David's Tip of the Day: Transposing from Position to Position

A student asked today in the forum how to move an accompaniment line from 2nd Position to 3rd Position. This is a great skill, especially as one advances in their studies and finds themselves playing in multiple positions and needing to be speak fluently in all the areas we need to in music (in this case accompaniment).

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Analyze what you play in a simple accompaniment in 2nd Position. For example, if you play the Charleston Rhythm on the 2 draw for the I7 Chord, then you're playing the root of the chord (G of the G B D F Chord). Translating this to 3rd Position, you're now in the Key of D, so the I Chord is D F# A C. Play the D (the root note... apples for apples), so this would give you an option of 1, 4 or 8 draw. Do this for the rest of the progression. To help out here are the chords in 2nd Position and 3rd Position.

2nd Position
I7 = G B D F
IV7 = C E G Bb
V7 = D F# A C

3rd Position
I7 = D F# A C
IV7 = G B D F
V7 = A C# E G