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Joe Venuti's "first finger capo" idea
By Paul Anastasio
 Joe Venuti and his capo. |
When I was studying with Joe in the 1970's, he showed me a fingering plan
for the entire violin fingerboard using this idea. Joe's concept was that over a given
chord a player could place the index finger on a pair of strings in such a way that the
finger played the root on the lower of two strings and the fifth scale degree on the upper
of the two strings. An easy example is the chord of A, where the index finger plays the
root (A) on the G string and the fifth (E) on the D string. This is of course normal first
position fingering, and it gives the player an octave's worth of notes, root to root, on
two strings, with a minimum number of string crossings. To go up higher on the instrument
Joe suggested that rather than shift up to third position one could go to fourth position.
This would give the player the same "capo" with the index finger on the two
middle strings, with the root (A) on the D string and the fifth (E) on the A string. To go
even higher the shift could be made to seventh position, and this would give the player
the capo with the first finger playing the root (A) on the A string and the fifth (E) on
the E string. Joe would often use this capo idea in the key of G, where he would use first position until he needed to go higher than was possible in first position. He would then jump to third position, which gave him the capo on the D and A strings (the root, G, on the D string and the fifth, D, on the A string). If he chose to go higher yet he would often jump up to sixth position, where he would have the first finger capo on the A and E strings, with the root, G, on the A string and the fifth, D, on the E string. Building upon what I learned from Joe Venuti I devised a first position fingering plan for the violin using a concept I call "chord pairs". I finger the chords of B and Bb the same way, pulling my hand towards the peghead a half step down from the B position to finger Bb. In these two chords the capo effect is found on the A and E strings. I finger A and Ab the same way, where the capo effect is found on the G and D strings. G and Gb are fingered the same way too, although the capo idea isn't applicable in first position in those two chords. F in many cases is a fingering that's not a part of a chord pair, although in some circumstances the normal F fingering is raised a half step for F#. E and Eb are likewise a chord pair, with the capo effect on the D and A strings. I finger D and Db the same way as well. C often stands alone, although sometimes it's necessary to pull down a half step to finger Cb. I find that this fingering plan helps to facilitate fluid first position improvisation in all keys. |