"Sugar Hill"/The Blues

I think my fingers are too fat to play the fiddle I have. I feel like I'm having to do some trange hand contortions. Learning "Sugar Hill" in the key of D. I'm in a bit of a music dry period. Think I needed to slow down. Trying out "Lonesome Road Blues" on banjo lately. I realized that I can feel the blues - and I love singing the blues - it's the vocal equivalent to something.......i don't know....something like....not the jazzy blues stuff....but the old timey blues stuff that was most definitely a precursor - roots music is called "roots" music for a reason. I can't express right now - just know that I love to sing the blues.

"Fiddle Tunes"

The fiddle is, yet again, clicking a little more. Now it is easier for me to play more slowly and more rhythmically precise....whereas before I could only function in super-fast-fiddle mode. The (odd?) syncopations are finding their way into my arm muscles.....I never imagined the syncopations and bowing could be so difficult, but they are. Did a quick learn of The Carolina Chocolate Drops fiddle tune, "A Genuine Negro Jig" that they learned from an old old old manuscript (was it Snowden?) It's not the same as theirs, but it's something new and refreshing and is letting me explore more this A Cross-Tuning. Love that fiddle tuning can be similar to banjo. Want to play in G instead of A? Great - just tune the strings down a whole step and there you go. THE JUNE APPLES (a band I play in) are looking to pull out three fiddle tunes for a gig this week along with plenty of banjo tunes. Well, in old-time music, pretty much all tunes are "fiddle tunes".....

This Country

Learning 'Pretty Saro.' Discovering the genius of Bruce Molsky. Gifted with 5 DVDs from some fiddle friends....three of 'Visits with Tommy Jarrell' (recordings set up inside his house), as well as some performances from Clifftop 2008. When Bruce plays his fiddle, I feel like he's sharing himself rather than the fiddle playing. It seems like he's saying something when he plays.

The fiddle is less alluring to me these days. I've been a little banjo-focused. Which is fine - been needing to learn some new tunes. Still going at 'Shortenin' Bread' on the fiddle....need to move onto 'Sugar Hill'....soon.

Placid

Fiddle work these days is slow. Finally tackling the bass strings. It's strange how it happens, but my notes are getting more and more precise. Playing old time music in isolation doesn't make much sense. It's meant to be played with 2+ people. In case you were wondering, this is a picture of the amazing Rhiannon Giddens of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. She rocks my socks.

revelation

Went to my first old-time jam in Huntsville, TX over the weekend. I'd say it was about time to play my banjo with some good old time fiddle players. We drew in some young kids who had probably never heard of old time music - and it was exciting to see their excitement. A little over a year ago, I didn't know about fiddle and banjo music, either. I didn't realize the fiddle or the banjo could be so cool together.

In other news, those fiddle players informed me that my fiddle is smaller than a full size. Never buy on ebay again. They told me it was a 4/4 - and I had my speculations when I first started playing. Honestly, it's only slightly smaller than a 4/4. It's like a 7/8 - but it's such an awesome smaller fiddle! Even they agreed - said it was a very good fiddle. (for $200 hehe) So I think my plan is to drop my pride and order a really cheap student full size that's not an antique and learn before I make my next big antique violin purchase. Besides, I should buy a fiddle direct anyway...

Today we're putting on a June Apples show for David Rainey. Hoping to pull out a fiddle tune!

Old-Timey Music is for dancing

"Shortenin' Bread" - after 4 weeks finally sounds like a fiddle tune. It is best to take good breaks - like a day or two - and come back to the fiddle. It's like a new revelation - and the notes are fresh.

In other news, 'The June Apples' - a jam band I play banjo with has been asked to collaborate with Alley Theatre Company member David Rainey in a summer theatre program for youth. The details are still sketchy - we will be meeting with him soon. But apparently, he has written a script that calls for some sort of a barn dance. It was so bizarre to get this call from a friend of his - who just happened to hear us rehearsing one day and learned about what we do. David Rainey is my absolute favorite stage actor - and I would have never, in an eon, expected to meet him and work with him in this fashion!

...weird, but exciting. Who knows, maybe we can pull out our first fiddle tune and get on the ball. I've always wanted to play for a dance.

The beginning of progress...

ok, fiddle's finally clicking. Got my shoulder rest and chin rest yesterday. It makes the world a better place, really. I went to the violin shop and the lady at the front desk (as she plucked the strings on my violin) asked with a confused expression, "What kind of tuning is this?"

"Old-Timey."

"Oh"

Along with "Shortenin' Bread", I'm working on some licks for the Original Carter Family's song, "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - an early country music ballad that The June Apples might be working on soon.

The fiddle is so different from the banjo. Old-Timey banjo has a math to it. there are only a certain number of things you can do within the set structure and a number of ways to pull it off...with fiddle, it seems the possibilities and nuances can be endless. Sure, there are nuances in banjo...but, it's just interesting wrapping my mind around the fiddle, which approaches the melody in a much different way. Words can only explain so much...

when you are learning on your own...

I have so many decisions to make about how I'm going to play my fiddle, and I need to make them soon so I don't have to re-learn anything down the road. Right now I'm trying to decide if I need to play at my jaw or breast...and if I play at my jaw (which I think would be easier), then I need to go purchase a shoulder rest, because the fiddle is not easy to always keep stationary.

Week One

My Fiddle. A nameless beauty...but what do I know.



My teacher: Brad Leftwich. Using his DVDs. In old-time, after all, it's common to learn instruments by ear and by unconventional means...




I can't put the thing down. Learning 'Shortenin' Bread.' I forget everything in between times that I practice. I am going to have to learn some serious patience. I've been playing the banjo for a year now, and I hope that the fiddle will not take my concentration away, as I still have much to learn on the banjo. If you're a banjo player, perhaps you can understand such curiosity of that thing called the fiddle - which nobody seems to play (and if they do, certainly not the good old-timey stuff) except on recordings. Anyone else out there trying to tackle the banjo and fiddle at relatively the same time?