For me it's "Chunking" - the process of breaking down complex tunes and skills into manageable pieces.
Edited by - FiddleHed on 09/15/2023 07:14:28
Jason,
Big fan of yours so,
I'd have to say what's helped me the most is, the vast amount of "free" information that's available out there online. Especially, the love and generosity here on this message board!
Not playing in only one genre. There is so much to learn and absorb when you play in different genres like jazz, swing, Texas style, Canadian styles, etc...
Play Happy
Swing
quote:
Originally posted by ErockinJason,
Big fan of yours so,
I'd have to say what's helped me the most is, the vast amount of "free" information that's available out there online. Especially, the love and generosity here on this message board!
Thanks!
But...what is the one thing that's helped you the most? What specific piece of information?
I'm trying to put together ideas on practice to help people on other instruments too...
quote:
Originally posted by SwingNot playing in only one genre. There is so much to learn and absorb when you play in different genres like jazz, swing, Texas style, Canadian styles, etc...
Play Happy
Swing
I like "Play Happy" as a guide to music and life...
quote:
Originally posted by FiddleHedquote:
Originally posted by ErockinJason,
Big fan of yours so,
I'd have to say what's helped me the most is, the vast amount of "free" information that's available out there online. Especially, the love and generosity here on this message board!Thanks!
But...what is the one thing that's helped you the most? What specific piece of information?
I'm trying to put together ideas on practice to help people on other instruments too...
Video Lessons with Good Clear Angles. Crucial for a newb such as myself. The videos that include that aerial views are the most helpful!
Edited by - Erockin on 09/15/2023 10:46:09
15 years of classical lessons? :D
I think what really helped my playing was playing with really good people in a band setting. And that cycle of learning new tunes, working together as a band, culminating in a show. I think that's the period I learned the most.
Knowing the intervals of the parent scale as I play them.
My ability to learn tunes by ear, and often on the fly. My musical background on other instruments didn't hurt.
Getting "Down, down-up, down, down-up" firmly into my subconsciousness, i.e., into my right arm. In other words, shuffle bowing can take you a heck of a long way. The actual melodies, by contrast, are seldom ruined by an occasional wrong note.
When I got my first fiddle (I had already been playing banjo for 15 years) I purchased Peter Feldman’s instructional lps. The call-and-response method he used fit me to a “T”.
As I progressed “jam-along” media was, and still is the most beneficial.
Playing music with others. (not waiting)
Bow technique. Relaxed wrist, round motion (rocking the bow), light touch. Also Intuitive, not prescribed, bowing patterns.
Not sure what helped best, but few that comes to mind.
Sing and dance.
Noodling around, experimenting; somewhat with bit of reckless abandon; without worry of a predetermined fixed outcome (nor if wrong/mistakes), just more discovering the sounds and rhythmic grooves can make. (somewhat like how infants use babbling).
Learning to relax, to play even fast tunes with a light touch after 50 years of picking the banjer as hard as I could.
Learning to keep a loose wrist & elbow instead of bowing from the shoulder (ouch!) after 30 years of carrying the mail on a Rural Route.
quote:
Originally posted by SwingNot playing in only one genre. There is so much to learn and absorb when you play in different genres like jazz, swing, Texas style, Canadian styles, etc...
Play Happy
Swing
Couldn't agree more. Playing Sweet Georgia Brown in different keys was a good workout for learning my way around the fingerboard. And remembering its catchy rhythm put drive into my oldtime tunes too.
I know this may sound weird but to reach out with your bow wherever you want to go instead of safe close to the middle straight line bowing . When I started playing I fell in love with that typical soar throat effect as I call it like you see sometimes in certain singers also. It came to me that in order to get these sound effects I should go into for classical world forbidden area with my bow . That and a lot of rosin do the trick, but it still feels like I have to unlearn this stay close to the middle idea. I do not want to sound polished and clean and all healthy must be soar throat effect for me to sound authentic , working on it.
That's an interesting perspective, Anja.
IDK .... a few things. One being too @#$%^& #&$* to give up. Two, a properly set up fiddle. A bow that I did not have to fight. I had no idea how important these two things were. Lastly , knowing I will make mistakes, and that I can recover from them. Sometimes it's cool and sometimes not. But I am not in a contest I am fiddling for the joy of it. So I play on. R/
It seems like one thing beginning musicians need do before they anything else is to shake the idea that talent is a "fixed" thing - that some people have it and some people don't. It takes a little experience, I think -- performing and practicing and practicing and performing -- to get the idea that it's not magic, it's just hard work.
And oh yeah -- going to OT jam sessions, sitting in the circle, and just shuffling along. Eventually, I actually got comfortable...
Buying my first fiddle (and bow).
Edited by - tonyelder on 09/17/2023 06:32:09
quote:
Originally posted by EarwormIt seems like one thing beginning musicians need do before they anything else is to shake the idea that talent is a "fixed" thing - that some people have it and some people don't. It takes a little experience, I think -- performing and practicing and practicing and performing -- to get the idea that it's not magic, it's just hard work.
Yeah, I agree in principle. But it seems to be more work for some than others, That won't (shouldn''t ) stop a determined beginner. I think the point here is - if you are truly wanting to play, you can. How good can you get to be? It is always within me to do my best at all times, and I cannot do any better than that.
If I may... there is a place where God said "Be ye perfect, even as I am perfect." And I would suggest that He knew we would never reach His level of perfection. BUT - (imo) - that was not the purpose for the command.
Just don't let comparing your journey to what others have experienced determine how successful you think you are. It's your journey,
edit to add - that was for me more than anyone else.
Edited by - tonyelder on 09/17/2023 07:00:08
"If you can sing it, you can play it".
"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?".. Practice practice practice...
The key for me was Commitment.......Knowing that nothing was going to stop me from playing my fiddle, ..well, that attitude was the catalyst.......
I might add.. For years I struggled with phrasing, timing and Everything else UNTIL I discovered the Nashville Shuffle.. Not everyone is impressed with it but for me, learning it open a large door WIDE....
Edited by - TuneWeaver on 09/17/2023 14:15:25
Was just listening to the audio from an auto biography of a writer; just like we musicians they spend many solitary hours in practice, writing and 'being in their head'. Working it out in my head has been the most help to me. From imagining the physical sensations of a particular technique to visualizing and audiating every note.
