Ever since I learned my first instrument, saxophone in 3rd grade, I've using foot tapping to keep my place on the beat. Really comes in handy when you get to anything syncopated. So I'm learning fiddle and finding tapping my foot was really messing me up.
Then I realized, I've been flat picking guitar and mandolin for decades. In flat picking, you always pick down on the down beat an up on the up beat. And if you aren't playing a note on an upbeat, you just move the pick up over the string to get ready for the next downstroke. So on a mix of quarter notes and eighth notes q,e,e,q,e,e you'd pick - d,d,u,d,d,u. But on violin, you most of the time you don't skip over and bow again in the same direction so you'd bow d,u,d,u,d,u. I was so used to tapping my foot only when my hand was going down.
So what I've started doing is on my warm up when I play simply bow strokes with no fingering of notes with a metronome for about five minutes is practice mixing quarter and eight notes. So, sometimes the downbeat is on a down bow and sometimes it's on an up bow. Doing repetitive patterns like that while foot tapping with the metronomes seems help feel the beat. Then I start accenting with down the down bow when it's on a down beat and on the up bow when it's on an up beat. Makes it sound more musical.
Yes, a lot of good players don't tap their foot It's taken ages for me to realize i don't need to do that. But now it is ingrained, i have to consciously stop it. Not tapping helps me listen to my self and others.
Tapping one's foot can throw others off if you're not really accurate. The other thing I don't like about it is it emphasizes the down beat, and I generally prefer the swinging feel of the back beat.
My banjo buddy's foot is all over the place when he plays, no rhyme or reason to it. Can be distracting if you look at it.
Well, in my fiddlin’ workshop, my teacher is a big fan of downbow on the downbeat!
We arrange our slurs to make it happen.
He works through a tune finding all the “right spots” for downbows, then sets up the rest of the slurs to make it work…
Maybe for the same reason you pick D downbeat on guitar and mando…
maybe fiddling is not as different as you think! :-)
quote:
Originally posted by NCnotesWell, in my fiddlin’ workshop, my teacher is a big fan of downbow on the downbeat!
We arrange our slurs to make it happen.
He works through a tune finding all the “right spots” for downbows, then sets up the rest of the slurs to make it work…
Maybe for the same reason you pick D downbeat on guitar and mando…
maybe fiddling is not as different as you think! :-)
That's good as far as it goes. But often there are reasons to bow "upside down" at least for a moment until you get through a part. For that reason it's good to practice "bowing yourself out of corners" like that by sometimes actually practicing bowing opposite to your normally reasonable downbow/downbeat system.
Yea true…
when I do a variation, I try to rearrange slurs and bows on the fly…but sometimes I can’t manage it!
…wind up going upbow at the important note :-D
I think tapping the foot must be instinctive, not something the think about. It is a reflex action to the music. I don't know about other players, but some days my foot is more active than others. Different types of music and different tunes have an affect on my tapping. Cajun music makes my foot respond the most.
Tapping one's foot should be the result of timing, not the cause of it..
Watch a bunch of vids! Peoples feet rarely match up directly. I try to ignore them. Trust your own internal metronome instead of others gnomes!
Edited by - wrench13 on 04/04/2025 14:48:48
I think it's easier to imagine something that isn't there, when it's present most of the time. This is why I enjoy playing along with some sort of rhythm, 80 or 90% of the time.
I too have seen too many goofy toe taps. Meh. I don't tap my toe.
Jimmy Triplett taps his foot because Melvin Wine tapped his toe.
quote:
Originally posted by TuneWeaverTapping one's foot should be the result of timing, not the cause of it..
Sounds good but i think bowing the fiddle is more important...
Tapping your foot is optional.
Edited by - pete_fiddle on 04/05/2025 01:01:32
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