Fiddlosophy

How Did You Start?

An online student recently wrote in asking, “How did you start with fiddling?” One day while driving to the beach with my family, I was staring out the car window and said, “I want to play the violin”. I was ten. I can’t remember why I wanted to play or what inspired me. I didn’t … Continued

First Things First

They say, “First things first.” But who are they? How did they come to know so much? What do they eat for breakfast Sorry, I have no answers to these deep and important questions. But cliches are cliches for a reason (even if we’re sick of hearing them). First things first is a useful approach to … Continued

What Can You Do Today?

There’s so much I want to do with FiddleHed, and so this week’s practice tip is helping me to be patient. When I started to build FiddleHed, my friend Grady advised me to approach things this way. See what you can do in a day, in a week. Little by little things get done. The … Continued

Play it clear

Towards the end of my trip I played an afternoon session in Galway at a place called Tig Choili. A lot of people were in town for Race Week and so it was crowded and noisy in the pub. I had a hard time hearing and picking up the melody.  One of the fiddlers was … Continued

Galway Girl

Some visionary FiddleHed out there suggested that I go to Galway and film a video on how to play the melody from Steve Earle’s song, “Galway Girl”. So I did it. I had a great time at this Irish pub in the heart of the city. There were two sessions with a sort of transitional … Continued

Always Be Learning Something

I was jogging in the hills of San Francisco, thinking about things I want to learn (electronic music production, Qigong), things I’m learning now (business skills) and things I’ve been studying for years (fiddling, yoga, meditation). Then I thought, “I always seem to be learning something.“ And so I defined a new life rule: Maybe … Continued

Be Your Own Teacher

A good teacher will help you take your music to the next level. If possible, find someone you like and respect who will teach you the music you want to learn. But perhaps there is absolutely no one around who can teach you. You’re in luck! there’s this thing you might have heard of called … Continued

Be kind to yourself

It’s truly amazing what you are doing. But it’s hard. How can you be kind to yourself today?

Listening Is Practice Too, Two

You may ask: How can I become better at the fiddle? Could I get good enough to play in band? Could I learn to pick up tunes and songs more quickly? How can I do this??!! First, find a way to play every day and everything else will work out. In addition to practicing your … Continued