Hey all, I've recently been doing a deep dive into teaching fiddlers to play drones, popular in Old-Time (among other styles).
Did a podcast episode or you can read it here if you prefer.
And I made a course on Fiddle Studio with videos and sheet music, using all the bits and pieces of tunes I've used to teach drones over the years.
Megan, that podcast episode is Great.. Capitol G....
I've always felt that fiddling was playing on two strings as much of the time as I could. For me, the trick is making the melody note stand out more than the accompanying note.
Well Carl, I might have to disagree with your playing drones as much as possible. I don't think it sounds good to do that in most tunes. A drone note here & there can be effective at drawing a listener's attention to a part of the tune you want to highlight.
Let me ask you: If you really really liked playing grace notes, would it sound good to play them on every note? It might make for a good etude or exercise, but not for a fiddle tune.
Edited by - bsed55 on 02/07/2023 15:39:21
When you're doing back-up, double-stop drones can add a pleasing thickness to the mix.
quote:
Originally posted by bsed55Well Carl, I might have to disagree with your playing drones as much as possible. I don't think it sounds good to do that in most tunes. A drone note here & there can be effective at drawing a listener's attention to a part of the tune you want to highlight.
Let me ask you: If you really really liked playing grace notes, would it sound good to play them on every note? It might make for a good etude or exercise, but not for a fiddle tune.
good comments Bruce, but I'd say a lot has to do with the General Style of playing and the PERSONAL Style of the fiddler..Some people just Like to use drones!! As for me, I like tunes that have a LOT of notes drones or not!!
quote:
Originally posted by bsed55Well Carl, I might have to disagree with your playing drones as much as possible. I don't think it sounds good to do that in most tunes. A drone note here & there can be effective at drawing a listener's attention to a part of the tune you want to highlight.
Let me ask you: If you really really liked playing grace notes, would it sound good to play them on every note? It might make for a good etude or exercise, but not for a fiddle tune.
As a guitar player, before I started playing clawhammer banjo in 1973 and fiddle in 1975, I have a strong chordal sense. In playing on two strings, as much as I can, I play not only the melody, but also try to transmit the chords that I think work for the tune. I guess, I'm very harmonically oriented. In 1973, I was strongly to drawn to Melvin Wine's fiddling. While I was drawn to how he sounded, I also noted that he played on two strings a lot of the time.
For me old time music doesn't call for many grace notes as compared with Celtic music which has large amounts of grace notes, often called ornaments.
Well that 'grace note' comment was just to illustrate how you might not want to overdo an ornament.
