I believe the very high notes of the intro part of Jack White's interpretation of Great High Mountain just came out of my fiddle without even trying hard. This time my fingers found these very high notes without any doubt all up the fingerboard, now that was weird. Now it will be an hour of Ralph Stanley's recording. I'll just softly try to whisper sing it along with the track.

You know what they say. ‘Make hay while the sun shines’. And the sun is shining on your fingers today.

Well, as it says. A test, and a fiddly thing:

Having a lot of fun playing Happy Hollow again, now with the breakdown that Eryn Marshall shows in her video :-D This is such a fun tune to play, it actually makes me feel instant happy :-))) I hope the neighbours won't get bored with it hehe. (Feeling almost like the old me again, great ENT doctor gave me an urgent appointment, gave me cortisone, that was what was needed and it is such a relief to be able to play again!!!)

@farmerjones: I swear your tracks often sound like there could follow a whole timeless Flemish ballad being sung! Folk music has a strange way of being intertwined 0.0 But then I hear your singing : that's way more cool than our ballads hehe.

Today I had a senior moment. Okay, I made the '4 track test,' the day before, and I couldn't figure out how to do it again. I went to lunch. Came back and noticed a cable was unplugged. Boom! Back in business!
I should take a picture, but I'm not smart enough.

Thanks to Happy Hollow, I might get addicted to playing with a metronome.
Played with my wooden mutes on, so the sound is a bit +/-.
But: trying to find my own beats here, and it's just FUN! 
Metronomes are fun! They are genius! No one shall ever dare say anything bad about metronomes in my presence!

The second recording is just proof of my dog actually cheering exactly when I got the rhythm right. 

And a big yay for NC tunes!!! I'm currently studying the list available on slippery hill. There might be a lot more there for me 

@farmerjones: Yesterday I made my longest QSO ever on Dad's equipment (Ukraine, yay! Almost even had an RA3, but his very strong signal suddenly turned into noise just when I was about to give it a try).
Before I started, I asked my father: "Did you unplug your transceiver? The thing won't even turn on!"
My father: "Did you even pass your basic license exam?"
Then he revealed that I had to switch on the power supply first haha.
Apparently, that piece of knowledge was somewhere behind a tree. LOL.

Haha yes, turning things on always helps!

Just got home from the Irish session in the park…one of the players was continuing onward to the Old Time jam, and he said that today is all in the key of D! I was quite tempted! :-)

quote:

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Originally posted by NCnotes

Haha yes, turning things on always helps!

Just got home from the Irish session in the park…one of the players was continuing onward to the Old Time jam, and he said that today is all in the key of D! I was quite tempted! :-)

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And, did the temptation win? :-D

Haha, no, I was already out for 2 hours playing… need to go home and make dinner :-) One of these days, I do want to try the old-time jam though, just for the experience!

I had a couple weeks break from memorising the bunch of tunes I already posted in this thread.
I decided that my Gypsy tunes need a revisit. They are consolidated in my memory, but the technique needed a brush up. Then I returned to the fiddle tunes; it's amazing/magic how the brain keeps learning between practise sessions. The tricky spots in some tunes just seemed easier than before, maybe I was practising too hard.
Yesterday I heard a new tune I am going to learn: Niel Gow's lamentation for James Moray.

@NCnotes, that would rock if you attended an old-time jam, hehe. Please let us know how that went when you feel like attending!

Today, Happy Hollow is keeping me busy again. I found an incredible DDAD take on the tune, and it sounds like something I'd love to try myself, since I'm so fond of DDAD. And then there's this crazy-fast version by Big Chimney Barn Dance. Way over my head, but SO amazing! They call it a killer tune, and I couldn't agree more. But oh my, what a killer version they bring! 0.0 So much atmosphere, but above all, that jaw-dropping effect! The Paul Kirk video has the same atmosphere and effect too.

(I have the weirdest stuff going on in my head when listening to the latter two versions. I imagine a solo player peacefully bringing the tune along at a moderate pace, who suddenly gets chased by an entire string band, coming over the hills and far away, playing it at full speed :-/)

Today I borrowed Rayna Gellert's way of connecting the notes of a very particular part of a phrase in Happy Hollow. I love watching her play. She has this wonderful sense of elegance and authenticity, and there's so much technique hidden in that bow hand!
Now I have to find out what Bruce Molsky did with this tune because I don't think I've ever checked this.

quote:

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Originally posted by Quincy

Today I borrowed Rayna Gellert's way of connecting the notes of a very particular part of a phrase in Happy Hollow. I love watching her play. She has this wonderful sense of elegance and authenticity, and there's so much technique hidden in that bow hand!
Now I have to find out what Bruce Molsky did with this tune because I don't think I've ever checked this.

