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    10 Fiddle Tips
    10 Fiddle Tips
    10 Fiddle Tips
    Ebook38 pages33 minutes

    10 Fiddle Tips

    By Mike Spears

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    About this ebook

    One of the challenges a fiddle player has, especially younger students, is how to practice. 10 Fiddle Tips addresses practicing, acquiring a teacher, scales and arpeggios, and playing with and for others. I've written this book for the violin or fiddle student to help in understanding how music shapes our lives, and indeed the world. In addition to the practical tips I've listed, it's important the fiddle student know they can change the world with their music.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMike Spears
    Release dateMar 27, 2013
    ISBN9781301647514
    10 Fiddle Tips
    Author

    Mike Spears

    I've written this book to help musicians, in particular, fiddle players practice. I've been writing fiction stories for a long time and since I'm a Texas fiddler, wanted to share my love of it with the world.

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      Book preview

      10 Fiddle Tips - Mike Spears

      Introduction

      The violin sings, but the fiddle dances.

      This eBook has been revised for 2013. I've expanded on the tips to make them more comprehensive. You will find that by practicing these tips faithfully; your fiddle playing will improve.

      I hope you find this book useful. If you read through and practice what you read and follow the ideas, you will become a better fiddler. I've been playing fiddle for quit a while and looking back it's been the most rewarding thing I think I have done.

      I've seen people laugh and dance and sing and cry when they hear a good fiddle tune.

      So let's get started! Grab your fiddle, rosin up the bow and let's do it.

      Tip 1

      Practice Slow

      The tendency I see with my students is they want to play the tune up to tempo immediately. This doesn't work. You must practice very, very slowly. By doing this you'll hear where you are having trouble in different parts of the tune.

      I can't emphasize this habit enough!

      Build up speed slowly. I realize if a tune is written in a fast tempo, slowing it down is sometime awkward. What you should do is play a fast piece you already know that's similar, then work on the tune you're learning.

      One of the keys to success (and building confidence as well) is super slow practice. The process of practicing in slow motion, while being fully conscious, highly engaged, and thinking deeply about what you're doing, is what works!

      Incidentally, this is not a painful torturous process, but often an engaging and gratifying one. A way in that opens up the door to many satisfying little-discoveries that could be the key to getting a phrase to sound just the way it should.

      The thing about slow practice is that it’s not just to slow things down in order to play it exactly right, it’s about fine-tuning the way it’s played, and looking for different ways to play it even better while you’re playing slowly enough to watch and think about the little details.

      Remember: PRACTICE SLOW!!!

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