New fiddler -- Any tips?

[OkieLovinNC]

I'm a new fiddler. I just got my first lesson Tuesday. I'm quite pleased with it. Most of the beginning technique is easy-cheesy, but I was wondering if you guys knew any tips/tricks/whatnot to start me out a little? I'd greatly appreciate it! :)

[transformed]

hey i'm just gonna piggyback on this one...

i've been playing for about six months now (taken lessons for 4) and am just starting to get discouraged, thinking that i'll never be able to play well enough to do anything with it or to make it worth it. and i also feel like i'm not getting any better. the more different styles of violin playing i listen to the more i fall in love with the instrument, but the more i realize how far i really am from being able to play the thing....

so if any of you musicians (even of other instruments) have any advice or encouragement for me that would be much appreciated!! i'm not planning on giving up but at the same time i really could use some extra motivation to keep trying.

[Bart Simpson]

How to play the fiddle................... Fiddle is hard there is no way around that. It is probably one of the hardest instruments to master. Although it is a wonderful instrument to play. The bottom line is it is hard and takes lots of practice. In the beginning you will suck but once you get the knack YOU GOT IT! It just takes practice practice and more practice. If you want to learn bluegrass/country put a CD on and play as much as you can. Go ahead get discouraged it shows that you want to play more. Thats how you know if you really like your instrument. Practice Practice Practice. Trust me once you get the fiddle yearnin it wont go away it just gets stronger. After hours and hours of playing on end and your fingers have turned black from the fret board you are starting to get there. However you still need more practice.

As for tips, dont put your instrument away leave it out sitting in its case so you can see it. You will play it more if you have quick access to it.
Keep the bow tight if its too loose you will sound scratchy. Change your strings as often as you can. If you practice 10 hours a week you should be changing them frequently. If you practice 1 hour a week you can got months without a change.

Hope that helps. PRACTICE!!!!

[OkieLovinNC]

Thanks Bart!!!
I have this helpful tip from my instructor. Let me share.

If you have problems bowing too near the bridge or on the fingerboard, take two bendy-straws, stick each one in each of the F-holes and bend them together, put one of the straws inside the other one. Do you know what I mean? Anyways, if you have trouble with the bridge, play on the otherside of the straws, and visa-versa with the fingerboard.

I hope I was somewhat clear and you understood that. :) It helps!!!

[linzee_nc]

At a concert, my sister mentioned to Sara that I was trying to teach myself, and Sara said to practice long bow strokes, frog to tip, over and over and over again. She said that way, you start to produce better tone quality while keeping the bow in the right spot between bridge and fingerboard. That way it will be easier to concentrate on just fingering later.:)

[Erika]

I asked that same question months ago and didn't find anythinh useful.

[Erika]

Sorry, wrong button! Anyways, To help remenber where to place your fingers, my teacher put peices of tape on the board. They are like clear frets!

[Steve L.A.]

There is a great listserve out there for beginning fiddlers/violinists called BAVS (Beginning Adult Violin Students). It is a Yahoo group. You can join it by going to http://groups.yahoo.com. Good group of people with good advice. They have quite a few posts per day so I would select the option where they send you all the posts for the day in one email. Hope this is of help...

[rustynation]

I know I'm new, but I've been playing the violin for almost 20 years, and I can fiddle as well. So if you want help, you can PM me. or IM me. Lemme get my IMs up.

[Day]

My fiddle teacher records on tape parts of the lesson so when I get home I can play along and know if I am in tuned and stuff.

Later Day

[fiddlincklcrker]

I have been taking fiddling lessons for about a month and a half and I notice that the one thing you really need to get to help you is a shoulder rest so that your fiddle is up so you can play faster. Also try and read through the notes first and then try and remember them and then when you go to play you already know the notes so you can play faster. At first I would always want to play fast but the only way that you can get good is to take it slow then slowly you get faster and then someday become a famous fiddler.:cool:

[OkieLovinNC]

Thanks! You guys are of some great help. But I have another question, this time about strings. Bart posted something earlier about changing your strings. What type do you perfer?

[Day]

Well after my lesson this week my fiddle teacher said to buy:

- full size or what ever size your violin is
-ball end
-woundE

and the you want to get the D135S set (D130E)

Go to Sharmusic .com
They have more stuff like stands, bow, etc.
I am going to buy a bow because the on one side of the frog it is chiped and on the other side there is a crack. So I am getting a new one. They also have colored bows,like the stick is blue and they have colored bow with matching hair!

