At our Tuesday jam I played my fiddle “properly” for the first time in public. Nothing clever, just a slow and careful melody in ‘Dirty Old Town’, and rather hesitant improvised long-bow backup to “Blue Moon of Kentucky”. After that I decided I had pushed my luck enough, and the mandolin came out.
It went OK. Everyone was very encouraging. I guess I’ll take it along regularly from now on.
Wonder how long it’ll be before fiddle usurps mandolin as my main instrument… It’s definitely addictive.
Congrats!! Sounds like you did a fine job. I doubt too many things would push the mandolin from your heart forever, but you might find yourself wanting one of these shortly:
http://www.finecases.com/browse/guardian-cases/guardian-cases-3184.html
That is wonderful! It is such a great feeling to know you are able to make music and make it sound good with others. As I am new to the strings forum, can you tell me how long you’ve been playing fiddle?
Well, I got the fiddle around late April/early May this year. I had a couple of prelimiary lessons with a classical teacher who didn’t work out. Then I had a few lessons with a folk fiddler lady who is great, but the timing clashed with work, so I had to put lessons on hold. after about half a dozen with her.
For the last three months or so I’ve been learning from DVDs and books with lots of advice from the various fiddle forums. I seem to be making good progress.
I’ve played mandolin for a while (that’s what I usually do at the session and in our band), so the tuning, scales etc were familiar, which helps.
My biggest problem is shyness. I really do go to pieces when I know people are watching or listening. The band have a hell of a time getting me to ever play a solo on mando. I prefer to be part of the ensemble!
I’m getting better at taking the spotlight, but it’s never by my choice.
Most of my practice is actually ITM - jigs, polkas, reels etc and the attendant ornamentation. I need to also work more on some of the bluegrass, blues and rock tunes. The improv particularly.
Great idea, Tim. But I bet no one imports them into the UK… 
Still, I’ll look around. It would be handy.
Oh wow, do I understand this! I HATE playing by myself in front of people. Good for you, buddhu! I’m very proud of you for doing it! 
Aw… cheers, Izz. 
Risked a few additional fiddle tunes last night.
‘Bile Them Cabbage Down’ and ‘Cripple Creek’. Loads of mistakes, but our banjo player is very supportive and he kept just nodding and saying “No worries, that’s fine”, and made me push on through the errors and keep going to the end of the tunes.
Also tried some basic long bow and shuffle double stop back-up improv over a slow blues the lads stated jamming.
I was playing drone/double stop versions so any intonation issues stick out like a sore thumb which was what did my head in. Every time I played a note that was flat against the drone, or hit a double stop where the interval was out a bit, it put me off and I stumbled a little. Still, it’s getting there - I just need to keep pushing it.
I still have a lot of work to do on bowing. When it comes to doing fast shuffly rhythms like ‘Bile Them Cabbage’ I find I tense my bow arm and, of course, that screws my rhythm up! I also need to work on not straying too close to the bridge, and hitting one string cleanly without sounding the next - especially on string changes.
And drones and double stops… Grrr - it’s so easy to tip the bow angle and lose one of the strings. So, plenty to be working on!
I still suck, but I’m learning. The confidence-stretching exercise of taking it to the pub and playing in front of people is definitely a motivator. This a great instrument. I suspect it will soon replace mando as my total favourite to play for some things.
buddhu, I’d be interested in knowing what instructional
DVDs/books you’ve used and also what fiddle fora you’re
on. I’m in the same situation as you, teacher-wise, and
would like to get some of my own education in so I can
properly assess my next teacher before spending several
lessons realizing they don’t know Irish from Bluegrass.
I’m also woefully behind on learning lingo like:
My main instructional tools are:
Kevin Burke’s DVDs initially left me with some reservations, but the more I use them the more I like them. The printed music gives some hints on bow direction, but Burke explicitly points out that bowing patterns in Irish music are very much a personal preference thing.
Brian Wicklund’s DVDs are absolutely brilliant. Detailed, thorough, clear - superbly planned filmed and put together. For a beginner the Wicklund DVDs are the best start I can imagine short of a good live teacher.
Forums… I’m on Fiddle Forum and Fiddle Hangout, although I don’t use them a great deal at the moment.
As for lingo…?! I hadn’t realised that was jargony 
!
Long bow back ups are when you play long, slow bowed notes or double stops as a back up to a tune.
Shuffles are many and varied. If you listen to most versions of ‘Bile Them Cabbage’ (as far as I have heard) you’ll hear a common shuffle rhythm being used by the fiddler. They have names like Georgia Shuffle, Nashville Shuffle etc. Don’t ask me to define them - that’s best left to the experts on the specialist forums!
With the basic lessons I had, and the excellent DVDs, I don’t feel the need to hurry back to a teacher. Maybe once I have worked my way through the material I have…
Oh yeah…drones and double stops are the bane of my existence. Well, behind just general bowing, which I can never seem to get down right 
Have you ventured onto the variations in the back of the AFM book yet?
Sort of. I rely on the DVDs more than the books, but yeh, that’s where I got the ‘Cabbage’ and ‘Cripple Creek’ arrangements I was trying.
I need to stop both my bow hand and my left hand from tensing. That happens more with double stops than playing single strings - much more.
You’re a gentleman and a scholar.
Too kind. I struggle at both…