Bowing

My friend and student Toby and I recently made a lesson on how to play the Fortnite song “Hootenanny”. Click here to take the lesson. The melody is also known as “Dueling Banjos”, also known as Yankee Doodle, which came from a medieval Dutch song with the lyrics, “Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, … Continued

Someone wrote me yesterday with questions about the new subscription setup. In a post-script she said, “I spend 2-3 hours almost every evening playing “” sounds more fun than ‘practicing’. And I love it.”   I recently updated an older post on this called Play-practice. Thanks for reading, and thanks for making music…

A lot of you have written me saying that you are frustrated. You can’t get a good sound, you struggle to play in tune or you can’t figure out how to play a certain song. You want to get to the point in which your dog won’t leave the room when you start practicing…   … Continued

Going backwards seems like a bad thing. We all want to go forward. Progress and accomplishment! Going backwards means you’re getting worse, right? But wait. What does it really mean to go backwards? It’s really just a change of direction.   I recently updated an older post on this called Going Backwards. Thanks for reading, and … Continued

Think about the word “review”. It doesn’t sound as fun and exciting as the word “new”. It sounds like maintenance, which sounds like cleaning toilets. But review can be a lot more fun than cleaning toilets (unless you are a fully enlightened being who has learned to equally love every single activity in each moment … Continued

Do you want to improve the sound of your fiddling? If so, separately work on these four things: tone, tuning, timing and flow. I recently updated an older post on this called The Four Elements of Good Sound. Thanks for reading, and thanks for making music…

What does it mean to have good sound? It seems clear when something sounds bad and when something sounds good. But exactly do we mean by “good sound?” What are the components? Knowing this, how can you improve your sound? There are four elements to good sound: Tone Tuning Timing Flow Tone is the wholeness … Continued