Posted by fiddlepogo on Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Various things have been distracting me from practicing including travel, health issues (mostly allergy related), helping sick wife, AND that new guitar I mentioned in the previous entry. It probably is a factor in the guitar's favor that the cat doesn't mind it, and won't chase her out of the house.
Last night I went to a bluegrass jam, and my playing was abysmal. It probably wasn't helping that it's been unseasonably rainy this last week.
So went the cat thought she MIGHT want to go out, I encouraged her to be decisive about it by playing a couple of notes on the harmonica (which she hates even worse than fiddle!).
And once I picked up the fiddle, it was grim going for a while.
My intonation was shot, which hasn't happened in a long time!
And the tone wasn't wonderful either, but much of that was the fiddle's fault (or rather the humidity's fault).
I shook it on top of the blender for a couple minutes, and that helped a little.
It was just starting to sound halfway decent when...
POW... the E string broke while I was playing.
First time that's happened in a LONG time!
Then I started to wonder if the impending failure (near the nut) could have caused the intonation to go off, since the E string was where the intonation was the worst.
Then I replaced the E string, and decided to switch to the heavier bow, and at last it started to sound good!
Mental note to self: Practice fiddle daily, or you're gonna PAY for it!
1 comment on “Fighting my way out of a slump...”
FiddlerFaddler Says:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 @7:14:39 PM
If you practice with a couple mutes, when the mutes come off, the fiddle won't sound so blas. This works for me:
http://www.fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/photos2.asp?id=787&photoID=1285&albumid=0
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