heartoflesh
Puritan Board Junior
Howdy,
As a few of you know I'm a guitar player. About a month ago I had a strange desire to learn fiddle after attending a winter Bluegrass festival up here. So, I ordered a rather inexpensive fiddle off of Ebay, and after having someone tell me I needed a new bridge and new strings, I'm now set to go. I've been told it's not a half bad fiddle too.
I've been taking my first steps and practicing relentlessly (45m to 1 hour per day for about 1 1/2 weeks now). At first it was very discouraging, the thing having no frets and all.... and I really couldn't get a very good tone out of it at all. But I have been trudging along at a steady pace with my Brian Wicklund DVD and book ( http://www.brianwicklund.com/ )and have actually made remarkable progress. I really had a breakthrough a couple of days ago when things starting coming together. I'm finding myself becoming much more conscious of the bow and how to "pull" the note out of the fiddle. Boil Em' Cabbage Down sounds good, and I'm getting good tone. Shortenin' Bread needs some work. All I can say is practice is paying off, and it doesn't seem so discouraging anymore.
This is one complicated instrument. If I'm not concentrating on my bowing technique then my fingering goes all to heck, or I find my thumb sticking way up over the neck, and as soon as I correct that then my bowing needs correction. Back and forth it goes. I guess that's why I practice.
Intonation is coming along good, however, I'm having a devil of a time with the E string. If I don't hit it just perfect it's just awful. All the strings are that way, but especially the E.
Now for the grand finale-- around the house making my spring cleaning/repair rounds today I managed to smash my finger with a hammer! (left hand pointer). Ouch!! Blood coming through all around the nail.....(because I know you wanted to know that.) Anyway, I iced it down good immediately and she's bandaged up as I type. Hopefully this won't put a cramp in my practice schedule.
Any other fiddlers out there?
As a few of you know I'm a guitar player. About a month ago I had a strange desire to learn fiddle after attending a winter Bluegrass festival up here. So, I ordered a rather inexpensive fiddle off of Ebay, and after having someone tell me I needed a new bridge and new strings, I'm now set to go. I've been told it's not a half bad fiddle too.
I've been taking my first steps and practicing relentlessly (45m to 1 hour per day for about 1 1/2 weeks now). At first it was very discouraging, the thing having no frets and all.... and I really couldn't get a very good tone out of it at all. But I have been trudging along at a steady pace with my Brian Wicklund DVD and book ( http://www.brianwicklund.com/ )and have actually made remarkable progress. I really had a breakthrough a couple of days ago when things starting coming together. I'm finding myself becoming much more conscious of the bow and how to "pull" the note out of the fiddle. Boil Em' Cabbage Down sounds good, and I'm getting good tone. Shortenin' Bread needs some work. All I can say is practice is paying off, and it doesn't seem so discouraging anymore.
This is one complicated instrument. If I'm not concentrating on my bowing technique then my fingering goes all to heck, or I find my thumb sticking way up over the neck, and as soon as I correct that then my bowing needs correction. Back and forth it goes. I guess that's why I practice.
Intonation is coming along good, however, I'm having a devil of a time with the E string. If I don't hit it just perfect it's just awful. All the strings are that way, but especially the E.
Now for the grand finale-- around the house making my spring cleaning/repair rounds today I managed to smash my finger with a hammer! (left hand pointer). Ouch!! Blood coming through all around the nail.....(because I know you wanted to know that.) Anyway, I iced it down good immediately and she's bandaged up as I type. Hopefully this won't put a cramp in my practice schedule.
Any other fiddlers out there?
