I too have been sparked to try another instrument and have been toying with flute, which somehow doesn’t seem different enough. So I was thinking, wow, I really love fiddle. When I saw that I could get one for about $125, I also realized that a fiddle is a violin; just depends on what kind of music you play on it. Well, I didn’t get resounding support around these parts. My daughter, who plays clarinet in the school band, said it’s too hard for me to learn (especially at my advanced years); my better half said, “oh no, do you know what it’s like to listen to somebody LEARNING the fiddle or violin?” (no, I don’t know, because I am generally the offending party). She’d rather I’d learn piano, which sits now unused (my daughter doesn’t play much anymore) in the dining room. Now I think that’s too difficult. Then I thought banjo, but am not that crazy about it. My daughter also has a guitar…hmmmm.
Yeah, yeah, I know, learn to play the whistle first…What do you guys think?
Go for it! Fidlle’s easier to lug around than a piano, and if it’s out of tune, you can actually do something about it. I recently picked up the IntelliTouch tuer (Musicians Friend carries them for about $59 bucks). They work on the vibrations of the instrument, not sound waves, so your tuning isn’t affected by ambient noise.
I’ve played violin (you’re right about the style of playing thing) 35+ years, but fiddle (at least technique-wise) is easier to pick up. You only have to worry about two octaves, don’t need to shift into those pesky upper positions.
Getting to sound Irish is an entirely different matter.
You do need to learn how to tune your instrument (we’ve a life-long fiddler in our sesion who cannot tune her own instrument after 50+ years. Go figure!).
We’ve also two other ~ahem~ older (in that they’re older than me) who are just recently learning fiddle. They’re doing fine, though intonation still needs work.
Good luck! You’ll only squeak and squawk until you realize you forgot to put enough rosin on the bow!
I was about 30 when I started the fiddle. I had already played guitar for around 12 years, and I was teaching myself mandolin and 5-string banjo at the same time.
Filddle was definitely the most difficult for me. My ear wasn’t too good when it came to subtle variations in intonation. Even though it’s tuned the same as the mandolin, the lack of frets made it difficult to learn to play up the neck. The left hand position is weird. Then there’s bowing…
I did end up playing fiddle in public for pay for a short period, but as soon as I moved to North Carolina and got involved with a real fiddle player, I pretty much gave it up. Still have the fiddle, and drag it out occassionally, but I knew I’d never get far with it.
What I really like about the whistle is that I can get those long, voice-like notes that are impossible on the mandolin and guitar, but it’s a bunch easier than the fiddle.
You might consider the mandolin. It works for ITM, Old-Timey music, and Bluegrass–even blues. You can play some rhythm on it.
One of the great things about the mandolin is that it is not a bnj.[/b][/u]
Thanks for the feedback guys. Now that you mention mandolin, I recall that a childhood friend started on mandolin, played harpsichord and then fiddle. He practiced while I (mis)spent my youth in the pool room. He was mostly in to Blue Grass then. One day when I hadn’t seen him for a while, I saw my friend on Saturday Night Live playing electric fiddle with Taj Mahal!
I just started mandolin myself. Cool. Though it’s hard to adjust to the picking style (used to guitar).
I’ve also discovered that when a string goes out of tune, it sounds like a sick cat! Fiddlers can adjust on the fly by shifting finger position, but fretted instruments are a little tougher to adjust mid-song (“Can you hold that note a sec? My E’s out.”)
That’s why I like the IntelliTouch tuner. I can leave it clipped to the mandolin, fiddle head or guitar and sneak a quick tune check whenever I need to.
I have a Korg tuner, but that requires either ambient sound or a jack. I use it for the main pre-event tune-up.
Electric fiddles (OK, violins), are absolutely, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful instruments in the world. I’ve never seen one in person, but I’d love to.
Same family, yes, but then don’t we all have relatives that leave us scratching our heads wondering how we could possibly be related? Yeah, the fingerings are the same, but getting the fingers right is most of the job with the whistle, but only the very beginning of playing the flute. And the flute sounds more like a whistle than a fiddle does, but the sound of a flute can be varied so much by the player; it’s much more expressive than the whistle.
