I too have flirted with the idea, and my partner said in a pleading nearly desperate voice....'ooooh, I wish you wouldn't do that'. I suppose he is thinking of all the screeching and yowling that comes out when one is first confronted with using the bow. I gather one can mute the thing which could ease local suffering some. Robin, the concern might be if you would be abandoned by your family ..ha..at the outset of an effort. I have talked it over with some fiddlers here and they seem to think the first year is mainly about the bow side of things using mainly open strings. I wonder if I have the patience for a year of that. I confess I do watch how various folks use their bows and have seen ..the good the bad and the ugly with that, there seems to be a lot of delicate wrist work involved.
On Mar 27, 7:46 pm, Robin Gravina <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. 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