I have a similar story to Mikes'.? I've been playing mando for 30 years.? Picked up a fiddle about 15 years ago at a flea market.? Turned out?to be a?decent old timey sounding fiddle - which is good because my fiddle playing is more old timey sounding than slick bluegrass style.
I've worked on fiddle intermittently over the years and can squeak out a few tunes but never seem to have the time for the fiddle.? I play mando in a band and would rather play mandolin in a jam situation becasue I'm better at it. For me, the fiddle is hard to sound good on and easy to sound really bad on... I really dropped the ball on fiddle when I got a Daley mando a few years ago.? I've got one of those double cases that holds a mandolin and a fiddle but it seems like I can't resist the Daley when ever I open the case... All that said, there are some overlaps between the two.? If I can figure out a tune on the mandolin, I can sorta know how to play in on the fiddle and visa versa, etc, and so on... Several years ago at Nashcamp the great Potentate-r gave me a thumbs up on my fiddle -- not my fiddle playing, but my fiddle!!! One last thing - the band I'm in had a guess fiddler play on our cd -- Brandon Apple -- he's one of the best around anywhere.? Also plays a mean mandolin.? If you want to hear some great fiddling, give?him?a listen hear: http://www.acousticspectrum.com/ http://cdbaby.com/cd/bluegrassconspiracy John Gay Memphis -----Original Message----- From: Mike Romkey <[email protected]> To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 2:33 pm Subject: Re: Fiddle and Mandolin I think they inform one another, and I'd encourage you to do both. A lot of Monroe stuff is fiddle and fiddle-bowing influenced, and a lot of Monroe and other mandolin stuff exports and enriches your fiddling. (Not universally but in large measure.) If you're interested in violin, my advice is to travel back in time and take it up when your about 5. Or start right now, because -- in my opinion -- the technical and physical aspects of fiddling involve a lot of unique, almost physically unnatural activity. If you want to be any good at the violin, there's a lot of right-hand stuff with the way you hold the bow, your thumb, the angle of your wrist, etc., that are challenging to settle into as an adult. I picked up the fiddle as a bored, middle-aged guitar player. I've made a lot of progress, but I started way too late to ever develop truly top-notch skills. Unless you have lots of time to practice you might find it difficult to put major, equal effort into two instruments. The downside, if there is one, to trying to develop on two or more instruments is that you might not end up doing justice to any of them. Speaking as a fiddler who just wanted to learn some mandolin tunes, I now spend most of my music time sitting in the easy chair with my mandolin; I don't get my violin out nearly enough. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
