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Tunes by ear becoming alot easier.

Thursday, May 30, 2013 @11:45:09 AM

Spending nearly everyday immersing myself in fiddle tunes;popular and non popular alike and just listening over and over until it flies out my fingers and I'm playing like a champ(ok not really) but my ear has become totally accustomed to hearing certain root notes that base around a tune and that's what helps me the most. Knowing the key it is in and then listening for the root of the tune I start to visualize in my head and hearing it in my brain enough then it just eventually comes naturally.

That doesn't mean I play it perfectly. Once the basic idea of what it sounds like then it comes out easier and easier. Sometimes I can figure certain tunes quicker than others. Some take me days to figure out and that is usually because of the bowing is not coming out like I want it to or sounding like what 'm hearing.

I've started listening to alot more older fiddle players too. Not that I haven't ever, but mainly some I've never really heard of or some I'm just now getting to. Cyril Stennentt being one of them. I first heard about him through Chirps Smith who was kind of enough to teach me through email the tune"Salty River Reel"(Still working on that one)

But recently a few tunes I've learned that seem to come quickly and maybe because they're in the Key oof D and somewhat similar in a few ways actually helped me to learn them faster. I though, well I learned Dubuque and it almost has the same notes, I'm sure I can figure"Lantern in the Ditch" and it took around 30 minutes to get the basics of it.

So if you can find tunes that are sort of related and I don't mean mean sound alike, but in a certain key and and follow similar root notes then it can be a big help in figuring out tunes. At least that is how my experience has become. I still have a long ways to go but I'm having fun on this journey even if at times I get very frustrated.

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