Looping is perhaps the most powerful practice tool I know of. If you actually do this you will be able to play all the difficult parts of a tune and the whole thing will flow more.
The basic idea is that instead of playing an entire piece of music all the way through every time, you pick out one very small part and learn it. Once you get the idea of that small part, you repeat it continuously so that it creates a groove and sounds like music. Though you may be a beginner, you can play music right now.
Play the loop slow enough so that your fingers, hands and ears can really learn that part. Speed it up a little so that you can hear how it will sound in context later.
D3 3 A1 1 1 0 1 0 D2 D1
If you loop on something long enough, you’ll get to a point where you are feeling and playing the music instead of thinking about what you have to do next.
Change the loop length
If you’re trying to loop on a part and you can’t do it consistently, it means you have to change the loop length and play a smaller part. This will help you discover what’s really difficult about that part. It might just be two notes. In the Oh Susannah example above, beginning students often have difficulty going from D3 to A1.
If you can’t easily repeat on that part, then you should shorten the part and/or slow it down. You might find that the best loop is going between two notes that are difficult for you. In the example above, you may need to loop on the first two notes with simple quarter notes:
D3 A1 D3 A1
Loop on these two notes until you can do it easily. A nice practice trick is to play things with two bows:
D3-3-A1-1
This has a way of magically making a difficult part more easy.
Repeat this process for all the different parts of the songs. Eventually, make longer loops by combining quarters and looping halves, then whole parts of tunes.
Practice becomes play
When you are looping on something, it becomes fun when you stop thinking about what you are doing and really just start to enjoy playing music. You might even start to see that loop as a short piece, like a riff, or the beginning of a symphony. The key is to enjoy both the physical feeling of movement and the process of making music with such a tiny little part.
If you take your time and learn to enjoy all the little parts of a song through looping, you will learn more and learn faster. Looping, looping, looping…
Assignment
Practice looping at least once a day within your practice session.
Once you have a loop memorized, try to move to different parts of the room as you practice it.
Make the loop smaller.
Then make the original loop bigger.
When you see the following clip in a FiddleHed video, let it be your cue to pause the video and actually loop on a small piece.
Practice this with joy every day. The next lesson in the How To Practice Fiddling course will offer you a tool to focus your practice.
Lessons complete in the How To Practice Fiddling module:
Here is a quick way for you to access the essential practice tools you need. Under each tab you'll find play-along tracks, tabs and condensed teachings to help you as you practice. This is an evolving idea, so let me know in a comment below if it could be better.
Here are some common scales used in fiddle tunes. Each runs through a series of variations: two bows legato, two bows staccato, four bows, tucka (4 shorts, two longs), hoedown (1 long, two shorts), throwaway bow, triplets, tremolo.
D Major
G Major, starting on D3
A Major
D Dorian
A Dorian
Practice a tune with its scale (Kerry Polka is in G major, so practice a G major scale). Practice scales before, during and after practicing tunes.
Always return to a good sound, even if it means playing quarter notes on the D string. You can do this! You just have to remember to pause on practicing the challenging thing and just get a good sound on single notes.
Why do this? Because it will bring you deep joy. And it will build your confidence which will inspire further practice.
Here are a few technical reminders to remember as you practice.
Posture reminders
Curve left-hand and right-hand fingers.
Bend right thumb.
Bend right arm and wrist.
Use minimal energy.
Left-hand fingers land on tips, not pads. This makes for more precise playing.
Bowing tips
Take time to focus on bowing during each practice session.
Get the best possible sound on single notes using long bows, throwaway bow, rhythms. Even just a few minutes of this will drastically improve your sound.
Use less bow.
This is a rule of thumb for fiddle tunes, especially for when things are difficult.
Continue to practice long bows. This will improve your overall sound.
Play in the middle of the bow. This is the sweet spot.
Use no extra energy or force for double stops.
It's more a matter of getting the bow perfectly balanced between the two strings.
Again, playing with less bow will help with this.
Left-hand fingering tips
Keep fingers down when possible.
For example, if you are rapidly playing D1-2, it is easier if you keep D1 down while fingering D2.
Practice this on scales.
Practice Little Lift
Don't lift left-hand fingers too high. Let them just hover above the string.
This allows you to play faster, better in tune and with more ease.
If you notice you are tense and not breathing evenly, simply pause on what you're currently practicing and play a single note. Make it sound nice. See if your body is more relaxed now.
If you can play a single note with a relaxed body, then try more complex things: 2-note intervals, scales, simple tune phrases, whole tunes.
Keep returning to single notes as a way to center yourself, relax and enjoy the process.
Little lift
Don't lift your left-hand fingers too high off the fingerboard. You only need to lift them about a millimeter.
This saves energy and will allow you to play with more ease and speed.
If you find that sound is sloppy, try adding a little pause in between the notes. This gives your fingers time to find the next note. This is especially helpful with string crossing.
