Hi, I'm Ailbhe McDonagh. In this video, we are looking at 3rd position on the cello. Once you know 1st and 4th position, you have access to a lot of notes. However, if you only use those two positions, you will find yourself constantly shifting your hand up and down, making it very difficult to play a smooth, legato phrase. We learn 3rd position (and eventually 2nd and half position) to give us better fingering options so the hand doesn't have to move as much.
The three types of 3rd position
Unlike 1st or 4th position, 3rd position can be a little confusing because your 1st finger can start on two different notes depending on the key signature. I like to use Rick Mooney's system from his Position Pieces book, which breaks it down into three variations:
- Lower 3rd position: your 1st finger goes on D (on the A string). The notes are D, D#, E, and F. This is a very comfortable, closed hand position.
- Upper 3rd position: your 1st finger goes on D# (on the A string). The notes are D#, E, F, and F#. You will use this position often when playing in keys with a lot of sharps, such as A major. It sits just one semitone below 4th position.
- Extended 3rd position: your 1st finger goes on D, but you extend your 2nd finger to play an E. The notes are D, E, F, and F#. Because the spaces between notes get smaller as you go higher up the cello, doing an extension in 3rd position is much easier on the hand than doing one in 1st position.
Adjusting your finger spacing
You cannot play every position with the exact same finger spacing.
Because 3rd position is slightly lower on the fingerboard than 4th position, the distance between the notes is slightly larger. As you shift from 4th down to 3rd, your hand must open up a tiny amount—only about a millimetre or so per finger.
Tuning games and note recognition
A great way to ensure your 3rd position is perfectly in tune is to check your stopped notes against your open strings:
- 1st finger: in lower 3rd position, your 1st finger on the D string plays a G. You can check this pitch against your open G string. Similarly, your 1st finger on the G string plays a C, which you can check against your open C string.
- 3rd finger: your 3rd finger on the D string plays an A. Check this against your open A string above it. Your 3rd finger on the G string plays a D, which matches your open D string.
Play around with finding the same note across different strings and positions. It is a fantastic exercise to truly learn the logistics of the fingerboard!