Art of Fiddling

This is a collection of lessons, modules, and mini-courses designed to take your fiddling to the next level. You’ll learn new scales, bowing techniques and practice strategies. You’ll also learn things that prepare you for improvisation, adding variation, playing chords and more.

How To Make Scales Fun

The secret to practice is enjoyment, and the secret to enjoying music more is to practice.

Let’s learn how to make scales SUPER-FUN. Scales are like simple tunes. If you practice adding variation and expression to these, then it will be natural for you to do this on tunes, songs and whatever you play.

• Lesson: How To Make Scales Fun – Introduction
• Make Your Own Scales

Rhythmic scale variation

• Lesson: Rhythmic Scale Variation I
  • Practice: Rhythmic Scale Variation Exercises I
• Lesson: Fiddling with Patterns / How to alter simple patterns to make scales fun
• Lesson: Syncopated Scales / Playing the offbeats.
  • Practice: Syncopated Scales
  • Practice: Syncopated Rhythm Riffs

Melodic scale variation

Melodic scale variation is the addition of little patterns to scales. This will better your technique, allow you to learn tunes more easily and give you ideas for improvisation. If you practice melodic variation, you’ll start to hear the scale in the tune.

• Interval Scale / A good warmup scale for beginners
• Melodic Variation On Scales
  • This lesson is a simple summary of melodic variation.
  • Practice: Melodic Scale Variation Exercises I
  • Practice: Melodic Scale Variation Exercises II
  • Practice: Melodic Scale Variation Exercises III
  • Practice: Melodic Scale Variation Exercises IV
  • Practice: Melodic Scale Variation Exercises V

Creative scales

• Eight-Note Patterns
• Triad scales
• Chordal Scales
• Full Range Scales for Free Range Fiddlers
• Fourth Finger Double Stops

Bowing and textural variation

• Lesson: Texture Scale Variation
• Lesson: Staccato
• Lesson: Bouncing bow
  • Practice: Bouncing bow exercises
• Lesson: Plucking Tips
• Tremolo

Fiddler’s Playground

Here are some tuneful fiddle exercises. The idea is to work on a specific technique, but to do it in the form of a fiddle tune. The exercises are modular. This means they are laid out for you to practice in 1-bar, 2-bar, 4-bar, and 8-bar chunks.

Fiddler’s Playground #1 – String crossing on D Major 

Fiddler’s Playground #2 – String crossing on D Dorian

Adding Variation to Tunes

How to Play On Songs

Here are some lessons which explore how to add something nice to songs. My fiddlosophy: listen deeply to what the song wants you to do. Don’t fill up space just because you can.