Pathways
What’s a Musical Pathway?
Musical Pathways are like themed learning adventures.
Each one is a curated collection of lessons around a single skill or style—like chord backup, improvisation, or vibrato.
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Unlike a step-by-step course, you don’t have to follow in order.
You can skip around, follow your curiosity, and dive in at your current level.
They’re perfect for students who’ve already started their fiddle journey and want to:
- Explore new sounds 🎶
- Add more tools to their fiddle toolkit 🧰
- Go deeper into topics they love 🔎
Each pathway includes:
- Beginner → advanced lessons
- Practice tools (loops, charts, tracks)
- Real songs to apply the skill
- Play-along workshops
- Reflection questions and practice challenges
🧭 Choose Your Path
Here are the current pathways you can explore:
Chord Backup Pathway – Learn how to add chords and double stops to your fiddle playing so you can jam, back up others, and groove with confidence.
Note-Reading For Fiddlers – Learn to read sheet music in a fun, fiddle-friendly way—starting with what you already know by ear.
Irish Fiddle – Learn classic Irish fiddle tunes and ornaments while building the skills to add variation, expression, and flow to your playing.
Old-Time Fiddle – Learn to play classic Old-Time and Appalachian tunes with signature bowing patterns, slides, and variations that bring the music to life.
Art Of Fiddling – Take your fiddling to the next creative level with new scales, bowing patterns, and techniques like vibrato and shifting that unlock expression and improvisation.
🎼 Where Are the Lessons From?
Many of the lessons you’ll find in each pathway are also part of the Main Course (Modules 1.1–2.9).
The pathway just helps you focus on a specific skill or style—like backup, vibrato, or improv.
⚠️ A Gentle Warning…
Try not to fall into shiny object syndrome 🤩
If you’re still working through the Beginner Course (Modules 1.1–1.10), I recommend completing that first. It will give you the strong foundation needed to get the most out of these themed pathways.
That said, everyone learns differently.
That’s why FiddleHed is a self-paced course and why we’ve created pathways—to help you learn what you need most, when you’re ready for it.
🎯 What Do YOU Want to Learn Next?
Is there a skill, style, or technique you’d love to see in a pathway?
Email me!
Let me know what you’d like to explore, and I just might create it 😊