Just another POV. I’m really having a blast with the flute, but can sure see the attraction of the fiddle.
Also, I’ve heard, not just a beginner, but a violinist with many years under his belt, sight reading. Your wife is right that it can be quite grating hearing a piece played with notes that are approximate. I can just imagine how much worse it is with a beginner.
Go with the fiddle, definitely. It’s the most versatile instrument I can think of. It can be used to play Irish, classical, bluegrass, country, Cajun, Jewish folk, and who knows what all.
My suggestion would be to find a teacher who knows the right way to produce a good sound. I know someone around here who can get a student to produce a good solid tone during the first lesson (he even got me, a clutz with string instruments, to produce a pretty good tone on the viola on my first try). Then your family won’t be able to complain about the tone at least! lol
And if you have your heart set on fiddle…go for it! I wish I could play a string instrument!
Like any instrument, you get out of it what you put into it. If you are willing to put in the practice time, I think anyone can learn to play fiddle, no matter how old you are when you start. I’ve practiced a lot during my whopping 1 1/2 years on fiddle, and quite frankly I’ve been surprised how little time its taken to be able to play the darned thing at sesssions n stuff. I love the whistle, but for me nothing beats the expressive versatility of the fiddle.
Working on intonation is huge, but for bowing work remember that you can use any of a wide range of mutes that clamp onto the bridge and really reduce the volume of the instrument…I have one that I use from 8 to 10 pm, then another for after 10 pm for supermuffle.
Oh yea, and finding a good teacher is very important…you can teach yourself to play on the thing but good pointers will save you a lot of time and having to unlearn stuff that doesnt work…but but but but if you want to focus on Trad, I’d avoid getting a dyed in the wool classical instructor if at all possible…most of the classically trained players I’ve met have had a rough time unlearning some of the baggage they acquired from their classically-focused training. I kinda lucked out getting a teacher who was classically trained but who has learned enough of the Trad to know how to pick and choose which techniques to keep and which to fogeddabout.
If you decide that the fiddle is too hard to learn to play well if you aren’t young—I did—a nice instrument that will give a lot of fun and is a lot easier is the concertina. You can get pleasing results quite quickly. Of course, as with any instrument, you have to practice.
I’m also interested in concertina. However, it’s important to get one that isn’t too stiff. A friend of mine ended up on the road to repetitive stress injury from her first one. Luckily she was aware of what was going on, and replaced it with a more flexible one before any permanent damage was done. Now that I’m working on the whistle, she’s promised to bring it over some day. (She usually plays mandolin or guitar at our jam sessions, and knows lots of ITM on the mando, too, but the other jam participants are strictly Bluegrassers.)
Fiddle players are subject to RSI, as well. If you do take up the fiddle, be very watchful about that. I have another friend who was a wonderful fiddler in several styles, who developed shoulder and elbow problems, and hasn’t been able to play for over 6 years. It makes me very sad just thinking about it. She was in a couple of bands, so I guess she just overdid it.
My other friend’s concertina is an Anglo, by the way, which I found very unintuitive. I’ve never had a problem with harmonicas, but could never play the Anglo for long without ending up with the bellows either closed or fully extended before I was done with the current note. If I ever get one, I’m afraid it’ll have to be English.
I recently (last September) took up the fiddle and really love it. I am already playing jigs and reels and, although my intonation is not perfect, it is fairly respectable. I do practice every night (almost) for at least half an hour, and found that the family really did not find it too bad (at least they haven’t mentioned it to my face) ~ my wife actually said that it was not as bad as she had expected :roll:
Get a good teacher and practice lots and you will do fine. However, do not expect good results too fast. There is so much going on when you play the fiddle that it is difficult to get everything right. There is a lot of good information on this thread ( http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=11547&highlight=fiddle ), especially StevieJ’s suggestions on how to evaluate whether or not you should even consider taking up the fiddle in the first place.
