Art Of Fiddling

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.

Here are some introductory lessons for this course:

• How To Make Scales Fun – Introduction
• Make Your Own Scales
• My basic fiddlosophy on adding variation to music

Pentatonic Scales Introduction

Major Pentatonic Scales

Minor Pentatonic Scales

Minor Pentatonic Scales Workshop

Here’s a mini-course on sliding the left-hand fingers.

Preparation for sliding:

• Chromatic Scale – Practice Tips
• Chromatic Scale Exercises
• The Chromatic Scale Will Help You Slide

Here are the sliding lessons:

• [SLF: 1] Introduction To Sliding On The Fiddle
• [SLF: 2] Adding Slides to Tune Phrases
• [SLF: 3] Downward Slides
• [SLF: 4] Super-Fun Sliding Exercises

• Lesson: Rhythmic Scale Variation I
• Lesson: Fiddling with Patterns / How to alter simple patterns to make scales fun
• Syncopated Scales / Playing the offbeats.
• Syncopated Riffs
• Peacock Rag
  • This tune is a good example of syncopation is used in music.

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 – Introduction
  • This lesson is a simple summary of melodic variation.
• Melodic Scale Variation 1
• Melodic Scale Variation 2
• Melodic Scale Variation 3
• Whiskey Before Breakfast
  • This tune is a good example of the 1-3 pattern from MSV 3
• Melodic Scale Variation 4
• Melodic Scale Variation 5
• Blackberry Blossom
  • The A part of this tune is an example of the 1-2-3-1 pattern from MSV 5
• Arkansas Traveller
  • The B part of this tune is an example of the 3-2-1-3 pattern from MSV 5
• Melodic Variation On Tunes

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

• Circular Bowing
• Lifting the The Bow
• The Pulse Bowing
• Georgia Shuffle Bowing
• Georgia Shuffle on Tunes
• Texture Scale Variation
• Staccato
• Bouncing The Bow
• Bouncing Bow exercises
• Plucking Tips
• Tremolo

Here are some tuneful fiddle exercises. The idea is to work on a specific technique, but to do it in a more musical and fun way.

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

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

• Vibrato 1: Overview, Basic Hand Motion, Chromatic Shifting
• Vibrato 2: Micro-sliding into vibrato
• Vibrato 3: Slow vibrato pulsing
• Vibrato 4: Applying vibrato to 1st & 2nd fingers in tunes
• Vibrato 5: Vibrato on third and fourth fingers
• Vibrato 6: Apply vibrato to 3rd & 4th fingers in tunes

Once people get a little more advanced, they tend to look down on beginner tunes like Mary Had A Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. But these tunes are a golden opportunity to practice more challenging things, like transposition, new fingers, and challenging new techniques like double stops and vibrato.

In the lessons below, you’ll start with a simple melody and embark on a fiddle journey that will unleash your creativity.

Mary Had A Little Lamb series

• Mary Had A Little Lamb – basic
• Mary Had A Little Lamb – hoedown variation 1
• Mary Had A Little Lamb – hoedown variation 2
• Mary Had A Little Lamb – melodic variation 1
• Mary Had A Little Lamb – triplet variation
• Mary Had A Little Lamb – Cuts Variation

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Fiddle Fiddle Little Star – hoedown variation
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star – melodic variation
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star – sawmill Tuning

Kerry Polka

• Kerry Polka – basic
• Kerry Polka – adding double stops
• Kerry Polka – backup chords
• Kerry Polka – adding Irish variation

• [OBS: 1] Orange Blossom Special
• [OBS: 2] Adding advanced fingering to the basic pattern
• [OBS: 3] Learning and practicing the chords
• [OBS: 4] Putting together the A part
• [OBS: 5] Learning the B part