Perhaps I was trying to articulate (albeit poorly) the obvious--namely,
that learning other positions is just plain hard for us mortals. What
makes it especially tormenting is that each position uses the very same
notes one may already be intimately familiar with from another position,
but which are now suddenly foreign only because they are played in a
different sequence. It doesn't matter if one knows second position inside
and out. Learning fourth position is like learning second for the first
time. That's what makes positions so elusive, and so maddening.