Bought a fiddle. Now what?

Anyone got some resources for a fresh noob? Thanks!!!

What type of music you into? Irish? Scots? Bluegrass?

In terms of general fiddle stuff, I found some things on this site very useful.

If you want to learn Irish Tunes then check out The Session - You may need to sign up, but its such a useful resource that it is worth it. It's free, but you can donate if you find it useful.

For Scots music there is no better tutor than the lovely Ms Sarah Naylor. Here is a link to her video course which I loved.

But my number one piece of advice would be get yourself some lessons now before you pick up bad habits. I tried the self-taught route for a year ("Everything else I play, I taught myself, so why not the fiddle?" I thought. Big error). My teacher had to work hard to iron out my bad techniques which were still producing a horrible sound after 12 months. But the next six months I did with him was essential for getting a sound out of the instrument that didn't have the neighbours calling the police

Just remember, that horrible screech eventually goes away. The fiddle truly is the Devil's instrument when you start out. Be prepared for partners and family banning you from practicing when they're around

Use it to kill those pesky flies and spiders around the house.

Thanks darlin!! I was pretty sure I might hear "go get some lessons to start" once I looked online a bit. Next to the uke, fiddle stuff looks like rocket science!!!

I can do this though, right?




Jelly, it may come to that. We'll see!

great instrument, enjoy your journey with it Freeda

I taught myself to play a fiddle. I ended up teaching a little bit and playing in a old timey stringband for several years (for tiny sums of money that nearly covered our expenses if we were very lucky). The method is to get some recordings of the style of music you want to play...and then don't stop playing until you sound more or less like the recordings. You can do it...instruction will surely make the operation more efficient. You just have to want to be able to play the fiddle more than you want to do all those other things with your time.

Freeda said:

Anyone got some resources for a fresh noob? Thanks!!!

Click to expand...

Go girl - love your attitude! And let us know how you get on!

The first instrument I ever learned was Viola. +1 on the flies and spiders.

There is a great online site www.academyofbluegrass.com. If you like Bluegrass Darol Anger is a top dog on the fiddle!

Cheers,
Dave

Try a reentrant tuning on it, you might start the latest craze in the fiddle world

How 'bout this idea?

stevepetergal said:

How 'bout this idea?

View attachment 51889

Click to expand...

Come on now Stevepetergal, it's not like its a banjo!!!

So, Freeda, what did you get? Trying a fiddle/violin has been kind of a fantasy of mine. Low and behold, amazon has some pretty cheap starter viols. Then again, I imagine cheap viols are about the same quality as cheap ukes, but hey.

How are you adapting to no frets?

Gotta second the suggestion about lessons. I played fiddle for a few years, with some instruction. Then I decided to take classical lessons, and it took a year to get rid of bad habits. Classical technique gives you a solid base, and you can go anywhere from there. The second recommendation is to find your favorite and reasonably priced strings. I like the aluminum wound over synthetic core strings (except high E, which is solid metal). Violin strings are EXTREMELY expensive compared to uke strings, so you're not as free to experiment