Use this finger exercise to prepare for playing the chromatic dominant scale in thirds.

The exercise divides the chromatic dominant scale into three sections: tonic to third, third to fifth and fifth to seventh (R - 3 - 5 - 7 shown on the keyboard). You drop the 'official' fingering and play these three sections with fingers 1-4, 2-5 and 2-5.

The left hand - which also uses the notes of the dominant seventh chord - is optional, but a useful accompaniment. (It's a good idea to have both hands involved from the get-go!)

Don't expect the right hand movement to feel natural straight away! Your hand will feel very 'scrunched up'.

The held thumb in the right hand (the stems-down minims in the MS) is optional, and makes the exercise more difficult. But it holds the right hand flat and forces a very orthodox finger movement - good training for down the road.

The overlay video in the slow-mo demo video below shows how the right hand has to turn at the wrist and play well up the keys to get to the notes. You might like to consider it if you feel it's 'just impossible'!

Here's a 'clean' video of the exercise. Use it as reference for your own practice sessions.

Use this in conjunction with the chromatic dominant thirds module, and start building your blues riff vocabulary.

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