Fiddle Challenge – Week Four

You might have been wondering how the fiddling is going.

Pretty good.

I had my first lesson back with Clint, phenom fiddle kid of Toledo and it went pretty good. I haven’t had a lesson since the first of the year because my dumb car situation got me off track and then, well, one thing led to another and I just hadn’t been taking lessons.

But thankfully Clint was dilligent and called me like 12 times…. and I finally said, yeah, you know I want to learn more… haha… YouTube is good, but I need a person to smack me when I’m doing really dumb stuff and to pat me on the back when something good sinks in and I get it!

So my first lesson back was kind of a “where are you” and I hope he was impressed that I was definately improving… I’ll put a little clip from my last lesson up here and then a clip of what I just recorded and I do believe I’ve made some progress!

We talked about flourishes… those little tag licks that add such flavor to fiddling in the back ground when other instruments and singers are doing their thing. You can’t just keep playing the melody over and over, well, you can, but eventually someone will smack you or they will all just move off and leave you standing there, like a goofball.

Bluegrass music is a team sport, ain’t no one the star, or well, ain’t no one SHOULD be the star…. it’s a give and take ballet between all the instruments and the singers… it’s wonderful. And I’m so afraid to play with others at this point, because I know how it SHOULD sound and I’m just not there yet! I can do a few songs okay, and I’m building, but part of it is being able to do backup and that was the crux of my lesson time this Friday afternoon past.

We worked on the flourishing of the backup… and those beautiful little licks that just make it sound lovely. I think I understand better now…. like for example, those licks should always end on the note in the key you are playing… so if it’s Key of A, then make sure when you’re done with your lick that you end on A… and it does work.

He taught me last winter about using the penatonic scale to make breaks easier and I do believe I’ve finally got that ingrained in my head. Seems to work. I’m still not good at like B and C keys… those are a little tougher, but A D E and G I can swing pretty good.

Another thing that we covered was chords on the fiddle.

Chords???? Huh?

Yeah, well fiddlers actually play chords, more usually like two finger chords for backup! WOW! That really makes sense… and we ran through like three positions for each of the chords of A G D and E…. I’m not sure that I have them all down good, but at least now the knowledge is there and I can work on it.

I’m sure that he’ll quiz me on it. He always does.

Well, it was sure fun and I’m set for another on next Friday… I think I’m going to do my best to stay on track now with Clint… and keep at it.

Here are my two tracks for tonight. One is a very old first fiddling attempt with Clint playing the guitar. Almost a year ago.

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Here are the guys in the band humoring me last August… playing Old Joe Clark with me.. the first song I learned and was so proud that I could actually play, sorta…

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And this track is one I made tonight with myself. Playing fiddle and banjo…. (don’t you love multi-track audio recording software????? You can finally be in two places at once!!!!)

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bgk-art-fiddles

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About Mobymom

the banjo player for Deepwater Bluegrass, and the editor of BuckeyeBluegrass.com as well as the main graphic designer of the Westvon Publishing empire. She is a renaissance woman of many talents and has two lovely daughters and a rehab mobile home homestead to raise.

Comments

Fiddle Challenge – Week Four — 3 Comments

  1. That track where you were playing both fiddle and banjo was pretty impressive! Good job. I never thought I liked the banjo much, but the more I hear it, the more I like it. So, thanks!

  2. Not love the banjo!??? Woman! You have yet to live!!!! (hahaha)

    I’ve been playing the banjo for like EVER…. well, I took off about 20 years inbetween, but still… the banjo ROCKS! (gg)

    I’ll have to put up some more banjo picking for you all to learn to love!

    Banjo and fiddle are a PERFECT pair!

    :-) Just funnin’ with ya!

    Sherri