oh thats great! could you post the article or link? id love to read it!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Any advice for a new fiddle player (or is it fiddlist / fiddler)?  I received an inexpensive one for Christmas and intend to take it up.

I've played guitar for most of my life and mandolin for the last few years.  I played double bass for a few years in school but that was long ago.  I've dabbled in quite a few instruments over the years actually.

It's not a question of practise.  I know what that takes for that.  I already know about as much theory as I'll ever learn so that's no problem.  What I need are technique tips and which artists are good for a starter to learn.

So, a little help here?  (Or should I start a "Newbie Fiddlers Unite" thread?)

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But I know I'm going to do it again!
Robbie

Congrats, Robbie!

I started fiddling at age 50. My nephew taught me the basics and I took it from there by followint the Craig Duncan Do-It-Yourself books. But there reached a point that I needed a teacher. Went to the Gaelic COllege in Cape Breton since I was only interested in learning Cape Breton fiddling techniques. What I found was any variety of holds for both the fiddle and the bow. And that I learn best by ear.

Violinists learn the instrument differently and are much more formal about it all. Once a friend told me the difference between a violin and a fiddle is that you don't care if you spill beer on your fiddle. I've found that to be mostly true. Except of course, for Natalie MacMaster. And even then, she's not picky about who plays her fiddle at her Mom's house. (I know - I played it!)

There's a group online called bavs (beginning adult violin students) but they tend to drive me crazy with the seriousness of their questions and answers. Natalie's instruction video is not for beginners, but more for advanced intermediates. Kevin Burke (Irish fiddler) has a farily decent video out for beginners. Mandolin strings and violin are the same I understand. So that part should come easy for you. Homespun Tapes has plenty of instructional DVDs whatever your bend - bluegrass, jazz, celtic.

Good luck to you!!!!

Anne

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And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

Good luck, Robbie!  I'm having enough problems with the different tuning of the mandolin, let alone looking at any instrument without frets!!
 

Anne is right - the standard fiddle tuning is the same as the mandolin (GDAE), so I guess you'll just have to get used to dealing without frets. I definitely recommend getting a teacher. I think the learning curve, especially early on, is much quicker with a good teacher. It'll also keep you from getting too many bad habits. While fiddlers are much more relaxed about that, they can affect your playing and your sound.  For videos, Homespun Tapes is a great resource.

 
I would also add, don't get discouraged! You sound like you have the right attitude. The hardest part for me was sticking with it even though my playing was painful to my ears (and I'm sure my neighbors' ears). I also think learning by ear helps, since you really have to rely on your ear without frets. A good training exercise is to use a device to tune your A string, and then harmonics (playing the strings together) to tune the rest.

Good luck, & keep us posted! 

welcome to the world of string players! We're sharp, never flat, and always natural (ok, highschool orchestra joke ;) ).

tips? hmm.... the thing about the violin is there aren't any frets, so intonation is a whole other issue. what i suggest is getting a chromatic tuner, one that can tell you if you are sharp, flat, or dead on. scales with a tuner is probably the best way to nail intonation without a teacher, however technique is something that can usually only be passed from player to player.

there are many disagreements about how to play, however i have found that classical technique is actually universal when branching to ther styles (scottish, bluuegrass, cape breton, klezmer). however, you will find variance when studying fiddlers, as usually, they learned how to play from another fiddler, and traditions are passed on, ect.

classical technique is (as i see it) most beneficial, as it is the most healthy for your body. i had terrible technique before i got a new teacher, and i pay the price now (mild tendonitis in my wrists, back trouble). a quick technique briefing would be:

play with your back straight, and keep your bowing elbow UP, but never above your shoulder (and obviously it has to be lowered when playing the higher strings, when playing A, your elbow should be almost parallel to the floor).

when holding the bow, the tip of your thumb should be just above the frog, and your other fingers should kinda drape over the top of the bow (your pinkie finger is merely a balance, it may be lifted).

holding the violin, the side of your thumb, and index finger should always be parallel (except when fluctuating for sharps and flats). keeping your hand this close will enable you to play faster, as it diminishes the time it takes for your fingers to hit the finger board.

although many fiddlers dont use it, i highly suggest using a shoulder rest. it makes playing much more comfortable, and over all, it contributes to better playing by having your instrument more parallel to the floor, thus making EVERYTHING much easier.

WOW i wrote a lot...

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Thanks, everyone.  Some good helpful tips here.  I'll definitely try the tuner and a shoulder rest.

