Fiddlosophy

Overview  Scales don’t have to be torture. In fact, a lot of my students devote whole practice sessions to scales because they know how to have fun with them. Here are some mini-scale warmups you can do with simple four and five note scales. They’ll help you coordinate the hands, mind and ears. Once you … Continued

Overview Do you wonder, “What can I do to prepare for jam sessions?” The ability to transpose songs from one key to another is a superpower for playing with others. Especially singers, because they tend to sing songs in keys that match their voice (which might be D flat 🤯). Transposition helps you map the … Continued

Are you struggling to practice every day? Do you feel like emotional challenges of doubt or frustration are getting in the way of a productive session? If so, consider forming an online practice group. Meeting on a regular basis can accelerate your progress and make the journey more fun. In this guide, I’m going to … Continued

Overview You can reinvent major key songs like “Oh Susanna” by playing them in a minor key. This is a fun way to improve your mental map of scales, melodies and the fingerboard. Plus, it’s a creative practice which gets you into the mindset for improvisation. Learning Steps  Start by playing a  D Major scale … Continued

Did you know that you can deconstruct existing melodies to improvise and compose new tunes?   Further learning Learning Steps Listen to this Chunk of “The Wellerman”: D0-1-1-1-1-3-A1-1-1 Loop a smaller Chunk until it starts to sound like a riff: D1-1-1-1-3 Add a little slide on D1. Then transpose it to the A string: A1-1-1-1-3 … Continued

You can have hours of fun by improvising with pentatonic scales and drone notes. Learning Steps Play an E Minor Pentatonic scale with an E drone: E Minor Pentatonic: D1-3-A0-1-3-E0 Now Chain the notes at random until you find something that resonates.  A1-3-E0-A1-3-0-1 Feel free to repeat notes, change their length or add rhythms… A1-3-E0-0-A1-3-3-0-1-1-1-1-0 … Continued

I’m currently practicing singing and playing backup on songs like Wildflowers (Tom Petty), Don’t Think Twice (Dylan) and others. I started voice lessons and have worked a vocal warmup routine into my sessions. I also just learned a great tune called Redican’s Trip To Appalachia. What are you working on? Let us know in a … Continued

In this episode of the Fiddlosophy podcast I’ll talk about my current learning project: arranging songs for fiddle and voice with the goal of making a recording. Here’s a fiddle and vocal version of a Taylor Swift song called “Out Of The Woods.”   I arranged it for fiddle based on the version by Ryan … Continued

Overview Did you know that you can use audio recording to get immediate feedback on your performance? Not only that, but you can use it as a practice journal and to track your progress. I’ve done different lessons on recording, practice journaling, and progress tracking. But it recently dawned on me that there’s an easier, … Continued