, you have played four separate exercises.
• 6 min: Begin on degree 3, then 5, and travel through all four positions. The 3rd in D is F sharp and the 5th is A. Position I holds F sharp on the G course at the eleventh fret and A on the D course at the seventh; Position IV holds F sharp at the fourth fret of the D course and A at the seventh. Begin on F sharp instead of D, climb to the top of that shape, come back down past the bottom of it and carry on into the next position, so the root turns up in the middle of the line rather than at the start. Then do the whole thing again from A. A position you can only enter on its root is still a pattern.
• 6 min: Play eight-beat phrases; every second phrase must change position. Count a steady eight and fill it with about eight notes and a breath. Stay put on the first one: A, B, C sharp, D, C sharp, B, A and hold, all inside Position II on the D and A courses. Move on the second: start in Position II and finish in Position III, crossing on the A at the seventh fret of the D course or the D at the fifth fret of the A course, which are two of the notes those hands share and two of the gray dots on the second board. Keep alternating, one phrase in place and one that travels, so a position change becomes something you do inside a phrase rather than between two of them.
• 2 min: Write the weakest joint. Going up there are three of them, I to II, II to III and III to IV. Write down which one cost you the pulse and the note you were trying to cross on. Sunday's repair reads this line, so II to III, lost it on the D at the fifth fret of the A course is worth more than the middle one.

• 1. Position I: D, E, F sharp, G up the G course, frets 7, 9, 11 and 12, index through pinky.
• 2. Cross to II: the next note is A, seventh fret of the D course. Position I would play it with the index. Play it with the middle finger and the hand is in Position II. Carry on up: B at fret 9, C sharp at fret 11, then D at the fifth fret of the A course.
• 3. Cross to III: land on that D with the middle finger, not the index, and the hand is in Position III. Come back down: C sharp at the fourth fret of the A course, then B, A and G at frets 9, 7 and 5 of the D course.
• 4. Cross to IV: land on that G with the ring finger, not the middle, and the hand is in Position IV. Finish down: F sharp at fret 4, E at fret 2, then the low D at the seventh fret of the G course with the pinky.
• 5. Coming back, IV to I: the same notes in the opposite order. You cross on the same three notes, G, D and A, each one played a finger earlier than the position you are leaving would use.

What makes it a route rather than four exercises: If the hand stops, resets and starts the next position from its own root, you have played four separate things with pauses between them. A route means the notes carry on while the hand changes. Practice the two notes either side of a crossing on their own, at half speed, until the join is inaudible, then put them back in the line.

• End-of-day check: One uninterrupted four-position route.

Day 4 | about 25 minutes

D: Break the scale sound

Focus: stop the hand defaulting to straight scale order inside a shape it already knows.

• 3 min: Random position callouts; answer with root, 3rd, then 5th. A callout is you saying a numeral out loud, or drawing one of the slips, and answering with three notes and nothing else. Position I in D answers D at the seventh fret of the G course, F sharp at the eleventh, A at the seventh fret of the D course, which is exactly the three filled orange dots on the board. Position IV answers the same three notes in its own places: D at the seventh fret of the G course with the pinky, F sharp at the fourth fret of the D course, A at the seventh. No scale run before the answer and no fourth note after it.
• 7 min: Play the four positions in interval pairs: 1 to 3, 2 to 4, 3 to 5, continuing diatonically. A pair is two notes a 3rd apart, and continuing diatonically means walking the pairs on up the scale, 4 to 6, then 5 to 7, then 6 to 8. In Position I in D that is D to F sharp, E to G, F sharp to A, G to B, A to C sharp, B to D. Play each pair as two even notes, then walk back down, 8 to 6, 7 to 5, 6 to 4. Do it in all four positions. It sounds nothing like a scale, which is the whole point of the day.
• 7 min: Sequence 1-2-3, 2-3-4 through each position; reverse on descent. Play the first three notes of the scale, then start again on the second note and play three, then on the third. In D that is D, E, F sharp, then E, F sharp, G, then F sharp, G, A, then G, A, B, on up to the top of the shape. Reversing on the descent means D, C sharp, B, then C sharp, B, A, then B, A, G. Keep the eighth notes even, and notice how often the hand tries to run straight up instead.
• 6 min: Improvise with one mandatory rest every two beats. Count one, two, three, four and put silence on one beat in every two, so the longest thing you can play is about three notes before you have to stop. Short ideas are the result, and the rests become part of the music rather than the place where you ran out. Stay in the zone the board draws, and let some phrases finish on the F sharp or the A, the filled orange dots, rather than always coming home to D.
• 2 min: Record one clean 30-second pass. Phone voice recorder, one take, thirty seconds inside Position I in D using the pairs, the threes and the rests. Do not restart it because a note was ugly; restart it only if the pulse fell over. Then listen to it once, because a recording is the only honest witness to whether it still sounds like a scale.

