Time to get down to some serious semitone wrangling!

You'll have heard these runs of chromatic thirds in the dominant scale in blues and other 12-bar-influenced music.

It's the fingering that makes them possible - or stops them happening at all.

Initially, your hand may feel very cramped applying the recommended fingerings, but persistence will show you hand positions and movements you'll discover no other way.

You should have prepare for this page using the previous, chromatic dominant finger drill.

Dive in and obsess a little!

...in C

You see a number of alternative fingerings above and below the MS, all for the right hand only. (The left hand is taking a rest.)

The videos above the MS, which show the right hand employing these fingerings, are chiefly of use in persuading you that the fingerings are realistic recommendations.

The video below the MS is a 'clean' version for you to copy.

Facility in these cramped, close-quarters hand configurations is an essential part of the well-prepared keyboard player's arsenal.

'Vincit qui patitur!' - He who persists, succeeds.

...in D

...in E

...in F

...in A

Play an octave lower than shown (to avoid ledger lines) - around middle C.

...in B

Play an octave lower than shown (to avoid ledger lines) - around middle C.

Enjoy your chromatic dominant thirds - 'doodle' your inner blues-man into existence!

Or revise the series using the series mini-nav below.