One of the blogs I like to read is having a Summer Fiddler Challenge… and I decided to sign up because I’ve been playing the fiddle now for a year and I’m not doing very good. Well, I’m okay, at like 4 or 5 songs but not that good. And it’s primarily because I stopped practicing. It’s practice that makes it a lot easier to play a lot better. When our band has a lot of gigs in a month… by the end of the run of shows, we’re all playing a lot better, tighter and smoother. It’s all because of practice and playing.

So… here’s the post all about.. you can go and take a look…

Summer Fiddle Challenge

And here’s my fiddling story….

I do play in a bluegrass band, the banjo. But it’s a lot different than the fiddle, trust me. A banjo has frets, fiddle none. Big big difference. You have to really learn your fingering and intonation on the fiddle… everyone loves the fiddle and everyone hates it when it’s squawky and uneven sounding… unsure. So it’s hard to be a beginner because everyone gives you this weird look if you make a single note wrong. Heck my dog won’t even be around me when I play… in fact in my week one video below, Dingo is voicing his displeasure at my playing!

That makes it pretty rough on beginning fiddlers!!!

I have my Great Grandfather’s fiddle. He lived around the turn of the century in Indiana, right on the border of Indiana and Ohio in a place called Monroeville. He played at barn dances and all that. Now he passed away at an early age in 1936 and so, I’m not sure that he was into bluegrass, since bluegrass, technically, came about around the early 1940s… but he was definately heading in the right direction. I believe if he hadn’t succumbed to a nasty wound, he would be a bluegrass fiddler.

Here’s a picture of him and his brother. Now, he’s holding the cello… and we’re not sure where that ended up, but the fiddle, I have. And it’s beautiful. I need to have the original bow re-haired and then they will be reunited.

Here’s a webpage with photos of the fiddle and all

http://www.indianabluegrass.com/ib-sherrifiddle.html

Here’s a video of me on Week One of the CAF Fiddle Challenge…
15 minutes a day, every day for 6 weeks. We’ll see how it goes! Maybe my band will even let me play if I can get my act together a little more!!! (g) maybe….