What interval pairs and sequences are for: A scale played in order is one long shape the hand learns to fire off without listening. Pairs and threes are the same notes in a different order, so each one has to be chosen. When the day is working you will play a wrong note now and then. That is the sound of the pattern breaking, and it is the progress.

• End-of-day check: Phrases no longer default to straight scale order.

Day 5 | about 25 minutes

Move the map to C

Focus: prove the shapes are movable by taking the whole map somewhere else.

• 3 min: Predict all C roots in the four zones before checking. Inside the fifteenth fret there are five C's: the G course at the fifth fret, the D course at the tenth, the A course at the third and again at the fifteenth, and the E course at the eighth. Point at them from memory, then check the first board, which draws every C and nothing else. Then notice which one each position starts from: I, II and III all start on the C at the fifth fret of the G course, and Position IV starts an octave higher, on the C at the tenth fret of the D course, because the shape will not fit down there without an open string.
• 8 min: Play Positions I to IV in C; say degrees on one pass and notes on one pass. Position I runs C, D, E, F up the G course at frets 5, 7, 9 and 10, then G, A, B, C up the D course at the same four frets. Position II keeps that low C and crosses earlier: F at the third fret of the D course, G at the fifth, A at the seventh, B at the ninth, C at the third fret of the A course. Position III starts the same C with the ring finger and crosses earlier still, E at the second fret of the D course. Position IV is the odd one out, an octave up, with its root the C at the tenth fret of the D course and its top note the C at the eighth fret of the E course.
• 6 min: Connect adjacent positions using shared notes; isolate any uncertain shift. Positions I and II in C hold six notes at the same frets, and the third board grays five of them: D at the seventh fret of the G course, E at the ninth, and G, A and B at the fifth, seventh and ninth frets of the D course, with the C they both start on staying orange because it is the root. Cross on those, a different one each pass. Positions II and III overlap the same way, but Positions III and IV share nothing at all, because IV lives an octave higher, so that one is a real move rather than a pivot: finish III on the C at the third fret of the A course, start IV from the C at the tenth fret of the D course, and isolate that crossing until it stops being a leap in the dark.
• 6 min: Two choruses over C: first stay in one zone, second cross two joints. A chorus is one time through eight bars, thirty two beats. Play the first entirely inside Position II in C, the D course from the third fret to the ninth plus the C at the third fret of the A course. Play the second starting in Position I, crossing to II on the G at the fifth fret of the D course and then to III on the A at the seventh, so two joints get crossed inside one chorus. Count the bars out loud if the form slips.
• 2 min: Log the slowest position start. Name the position whose first note you had to go looking for, and say what you were looking for. In C it is usually IV, because its root is the only one an octave away from the other three.

• End-of-day check: All four C positions found from memory.

Day 6 | about 25 minutes

D and C random callouts

Focus: answer a called key and position inside five seconds, with no warm-up run.

