Fiddlosophy

Danny Boy / Kesh Jig – Electric Fiddle Solo – liner notes

A fiddlehed named Suzanne attended a Diego’s Umbrella show in Fairfax, Ca. and took video of my “solo solo”. This is the part of the show where I create a live looping drone and then play melodies over that. For this version of the solo solo, I start with a G drone. I create this on … Continued

Redemption Song – Fiddle Version

Hey folks, Here’s a fiddle version of Redemption Song by Bob Marley. I recently heard a version of the tune by Macy Gray which planted the seed for doing a fiddle version. I was surprised how easily it translated to a solo fiddle format. It’s rare that a song is so sad and at the … Continued

Tam Lin – Basic and Variation – Performance

Hey folks, Here’s a short performance of an Irish tune called Tam Lin. I play a very simple version and then play a version with some variation added. In this version, I added: In the A part I’m mainly adding double stops. A simple way to practice the bowing for this is to play G0-{G0D0} … Continued

Banshee – Basic And Variation – Performance

Hey folks, Here’s a short performance of an Irish tune called the Banshee. I play a very simple version and then play a version with some variation added. In this version, I added: A part, bar 1: Roll added to D3 (G) in bar 1 of the A part A part, bar 4:  D3 (G) … Continued

The Power Of Adding Variation

On The Endless Plateau So you’ve learned the fiddle and can now play a bunch of tunes. Do you feel like you’ve reached a plateau with your playing? Does it seem like you’re just going through the motions on a tune and it’s not sounding any better? Adding variations to scales and tunes is a … Continued

Practice Just To Practice

Why do you practice the fiddle? What do you hope to achieve? Do you want to be able to play a certain tune? Or do you want to be able to play with people? Do you see a vision of yourself doing something with music in the future? Before reading further, take a moment to … Continued

Practice Notes February 19, 2019

It’s been raining a lot in the Bay Area. It’s been nice. I’ve been hibernating, catching up on work, detoxing and practicing a lot ? Here are some notes I’ve taken from my practice in the last two months. It’s fairly longwinded so I’ll summarize briefly here, and then start blowing wind. (That sentence didn’t … Continued

Rights Of Man – Fiddle Raga

Here’s a fiddle raga performance of Rights Of Man.  Here is a downloadable mp3 for your listening pleasure (so you can listen to this while walking the dog, doing laundry or going to sleep at night):  Performance liner notes I’m playing a fiddle strung with viola strings tuned DADA. It’s similar to old-time “saw-mill” tuning, … Continued

The Surfing Fiddler

It’s humbling to learn something new. At the moment, I’m living in Bali for a month, updating FiddleHed.com and building a new course on improvisation. I’m also re-learning how to surf. Out on the ocean, it’s pretty clear that I’m a beginner. Struggling to paddle out, getting battered by oncoming waves, not gaining enough speed … Continued

Fiddle Around The World: Bali

Sometimes you just wake up and realize you’re somewhere else. Though I booked this trip to Bali a few months ago, I’ve been so busy with FiddleHed that I haven’t had time to plan anything or even look forward to it. The only thing I really did was book a flight. And now, I find myself … Continued