Here’s a fiddle version of “Pink Moon” by Nick Drake.
Liner notes
On the surface it sounds like a simple folk song. But both the guitar strum pattern and the vocal line are super syncopated.
I listened to the song before and during practice sessions. Here’s the original…
I tapped out the rhythm with hands on knees until it flowed.
Then I practiced it a lot on fiddle without singing. I looped on two-chord sections.
Most of the time I use pretty simple chords for songs. On fiddle you’re limited to just two strings. Well, not totally true. You can do cross-string patterns. But then it starts to sound to busy. Especially for a song like “Pink Moon.”
The piano part on the original is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. I arranged it for fiddle with some double stops.
I would set down the fiddle and just practice the singing. I alternated between singing with and without the recording.
When I could separately sing and play the whole song, I started to marry them together. Back to looping small sections with both…
It was actually a pretty long journey…I started to learn it a year ago, set aside, and then picked it back up last month. I want to keep working on the vocal part. Maybe find a voice teacher. Or just focus on vocals for a while.
You know what they say…
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Further learning
How To Play Fiddle On “Your Song”
Playing Fiddle Backup On Girls Just Want To Have Fun
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I really liked it. It was just fun listening to the fiddling (and your singing).
This is absolutely gorgeous, Jason. Good on you for persevering!
Love it! Well worth all your effort!
I really enjoyed listening to this. Great job with the fiddle arrangement. I would be interested in learning an “untraditional song” perhaps a new fiddle journey. Thank you for keeping the new ideas flowing!
Wow, Jason, you have tremendous talent! It sounds awesome to me! And yes, it is ALL about not giving up! Isn’t that what we should all do in life…. Great job! I’d love to hear the piano part…