arfive - Posted - 01/23/2009:  13:43:43

Hi,
I'm new here to the fiddle hangout. I've been practicing for a couple of weeks now. And here is my first tune. I did play violin in grade school many years ago. And I've always loved the violin/fiddle. So why not give it a try. It sure is a lot lighter than my banjo!
First, I know I need to work more in intonation. And I messed up a little on the ending. My main question to all of you is how to improve my tone. I think I have enough rosin on the bow. So any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.
My fiddle has new strings on it and they are Old Fiddler Line Super-Sensitive. Any suggestions here are also welcome.
Thanks for taking the time to listen.
Amy

http://www.fiddlehangout.com/myhang...musicID=3589

Just Fiddlin'' Around

bj - Posted - 01/23/2009:  14:02:59

Sounds pretty dang good if you've only been playing a couple few weeks after a LONG layoff!

^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^
So many fiddles. So little time!

Me on the Web --
http://doneinstyle.com
My inspiration:
http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh14633812588807237

Dick Hauser - Posted - 01/23/2009:  14:42:30

A lot of fiddlers use too much rosin. They have bowing problems and feel that rosin will fix the problem. In my case, I just run the bowhair across the rosin for 2 or 3 times just before I play. I will sometimes play for 5 or 6 hours without adding more rosin.

Your earlier experiece apprently taught you the fundamentals. All you need to donow is to start playing with other fiddlers and adding new tunes to your repertoire.

You should try different strings to find out which strings sound best on your fiddle. Since you are using metal core strings, you should probably try Heliocores, Ropecores, Spirocores, and Chromocore strings.

Watch out, playing fiddle is very addictive. Your banjo may put a contract out on your fiddle.

gulfguy

macnasparade - Posted - 01/23/2009:  16:42:02

Hi Amy,
Welcome to the Hangout. Great job on Ragtime Annie.

I can't give you much in the way of advice for tone production, as I still struggle with this. But my teacher is always telling me to make sure my wrist is loose.

I have Helicores on my fiddle and I'm quite happy with them.

It's great that you've come back to the fiddle. I bet you never set it down again.
Good luck!

Liz

Vinny Ray - Posted - 01/23/2009:  18:48:50

My views on fiddling are a little different so you may not like my advice.

I normally play electric violin which is a solid body instrument. It has no acoustic properties at all.
If I played my acoustic the same way I played my electric you wouldn't even be able to hear it.
Its a different instrument.

To gain a decent tone on my acoustic I try to get the entire body of the violin resonating.
I do this with bow pressure. However with more pressure you need more bow speed. I also think shoulder rest's allow the violin body to resonate more fully.
There is also something else but I dont know how to explain it.
Its more like instead of playing an instrument you attack it and pull the tone out.
I see this on all acoustics not just violins.
A speaker is the same way. You have to turn it up and make it vibrate or it will never sound good.

Mostly I concentrate on bow speed, pressure and distance from the bridge.
There is a sweet combination in there somewhere if you look for it.

I dont really know how much the left hand contributes to tone. I would imagine some at least.
I bet someone else here could tell you more.

bsed - Posted - 01/23/2009:  18:58:05

My God, you play that good! Is that really your first tune?
There is so much going on in that tune that I never teach it to a student unless they have a good grounding in the technicalities, particularly bow command!
In fact I like to teach that one to illustrate rapid string crossing.
There are so many things you seem to have going in your favor:
intonation
bow control
-bow pressure
-bow speed
tempo and rhythm
-playing with a rhythm instrument

Keep it up. You done good.

Just call me Dwight.

royce - Posted - 01/23/2009:  20:46:41

Amy,
I'm really impressed with how well your coming along in a short time. From the way your sounding,,,you have potential to be a very good fiddler. I'm sure being a banjo player and musician in general enhances your ability to learn at a faster pace. Your timing was excellent.
Your tone wasn't bad either but it will improve the more time you put in. You're doing really good.
Royce

arfive - Posted - 01/24/2009:  09:03:02

Hi,
Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments and advice. This is the only tune that I know all the way through right now. I actually learned it over 30 years ago. For some reason it's the only one I remember.
Vinny - I think you make some excellent points. I suspect that I need to press down harder with the bow sometimes. I have Brian Wicklund's fiddle method dvd where he explains how bow speed and pressure work. I'll have to work on that some more.
Dick - Thanks for your info on how much rosin to use. I'm using enough for sure!
bsed - I did take violin in school for a year or maybe two. The music teacher did play the violin so I learned the correct way to hold it, etc. I learned some very simple stuff that all the kids played together. But I was also playing banjo and my teacher worked on some fiddle tunes with me also. I read music so that's also a big help. I highly recommend playing along with a backing track. If I had students this would be a must! As for this tune the tricky part is the bow direction of the first pickup note. It has to be a down bow or you'll get all tangled up doing the string crossing thing. I was watching Kenny Baker play Jerusalem Ridge on youtube and noticed that there are times where he plays two or more separate notes by momentarily stopping the bow and then continuing in the same direction. So this is what I found works well at the very end of the last measure of the A part right before you do the two pickup notes to go back into the A part.
Thanks again for all the great posts! I will also try some different strings. Maybe another fiddle - Royce?
Amy

Just Fiddlin'' Around