I'm having a little difficulty keeping the bow on the strings.  It wants to bounce.  Am I not putting enough pressure on the strings?  Or is my tension on the bow too high or too low?  What should be the proper tension?  Should the hair be parallel to the stick or should there be a bow in the bow?  Maybe someone could post a picture of a properly tensioned bow?

Other than that, I feel I'm progressing at a good rate.  Not that I'll be playing Carnagie Hall anytime soon!  There's still a lot of work ahead.

("B Sharp and B Natural" - from my highschool orchestra days.)

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But I know I'm going to do it again!
Robbie

rule of thumb is that you should be able to fit your pinkie finger between the bow hair and the stick at the middle of the bow.

pressure? if you're really digging in when playing, too much pressure will cause bounciness. **a special note, UNDER TENSIONED bows will bounce, NOT over tensioned.

hehe... if you dont want to ever have to mess with tightening your bow, try an "incredibow". yes, they really named their product that. a few friends of mine have them, and love them.

http://www.incredibow.com/

if anyone is in a charitable mood, perhaps they can tell me how to link the url?

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Great advice, Paula! I wish I was better about following it.

Paulawalla:

play with your back straight, and keep your bowing elbow UP, but never above your shoulder (and obviously it has to be lowered when playing the higher strings, when playing A, your elbow should be almost parallel to the floor).

One thing to add, keep your elbow back, too. I have a bad habit of letting mine drift forward, and that makes my bow wander too far down, which makes the sound scratchy instead of full.

I'll second the endorsement of shoulder rests. It makes it much easier and more comfortable to hold the violin properly. You should be supporting the violin with your chin, not your left hand, which should be free to move if necessary. The shoulder rest makes this much, much easier.

To link urls...let's see if I can do this without actually making one or screwing up the post:
["url"=http://www.incredibow.com/]Icredibow["/url"]
gives you
Icredibow
Just take out the quotation marks.

thanks! hey... your band is playing shamrockfest, correct? if so, do you guys have a website?

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

I second Paula's recommendation...the best approach is to start off as close to classical form as possible unless you happen to be near a great fiddler willing to share their expertise...but classical allows you to branch into so many different directions.  Joshua Bell and Mark O'Connor come to mind on violin and Edgar Meyer on Bass violin (my personal favorite)

 Most beginners don't realize how much tension they are carrying in their playing....remembering to breathe, listen and relaxing the body that isn't involved in making a sound on the instrument are very important and will go a long way to making all of Paula's suggestions work; not to mention will ultimately help with intonation.

 Once the basics are established, isolating techniques such as the height of your fingers above the fingerboard or how you draw the bow across the strings, should be part of the focus of practice so those parts become second nature and the real focus eventually becomes the music and the fun.

Paulawalla:

thanks! hey... your band is playing shamrockfest, correct? if so, do you guys have a website?

Yep, we are! I can't wait...our website doesn't look like it's been updated in awhile, so here's our myspace page.

Hey, I was wondering if anyone had the music to Captain Kidd for fiddle. A few of my friends and I want to learn how to play it. We can play all of the main instruments involved and are now looking for the music. I would really appreciate any help. Thanks!

my brief search did not yeild results for Captain Kidd, howevever i do have good news! an OKP member, Baldie, has a site that has fiddle tunes for many other GBS songs. the collectionis great, here's the link: Baldie's Space

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

new case

got a new case yesterday. LOVE it. it has a hydrometer, which is a life saver, because if i dont have a little 'clock' screaming at me to put my dampit in, i probably wont.

also, it came with a nifty tube that is filled with crystals that you put in the bath tub to soak, and the crytals turn to gel. the moisture form the gel humidifies the case, preventing the instrument from becoming too dry, and crack. spiffy, especcialy i since the shop gave me a talking-to about keeping my instrument well humidified since there are already a couple of seam cracks, YIKES!

however, the main reason i got a new case is that i outgrew my old one, as i now have too much violin-crap to carry around, so this case has tons more storage for rosin, shoulder rest, extra strings, cleaning cloth, recording device (H2, another recomended buy), tuner, and metronome.

also, it has a rubber exterior, thus making it water proof with is really great because a few weeks ago some of my sheetmusic was ruined when i was dashing through the rain, and the music in the top pocket got soaked :(

anyone having winter woes with humidification? especially proud of a case? particurally ashamed of thier case? that would be a fun game... everyone post a pic of thier intrument in their open case. im going to go do that now...

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**