Funny reading this discussion first thing in the morning: I was just thinking about this on my way to work - after watching that incredible youtube video from yesterday. Actually I had already decided learning fiddle was an insane idea, without either giving up sleep, or abandoning my family... Hmmmm.
On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 6:42 AM, Nelson <[email protected]>wrote: > > Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I enjoy my mandolin and try to stay > true to the fiddle side of things when I am playing old time stuff. > The one instrument that I truly love is the fiddle, though. It > doesn't matter if it is Bob Wills, Celtic stuff, old time music, Honky > Tonk or Hank Williams. The fiddle does it for me. I have been > listening to Eck Robertson alot lately. He has one tune where he > drones alot and it sounds so much like pipes that it is amazing. Less > polished than Monroe achieved with Scotland, but still very effective. > > Do any of you have a suggestion for particular books or DVDs that you > have found useful or know are useful? I've played around with bowing > and stuff, and think I can get the hang of it pretty quickly. I just > don't want to form bad habits. > > Thanks again, > Nelson > > On Mar 26, 10:37 pm, solofiddle <[email protected]> wrote: > > Go for it! Just remember, the first 30 years are the toughest and > > after that I hear it's a piece of cake. haha > > Seriously, if it calls you, then you will have to do it. Don't let age > > discourage you - it's all a matter of how badly you want it > > and that will dictate the time you put into it. I know of many > > examples of people coming late to some instrument only to really shine > > on it. > > Determination goes a long way to gettin' some of that talent that you > > might think others were born with. > > > > I was playing fiddle before mando, so I essentially play the mando > > like a fiddle - lotsa two-note chords, same fingerings for everything > > I would play on fiddle, etc. > > I'm pretty scatterbrained, so I am into studying lots of instruments > > and types of music at the same time. Variety is nice! Also, the more I > > learn the more I find some things related and they can help feed each > > other. For instance, I play clawhammer banjo and in the last couple of > > years I have gotten heavy into lap slide style resonators and > > bottleneck style guitar. And guess what - one of the major tunings for > > the slide style is closely related to the open G banjo tuning, so that > > helped give me some bearing right there. The same tuning moves onto > > the Tele with the low string removed and then you're off into Keith > > Richards tunes, which almost play themselves. Then I might go off into > > some James Brown funk on drums or guitar, and then I hear banjo and > > fiddle great Dan Gellert (in Fiddler magazine) talking about James and > > his emphasis on stressing the ONE beat and how he does that in old- > > time to open things up and make them funkier than stressing the 2 and > > 4 like most folks and so things move around in circles! > > > > When I took up banjo, logically it seemed like a crazy idea - I was > > still taking fiddle lessons and I had returned to college as an adult > > and I had no time for banjo. But, I was exposed to it and it called me > > and I met a great banjo teacher and things just lined up perfectly! > > The fiddle really helped the banjo, as I essentially play the banjo > > with the left hand the same way I finger the fiddle, just on a larger > > scale. Old time fiddle and banjo often use altered tunings, and they > > match up really well on the two instruments, so once I discovered the > > connection I could immediately play tons of fiddle tunes on the > > banjo. > > > > Let's look at drums - I took up drumset late in life, just because I > > had always wanted to. Finally got the guts to try it! And so now I > > play in an Oldies trio just for fun; and what a blast it is! Seems > > totally unrelated to my old-time music pursuits, right? Well, drums > > are all about rhythm, of course, and the banjo is largely about rhythm > > and now I am starting to combine drums and old music, like acoustic > > blues slide stuff. Getting into playing drums and slide or banjo at > > the same time! Turns out, that is an old Blues tradition and there is > > a specialty drumset now made to be entirely played with your feet. Way > > cool! So, things seem to connect in odd, fun ways. > > > > However, I recently saw the one and only banjo player Leroy Troy, and > > he said worried early in life about doing too many things, and someone > > warned him of having a split brain if he did that and that he should > > maybe focus on one thing. Well, it's obviously working for him, > > whatever he's doing, but my brain is split several ways and that's > > just the way I am! > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
