Fiddle Lessons

Hey Guys, just wanted you to know that I think that your fiddle lessons are great! Just learned the intro to Road to Columbus quick and easy after messing around with it for months off and on, downloaded your lesson tonight and have got it a "down pat" in just about 15 min. I already played the tune but now can play it fancier and with the intro. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Joe

I have downloaded several of the fiddle lessons (Foggy Mtn. Spec, Gold Rush, Rebecca and Road to Columbus). They are great.

I find that using GOM Media player (a free download) works great because you can easily isolate the section you are working on and have just that section repeat over and over.
You can also speed it up and slow it down which also helps. But the further you get from the actual speed, the lower the quality sounds. The pitch doesn't change with the speed so you can still play right along with it.
Just Google: GOM Media Player

The notation really helps me helps a lot. I learned to read music way back in high school band playing the trumpet. I can't sight read when playing the fiddle but it really helps figure out what to play, especially on some of the double stops like in the 2nd break in Road to Columbus.

On some of the harder to learn double stop sequences, I find that learning what to play on one string at a time then play them together slowly until it sounds right. I've found its best not to go faster than you can play it correctly, not speeding it up until I can play it thru several times getting all the notes on pitch.

One suggestion for improving the lessons even more would be to include the musical notation for the fiddle back-up.

Thanks to you all for this great resource.
"Duck" McDonald

If you want to change the speed of the lessons without changing the pitch, try using a free player called Audacity. THere is a Bluegrass College Help page available at http://www.bluegrasscollege.org:8080/Bluegrass/help/displayhelp.jsp?topic=audacity which gives more details on how to do this (and also gives a link to the Audacity download page).

Audacity can also be used to loop sections of the track if you want to practice that way.

Just wanted to say thanks for the great fiddle lessons. I also am interested in some back up notation or video instruction. Chords or notes to play while everyone else is playing. I can noodle around some but it would be nice to have something cool to play. Thanks for all your hard work. And thanks for such great instructors!

"One suggestion for improving the lessons even more would be to include the musical notation for the fiddle back-up."

I agree! More information on how to play the fiddle back-up would be great!

Sofie

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 05/12/2011 15:19:58

Yes my son and daughter can read music well but are just learning the fiddle style and cannot improv or backup on the fly. Notation for backup no matter how simple or diffucult would be helpful. Improv thoughts would be nice too. Overall, this sight is great. I can't believe my autisitic son who can't concentrate for 2 minutes on anything else can really get into the the recordings and sheet music you guys have put together. Thanks a ton!