When I play a double stop up the neck have a big problem sliding it back down whilst holding on to the notes, I keep pulling the fiddle out from under my chin! Is there a way to stop this from happening? The way I have always coped with this is to bite down harder with my chin to keep the fiddle in place, but I am sure there must be a more correct way of dealing with this!?!  

Well here is what I have been told ........ you may be gripping the fiddle too tightly and causing too much drag as you slide down ... relax your grip...check your hand position to make sure there is minimal contact between the web of your thumb and the neck... make sure that you are supporting the fiddle with your chin / jaw and shoulder and not your hand.. To diminish drag you can apply either talcum powder or bowlers chalk.... pool shooters do this too.. to the web of your thumb to assist in sliding.... don't use corn starch baby powder because it gums up.... that's all I know on the subject.. good luck ....sliding double stops are one of the many plateaus... R/

i slide around double stops all the time. its hard to explain. what ill do is leave my thumb in the same or close to the.same position while i slide my fingers up, angling my wrist. that way coming back down is no sweat at all. effortless. i also use this technique on single notes as well. i also agree that you may have too tight a grip on the fiddle. from what i understand, you want your whole body loose and relaxed for the best sound

Edited by - zacmilner3 on 07/02/2012 15:14:56

vibrato on double stops! i really like that. as well as trills on one note of the double. those are fun. all this is used sparing and tastefully as to not overuse

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Originally posted by zacmilner3

i slide around double stops all the time. its hard to explain. what ill do is leave my thumb in the same or close to the.same position while i slide my fingers up, angling my wrist. that way coming back down is no sweat at all. effortless. i also use this technique on single notes as well. i also agree that you may have too tight a grip on the fiddle. from what i understand, you want your whole body loose and relaxed for the best sound

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Thanks for the advice and I have been sitting here trying it out. I found  that when I leave my thumb in the same place and just move my fingers by angling my wrist I can't do any fingering when I'm in the upper position, although it does make it a heck of a lot easier to slide back down. Also I can't reach some of the higher double stops that I want to play. I do try stay relaxed, but have never really been able to when I am  struggling, (which is all the time). Thanks for the tips and I will continue to try and figure this fiddling thing out!

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Originally posted by UsuallyPickin

Well here is what I have been told ........ you may be gripping the fiddle too tightly and causing too much drag as you slide down ... relax your grip...check your hand position to make sure there is minimal contact between the web of your thumb and the neck... make sure that you are supporting the fiddle with your chin / jaw and shoulder and not your hand.. To diminish drag you can apply either talcum powder or bowlers chalk.... pool shooters do this too.. to the web of your thumb to assist in sliding.... don't use corn starch baby powder because it gums up.... that's all I know on the subject.. good luck ....sliding double stops are one of the many plateaus... R/

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Thanks for your advice! I don't think that the drag is coming from the web of my thumb, but just from the minimum amount of pressure needed to make the notes clear when I am coming back down the neck. I don't have any powder but I will try that when I get some. Have you ever  tried putting the powder on your fingertips? I was thinking maybe I need a chin rest with a bigger "lip" on the edge to resist pulling away but I have never seen one like that. Thanks a lot and I will also try to grip less but still make the notes clear.

Finding that right chinrest has really helped my stability. If you have a local fiddle shop, try out all the fiddles just to try the chinrest. If you find one you like, they will probably take it off and sell it to you.

You might also get a better lip on the rest to hook your chin over by bending the "L" part of the clamp and/or sanding an angle on the surface which sits on the fiddle top, plus mount the rest as close to the edge of the fiddle top as possible. The idea is to get the cup to angle downward toward the top, going from the back edge toward the bridge.

Practice the double stops without using the left thumb. Detach the thumb. It's difficult in the beginning but you learn to detach the left hand nore from the neck and play later more relaxed.

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Originally posted by meanfidler

When I play a double stop up the neck have a big problem sliding it back down whilst holding on to the notes, I keep pulling the fiddle out from under my chin! Is there a way to stop this from happening? The way I have always coped with this is to bite down harder with my chin to keep the fiddle in place, but I am sure there must be a more correct way of dealing with this!?!  

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You might find this video of some help.

I watched the video and do not like this method at all for following reasons:

a) shifting up: lifting the violin is not necessary at all. For pieces with fast and many shifts it would look ridiculous and  add un-necessary disturbances into the playing.

b) shifting down moving the thumb while playing adds also unnecessary disturbances into the playing and very often you don't even have time to do this. 

I posted a video to demonstrate the method I am teaching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOmpmcBcwpc

Edited by - hardykefes on 07/05/2012 06:36:03

I watched the video again and noticed that I missed the fact that she is playing without shoulder rest.

My video was showing how to hold the fiddle effortless with a good adjusted shoulder rest.

However, I apply same technique without shoulder rest. I have a pretty long neck and the technique still works fine.

All I am doing is during the slide down lift the shoulder and /or lower the chin a little more to hold the fiddle in place.

Important is that you do this only as much as necessary. If the hand floats freely up and down the neck, meaning the thumb does not really holds on to the neck, minimal force is required to keep the fiddle under the chin and position change becomes easy (after lots of practice )

There are chin rests with a bump which helps.

you know, i just took a closer look at my left hand hold and i dont squeeze the fiddle at all with my thumb. its always there, up against the neck, but i olny put pressure on momentarily for really fast licks and string changes.

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Originally posted by hardykefes

Practice the double stops without using the left thumb. Detach the thumb. It's difficult in the beginning but you learn to detach the left hand nore from the neck and play later more relaxed.

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Thanks for the input, but that is really hard for me!!! I will practice some more on that and let you know how I go.

I agree with everyone who said that you should hold the fiddle firmly but comfortably between your chin and your shoulder.  I would recommend that you go to your luthier (who I hope is helpful) and try several chinrests and shoulder rests and find a combination which fits you well.  This will help your playing and your health in many, many ways.

When you slide down doing double stops, release your fingers from the strings enough so that you just feel the strings with your finger tips.  When you reach the notes you want to play, press your fingers down.  This should make the sliding smoother and easier.