• 3 min: Make 12 slips, or set up a randomizer on your phone: D and C by Positions I to IV, with four repeats. Two keys by four positions is eight calls. Add a second slip for each of the four you have liked least this week, and that makes twelve. The eight D and C slips are on the call slips page below, ready to print. Print it twice for the repeats, or write your own. Fold them and put them in a cup. A dice roller or random number app works too: one to eight, with a note of which number is which call.
• 8 min: Draw six slips. Start within 5 seconds and play to the top of that zone. Five seconds is about two slow breaths: read the slip and have the first note sounding before they are over. Then play up to the top note of that shape and stop, which in D Position III is the D at the fifth fret of the A course and in C Position IV is the C at the eighth fret of the E course. No warm-up run, and no finding the root by climbing to it from an open string. If the five seconds runs out, that is a miss: note it and draw the next one.
• 6 min: Draw six more. Answer only with root, 3rd, 5th, root inside the called zone. In D Position II that is D at the seventh fret of the G course, F sharp at the eleventh, A at the seventh fret of the D course and D at the fifth fret of the A course, which is exactly the orange dots on the first board. In C Position III it is C at the fifth fret of the G course, E at the second fret of the D course, G at the fifth and C at the third fret of the A course. Four notes, stop, draw again, and keep the hand inside the called zone even where a note would be easier somewhere else.
• 6 min: Switch key every four bars without returning to first position. Count four bars in D, four in C, four in D, and keep the hand in whichever zone you were in rather than sliding back toward the nut to feel safe. D and C are two frets apart, so most of the time the swap is the same shape two frets along: Position II in D sits on the D course from the fifth fret to the eleventh, and Position II in C sits on the same course from the third to the ninth.
• 2 min: Count first-attempt successes out of 12. A first-attempt success is a call that started inside five seconds, on the right note, with no hunting. Write the number down rather than a feeling. Nine out of twelve is today's proof line, and below that tomorrow repeats this day instead of moving on.

What a call is, and why five seconds: A call is a key and a position named at random, by a slip out of a cup or by a phone, so you cannot warm up into the answer. Five seconds is roughly two slow breaths, and it is the gap between knowing where a position is and working it out. The whole week has been aiming at this one measurement.

Call slips to printThe key and position set: take the eight D and C slips.mandolintrainer.com/workbooks/fretboard/slips/#key-and-position

• End-of-day check: At least 9 of 12 clean starts.

Day 7 | about 25 minutes

Checkpoint and repair

Focus: record the week, then repair only the two transitions that failed.

• 3 min: One silent neck scan in D, then C. Hold the mandolin, look at the neck, and touch each root in D in turn while naming the finger that owns it, index, middle, ring, pinky, all four on the D at the seventh fret of the G course. Then do C, where three positions share the C at the fifth fret of the G course and Position IV sits an octave up on the D course at the tenth. No picking at all. A root your hand cannot find in silence will not be found under pressure.
• 8 min: Record D I to IV and C I to IV at a comfortable steady tempo. Set the phone recording, say the key and the position out loud, then play the octave up and back in each of the eight. Comfortable steady means a speed at which every note comes out the same length, which is slower than it feels, and the recording is what proves it. One take each, and do not stop the recording in between, because the gaps are part of the evidence.
• 6 min: Replay once; repair only the two roughest transitions. Listen to the whole thing with your hands off the instrument and pick the two worst moments: not the two ugliest notes, the two places where the pulse stumbled or the hand went hunting. Then work on those two and nothing else. Polishing what already worked is the one reliable way to finish this day no better than you started it.
• 6 min: Re-record those transitions inside short phrases. A crossing on its own is easy to fake by slowing down for it. Build a two-bar phrase, about eight notes and a breath, that happens to contain the crossing, and record that instead. If it survives inside a phrase at a steady count, it is repaired.
• 2 min: Score: start speed, note naming, connection, time. Start speed is how long the first note took. Note naming is whether you could say what you were playing. Connection is whether the line stopped at a shift. Time is whether the pulse held. Score each of the four 0, 1 or 2 and write the numbers down, because they are what the checkpoint list at the foot of this page is asking about.

• End-of-day check: Pass the weekly exit test, or repeat Days 6 and 7.