Later Day

[transformed]

my teacher recommended to me (and i bought) D'addario Helicores from shar.com. it seems like i remember Matt the Fiddler (or someone on the boards) mentioning they also used those. I like them. Not that i know anything else besides the cheap factory steel ones. :)

fiddlincklcrker:
At first I would always want to play fast...

yeah, i have that problem too whenever i play reels, jigs, etc... i just keep wanting to go faster even when i'm not ready (notes are out of tune or bowing wrong or any number of things). i have to keep telling myself to play it slower until it's perfect at that speed THEN go faster. i've also started practicing nearly only scales, exercises, things by ear, or making up tunes because then i don't have the temptation to just play a song over and over without really *working* on anything or improving at all.

by the way thanks for all the feedback everybody.

[fidlmaker]

You'll find that alot of professional players use D'Addario Helicore, medium tension or heavy tension strings. Sara uses these as well as Bobby Hicks and Stuart Duncan (though Stuart occasionally switches between the Helicores and a custom set that's not available to us regular players.

I recommend the Helicores because they are middle priced, forgiving, and durable. As far as how often to change them: they're relatively expensive so you don't want to be changing them more often than you need to. I've seen a set of Helicores last a couple of years of heavy use, though they start to lose their sparkle after a couple of weeks (playing several hours every day). However, they will sound plenty good enough for a beginning player for many months, even a year.

One of the secrets of bowing in the right place is to keep the bow perpendicular to the strings. Many beginners start out with a bow stroke that is at one angle to the strings, say at the frog end of the stroke, and then a completely different angle by the time they reach the tip of the bow. This arcing motion will guarantee that the bow will be wandering everywhere between the bridge and fingerboard. Concentrating on keeping it perpendicular to the strings will become habit in short order (so you don't have to think about it anymore), and you'll find that the bow tends to behave much better.

I've found that one of the biggest obstacles for beginning fiddlers is the fear of making the unpleasant noises that are inevitable when first starting out. The cure for this is to experiment (with abandon) someplace where you're sure no one will hear you, at least no one you're concerned about offending or impressing. Make every concievable noise and horrible squall that you can achieve. Go fast, slow, bounce the bow (not too rough now!), use heavy pressure and slow strokes, then fast, then light pressure and fast, medium, slow. Play as soft as you can, then as loud as you can. The idea here is not to make music, but to get a feel for the equipment and how it reacts to different inputs. You'll soon start to get a better feel for how to control the OUTPUT. You may just accidently stumble upon a note or two that really sounded good to you. Now you can start to figure out and remember how you got that sound that you wouldn't mind repeating in front of another human being. This in no way diminishes the importance of getting proper training from a good teacher, but experimenting on your own will ultimately make your teachers job easier, and alot more rewarding for both parties.

I'm getting pretty long-winded here, but I can't help getting excited about new people discovering this wonderful instrument. It MAY just be one of the more difficult instruments to master, but it is certainly one that is worth the extra effort.

Happy fiddlin' and good luck.

Marty Brunkalla

[fiddleronfire32]

hey! i don't have any sure-fire tips for you all but i have my own little bit of info to share.

i've been playing violin since i was 8 (which was 6 1/2 years ago) and i'd say i'm pretty good, like i'm principal 2nd violin at school. and, i take violin lessons, but i dont take fiddle lessons. do i really need to? i'm planning on getting myself some music and just learning it. i guess the question is irrelevant because i wont take lessons anyway.

well, good luck to all of you!

[OkieLovinNC]

Violin and fiddle are pretty much the same thing. Fiddle is more of a different technique than violin. Right now I'm taking violin lessons just to get the basics down and then take the fiddle lessons. I don't know exactly how they're different or similar they are. If you like the fiddling technique, then by all means, take the fiddle lessons. But if you're just starting out, it doesn't matter which you take because you have to learn the same things, i.e. - how to hold it and whatnot.

My $0.02.

[fiddlincklcrker]

Right now I am taking violin lessons. But hopefully when my dad gets more money and I get a little bit further along I am thinking of switching. But I don't know how many fiddle teachers there are in Vegas. :D

[transformed]

i imagine there are plenty...i found one even in my rural area, at a little state college nearby. of course he took the summer off [sob] i really would be nowhere without having had those lessons (i didn't even know to loosen the bow if you can believe it---it's warped now!) i'm having a hard time now without them.

[rustynation]

If you manage to get into a music school and take group lessons (I went to the Hartt School of Music Community Division) they may teach you some random fiddling bits...I learned Orange Blossom special from a group violin class.

Then again, I bet I fiddle like a violinist. If I hold my bow in fiddling position, my hand turns green because the metal coil around my bow is oxidizing.

[transformed]

i didn't know the bow grips were different...i wonder which one my teacher taught me? [think har

[ashley_loren]

i know a fiddle is a violin, but there are such things as fiddling classes instead of violin classes, correct?
if so...are there such things are fiddling classes for violas?