FiddleHed Network

First, I found a tune on the fiddle quick You Tube channel that I will play for my grandkids one day even if it’s on my death bed. It’s called “Who Shit In Grandpa’s Hat?” It’s as danceable as “Maggots In The Sheep Hides” or “Hog Eye And A Tater”.

My string crossing is giving me fits. The sound is so bothersome I can’t think. I keep my fiddle…[Read more]

Isn’t it funny that our brains work in different ways!
I really wanted to play the violin when I was 10 years old. I’d had 4 fun lessons playing by ear until the “teacher” told me very strictly that I had to “learn all the notes”. This terrified me because I knew I couldn’t do it.This led to a tragic road accident where my violin was smashed a…[Read more]

I’ve been learning some new tunes by ear and playing scales. I’m working on Dvorak’s Largo/Going Home, Loch Lomond, and a few others.

I really enjoyed the lesson on The Old Gray Cat because of the challenge of learning those quarters out of order. While I could play each of the quarters when we were doing call-and-response for them, when it came…[Read more]

Trying to be more efficient in memorizing tunes. Also to retain them better.

Trying to memorize tunes easier so that it doesn’t take so long.

Double stops continue to be a challenge for me, particularly hitting them in good tone and in good time in the tune. I find it harder to make them cleanly while up-bowing.

That’s really wise and insightful. It’s good to have a balance between things you don’t know, yet things that are partially mastered, and things that you can play with the flow. Don’t let too many things collect in the partially mastered category.

Good general practice tip is to practice everything on single notes. So practice one double stop until you can really do it well. Or practice dynamics on a single now. For example, play Ace notes as quietly as possible with a millimeter, phone, like a whisper. And then gradually get louder, using the full bowl until it’s ridiculously loud. Go b…[Read more]

When in doubt, play, it is simply as possible. Let variations and other ideas emerge organically. Listen to a lot of fiddle music to help you get the field and get to this point of natural variation.

What music do you have to learn for the string band?

As much as possible, try to play rhythms on single strings. I call it extracting the rhythm. Knowing the practice by doing it on simple tunes.

When in doubt, play it as simple as possible. See if any patterns emerge as your practice it.

If your teacher has marked up Boeings for tunes, and work on small chunks with a Metronome. Try to master them at slow tempo’s and then at your fastest tempo. Enjoy the physical feeling of playing something really slow and having it settled into your body..

I’ve taken the recent tips to learning a tune from a recording & trying to learn Lonesome Moonlight Waltz from an old recording of Bill Monroe & Kenny Baker. I’ve made some tab notes from what I’ve recognised so far & have the tune in my head just working on getting it to my fingers & fiddle!

Rhythmic patterns is on my agenda. I’m playing in the Olympia Volunteer String Band this year and two of the tunes are way out of my ability’s so I will be doing a rhythm shuffle bowing. It’s more difficult to memorize because I don’t hear a clear melody, but I’m up for the challenge:/

I am a victim of new tunes. I keep learning new ones but tend not to spend enough time on any one tune to really get it where I want it musically. And I don’t do enough scale work. SO… I am going back to the early tunes and spending more time on them, focusing on each key, and I’ll save the new tunes for the end of my daily practice.

I’ve only recently got onto double stops and need to practice them a lot. Also string crossing.

I also need to improve the dynamics of tunes I know well.

I confess that I haven’t yet paid any attention to bowing technique.How much does it matter in fiddling?

My brain ticks away slowly and I know that I’ll never be able to play very fast.…[Read more]

I have recently started private lessons. My teacher was a competitive fiddler, traveling around to different competitions. She is very strict about bow direction, something that I have only paid a bit of attention to. I now feel that it has become my main focus and I am finding it very difficult to unlearn the habits I have developed from…[Read more]

I’m bowing challenged! I’m confused about which bowing pattern to use with a reel, jig, polka, etc. and in which style -Irish, Appalachian, etc. I’d like a lesson or two on the possibilities and also some bowing suggestions on the sheet music.