Shifting On The Cello: Same-Finger Shifts On The Thumb

Here you will find practice material (both exercises and repertoire excerpts) to develop the skill of shifting on the thumb. This article is a sub-article of the Shifting Within Thumbposition and the Shifting On And To The Thumb pages. Here, we will be looking exclusively at same-finger shifts on the thumb. Same-finger shifts in thumbposition that do not involve the thumb are dealt with on the Same-Finger Shifts in All Fingerboard Regions page.

The exercises are divided into “single-note” and doublestopped material. It is easier to start with the single-note exercises (rather than the double-stopped ones) as these are the easiest to hear and get in tune.

SINGLE-NOTE (NOT DOUBLESTOPPED) EXERCISES

Fast Semitone Shifts On Thumb: REPERTOIRE EXCERPTS

Tonal Stepwise Shifts On Thumb: EXERCISES

Tonal Stepwise Shifts On Thumb: REPERTOIRE EXCERPTS

Minor Third Shifts On Thumb: EXERCISES

Perfect Fourth Shifts On Thumb: EXERCISES

Mixed Arpeggio Interval Shifts On Thumb: EXERCISES

Mixed Arpeggio Interval Shifts On Thumb: REPERTOIRE EXCERPTS

DOUBLESTOPPED EXERCISES

These exercises include material in broken doublestops also. In other words, here we will find all material in which the shifts are made with another finger (in addition to the thumb) stopping the string during the shift, even though the bow might not be sounding both strings simultaneously. Doublestopped shifting exercises are more difficult than exercises with only single notes because we need to hear and correct two notes simultaneously. But they are potentially much more useful than single-note exercises because the fact of having two fingers stopped obliges the hand to move “in position”. See the Doublestops article for more discussion about this idea.

Semitone Shifts on the Thumb: Doublestopped Chromatic Scales With All Other Fingers

Stepwise Tonal Shifts On the Thumb: Major and Minor Scales

Minor Third Shifts on the Thumb: Doublestopped Diminished Seventh Arpeggio Exercises

Perfect Fourth Shifts on the Thumb: Doublestopped Arpeggio Exercises