Posted by manmademusic on Monday, September 21, 2009
Yes, I got the devil in me now. While at Clifftop this year I went over to Dan Levenson's vendor booth and was sitting there talking and he plopped a fretless banjo in my lap. I asked how he expected me to play the darn thing, it has no frets! He said to just close my eyes and start playing. Well, it worked better than I expected and I was quite pleased.
Then I got this wild idea about going over the the fiddle vendor booth and see if I could find the notes on the fiddle just the same as I could on the banjo. Hey, it worked too! Of course, I didn't know what I was doing but even still I was brimming with confidence that this counfounded thing may not be so far out of my reach as I had once thought.
Upon my return home from Clifftop I made some inquiries and found a beginner student model fiddle with bow and case for cheap and decided to buy it and try it. Well, two weeks I've been at it and I can play four tunes which are recognizable although they do sound pretty rough around the edges.
Yes, I got the devil in me now and there's no telling where it will go from here.
Gary
4 comments on “The devil in me now”
mudbug Says:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 @2:37:32 AM
Hey, Gary! Welcome and congrats on your new instrument. Keep on keepin' on!
John Gent Says:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 @6:53:43 AM
heh heh. OK gang, we got him now!
bj Says:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 @6:55:38 AM
Oh, Gary, you said it so well. Yes, the devil is in ya!
You might consider taking a few lessons just to put your feet on the right path. With the fiddle you are juggling a lot more balls in the skills department than with a picked and fretted instrument. I play a couple other instruments, could always pick up an unfamiliar instrument and make some okay noise with it. Until the fiddle. When I picked up the fiddle I struggled for six months with it, thinking I could easily learn it and master it. Well, it totally humbled me, for sure. So I took around a half dozen lessons, and that was really when it started for me. Things really started to make sense with that demon spawned bow after a few lessons, and the bow is EVERYTHING.
Two years later and my cats no longer leave the room. I'm making progress. :-)
Good luck!
Ozarkian DL Says:
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 @6:58:22 AM
Throw away thet thar snake-oil banjer salve & get'cha sum fiddle salve. Jus a lil dab'l do ya & tha gal's jus lv ta rub their fingers thru ur hair.
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