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Rayna is probably my favorite female OT fiddler. 

Yesterday I had a major déjà-vû while trying to find Molsky's version of Happy Hollow. It's somewhere out there, BUT!

Then the winding of my A string came loose and after close inspection I could see the rest of the set does not have a long life either. So I just ordered a Prim set medium with the medium Lisa E string. I don't know why. It's not that I don't like the Helicores anymore, but curiosity won. I didn't became wiser by the forum's archive yesterday and that's an understatement but I understand Prims are used by other fiddlers as well. We'll see if the old gypsy fiddle likes them. More I cannot do.

I just put a d’addario new york .010 guitar string onto my E string (on my normal tuned fiddle). I like the way it sounds.

quote:

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Originally posted by Erockin

quote:

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Originally posted by Quincy

Today I borrowed Rayna Gellert's way of connecting the notes of a very particular part of a phrase in Happy Hollow. I love watching her play. She has this wonderful sense of elegance and authenticity, and there's so much technique hidden in that bow hand!
Now I have to find out what Bruce Molsky did with this tune because I don't think I've ever checked this.

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Rayna is probably my favorite female OT fiddler. 

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Her "Starch and Iron" album with Susie Goehring is one of my all-time favorites.

quote:

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Originally posted by martyjoe

I just put a d’addario new york .010 guitar string onto my E string (on my normal tuned fiddle). I like the way it sounds.

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Ok. If this is NOT a joke it is at least something very unorthodox haha. My Prim set is expected tomorrow, that went fast!

quote:

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Originally posted by Quincy

@NCnotes, that would rock if you attended an old-time jam, hehe. Please let us know how that went when you feel like attending!

Today, Happy Hollow is keeping me busy again. I found an incredible DDAD take on the tune, and it sounds like something I'd love to try myself, since I'm so fond of DDAD. And then there's this crazy-fast version by Big Chimney Barn Dance. Way over my head, but SO amazing! They call it a killer tune, and I couldn't agree more. But oh my, what a killer version they bring! 0.0 So much atmosphere, but above all, that jaw-dropping effect! The Paul Kirk video has the same atmosphere and effect too.

(I have the weirdest stuff going on in my head when listening to the latter two versions. I imagine a solo player peacefully bringing the tune along at a moderate pace, who suddenly gets chased by an entire string band, coming over the hills and far away, playing it at full speed :-/)

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Anja, Happy Hollow is a favorite old tune of mine! I'm a banjo player, not a fiddler, but I've always been particularly fond of Marcus Martin's tunes. Here's a different sort of version from a long-ago (2002) late night session at Clifftop with my old friend Mark Simos fiddling, Tina Liza Jones on guitar, and me on nylon-strung fretless banjo. Mark is an endlessly inventive fiddler, and you can hear him exploring all sorts of melodic and rythmic variations of the tune, yet somehow always staying true to the feel and spirit of the tune. It's a long track (8:35) as befits a late night trancy festival session, and is a bit low-fi, having been recorded by a friend who just happened to wander by with a hand-held recorder, but I hope you enjoy it, and maybe find some inspiration from Mark's wonderful fiddling!

Happy Hollow

@Brendan Doyle: I enjoyed that session, incredible how this can last for such an amount of time, in perfect harmony . A very good example for me how one can vary on the fidde ! That's also a crazy banjo performance! About to downlad.

My Prim strings have some delay, in the afternoon today I'll finally receive them. Tried to find a solution by changing my A with that of the good / newly bought fiddle, but also that set has had its best time.

Brendan, so good and hits the spot! Also love sound of the nylon string banjo…did not know that existed! You are rock steady on it :-)

Over here, learning some cool reels for my Irish fiddle class…
Bunch of green rushes
Donegal tinker

Some C hornpipes - Callaghans and Boys of Ballycastle.
@NCnotes - Bunch of Green Rushes-- an odd sounding tune, but I like it! Listening to Tommy Peoples version.

No more Helicores for me. These Prims do what I want them to do!!! What a difference this makes !!! That immediate respons is great!!!! And my gypsy fiddle can have them, the slightly warmer / darker/ rounder sound in comparison with my fiddle of Chinese wood stays preserved.

This is way much more fun to play!!!!!!! What have I been doing with these Helicores during the past years 0.0. I don't want them no more!!!

And then from what I read the Prims need some time before they settle in. They already behave way better than these medium Helicores.