When I bought my fiddle in early February, my thought was to see if I'd like it, as I'd never touched one before. Given that uncertainty, my goal was to buy the cheapest possible "real" instrument (and not what the people on the fiddle message boards call a VSO, or violin-shaped object.) Now, a couple of months in, it's clear that I like it and intend to continue.
I play it every day - which I'm convinced is the only way to make progress. Even if I only have time to pick it up for 10 minutes and play a few scales and a few simple tunes, I feel like I *have* to do that. And I really enjoy it.
Given that I've answered my initial question, I started wondering about upgrading my fiddle. The woman who sold it to me (who buys and refurbishes used fiddles) told me that she'd buy mine back if I ever wanted to upgrade. So I contacted her - and just as in our initial conversation, I was shocked at how cheap fiddles are. I told her I wanted a better-quality fiddle - one that I could grow with and not need to worry about upgrading for the foreseeable future. In response, she got a few suitable candidates together - all between $200-300.
We arranged for another Sunday morning McDonald's meet. I asked Darling Wife to come along, as I value her musical opinion. We saw her in a far corner of the parking lot, setting up lawn chairs out of the back of her truck. She apparently thought it might be a lengthy audition process.
The lawn chairs weren't necessary. For that money, I don't need elaborate deliberation. It's a simple question - which one sounds best. She had three fiddles. I liked the sound of 2 and 3. DW had a strong preference for #3. So I played it a little more, still liked it, and bought it. $200, less $90 for my trade, made it a $110 upgrade. Absolutely a no-brainer.
I've now had it for a week, and it really is a significant upgrade. It sounds *markedly* better. And it's easier to play. If I had known what a difference was possible for such a small price, I would have done this after two weeks with the first fiddle.
And now no more fiddle upgrades will ever be necessary (which I say as a joke - but the woman I've been dealing with really seems to think that's true. And I hope she's right.)
Monday, April 27, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Odds and Ends
A few random notes and links:
- In my last post about the Tommy Emmanuel concert, I linked to his performance of Angelina, one of my favorite Tommy songs. Here's a video of him backstage listening to a young kid play it. And then giving him a few pointers. I love how he just loves to play.
- Speaking of Angelina, here's a tab. I haven't decided yet whether I should attempt it, or forget I ever saw it.
- How could I possibly not go to this?
- Simply gorgeous version of Over the Waterfall. Simple parts...acoustic guitar and mandolin. I know the song and could play either part.
- Going to California guitar tutorial. One of my favorite Zeppelin acoustic songs. (Here's my other favorite - though there are a lot of great ones.)
- I had to make a long drive last weekend, and I downloaded two CD's by the Wailin' Jennys as road music. Fantastic group with beautiful vocal harmonies and acoustic instruments - and from my honorary home and native land. Here's a YouTube clip of Beautiful Dawn.
- Next Rosewood gig is this Saturday night, and we're excited. There will be at least one mandolin song. There's talk of incorporating the fiddle, but not just yet!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Tommy Emmanuel at the Keswick
Darling Wife and I had seats about ten rows from the front, all the way to the left. My bandmates were eating their hearts out at having to miss it - but since they were on a sailboat in the Caribbean, we won't shed too many tears for them.
There was an opening act, who I'd never heard of, but I figured that anyone touring with Tommy Emmanuel would have to be good. Was I ever right. The guy's name was Richard Smith, and he was a killer finger-style acoustic guitar player. Just like Tommy, he played a mix of instrumentals and songs with vocals. It turns out that he's fairly well-known in guitar circles (Chip knew who he was when we talked about the show later.)
His 45-minute set was fantastic (it's not often that you're sorry when the opener announces it's their last song) - then after a short break, Tommy came out. After writing last year about the show he puts on, I'm pretty much out of superlatives. With so many amazing players out there, and so many different styles of music, I hesitate to use terms like "the best" - but it's also hard to imagine that there are too many (or maybe *any*) better players. As a friend commented on the pic I put on FB: "He's OK if you like superlative unbelievable sounds like 6 hands playing on a single guitar!"
For two hours, he pulled out all the stops, and I just sat there with my jaw hanging open. Darling Wife said later, "I was paying attention to you watching him, and you kept doing two things - shaking your head, and laughing out loud." I know she's right. I couldn't help myself. That's the only way I know how to react to watching the impossible happen right before my eyes.
It really did seem like I watching the impossible. How can you do that many things at once on a guitar? And one of the things I love the most about him is how much fun he seems to be having. He has the enthusiasm of a child, and seems like there's nothing else he'd rather be doing and nowhere he'd rather be. And sometimes he looks up with an expressions of, "I know, I can't believe it myself!"
For the encores, he brought out Richard Smith, and they played 3-4 songs together. Again, I'm out of superlatives. I would have been thrilled to listen to a few more hours of them playing together.
I posted a bunch of YouTube links last summer, and here are a couple more.
Just a treat of an evening.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Fiddling Debut
My last post was about the sea shanty sing we hosted last Sunday. A footnote from the day is that I made my fiddling debut.
I've been practicing the fiddle every day since getting it two and a half weeks ago. It's definitely challenging, but I also feel like I'm over the first hurdle (i.e., I'm mostly past the "sackful of screeching cats" phase.) It's starting to feel more natural, and the things that I thought and hoped would translate, have translated. The fiddle is tuned exactly the same as the mandolin, so the fiddle tunes I've been learning on the mandolin over the past two years are pretty well burned in.
I've been very self-conscious about sounding bad, so I've been trying to play in the basement, and at off hours. But my first "outing" happened one night last week. I was playing upstairs, and Hailey walked in. I was expecting a joking complaint about the noise, but she shocked me by telling me how good it sounded. (I'm sure this sounds like a humblebrag, but I swear I don't mean it as one. I was *shocked* that she thought it sounded good.)
My second "outing", and a sort of debut, was at the sea shanty sing. I got out a few instruments in advance, in case anyone wanted to grab one and play (the mandolin, the 12 string, etc.), and Darling Wife told me I had to bring the fiddle out, that people would want to see and hear it. Sure enough, my friend Don walked in and grabbed it right away. He played Ashokan Farewell (from Ken Burns' Civil War series), and it sounded fantastic.
Coincidentally, that's a song I know on the mandolin and have been practicing on the fiddle, so I played started in on it when he handed it back to me. Then I played a couple of mandolin/fiddle standards: Whiskey Before Breakfast and Red Haired Boy, and Don grabbed an acoustic guitar and played the chords along with me. It sounded great together.
All I could hear was the notes I missed, the notes that weren't quite in tune, and where my bow touched the wrong strings. But it was very gratifying to learn that it doesn't sound completely horrible to an audience of supportive friends. So I'll keep practicing.
I've been practicing the fiddle every day since getting it two and a half weeks ago. It's definitely challenging, but I also feel like I'm over the first hurdle (i.e., I'm mostly past the "sackful of screeching cats" phase.) It's starting to feel more natural, and the things that I thought and hoped would translate, have translated. The fiddle is tuned exactly the same as the mandolin, so the fiddle tunes I've been learning on the mandolin over the past two years are pretty well burned in.
I've been very self-conscious about sounding bad, so I've been trying to play in the basement, and at off hours. But my first "outing" happened one night last week. I was playing upstairs, and Hailey walked in. I was expecting a joking complaint about the noise, but she shocked me by telling me how good it sounded. (I'm sure this sounds like a humblebrag, but I swear I don't mean it as one. I was *shocked* that she thought it sounded good.)
My second "outing", and a sort of debut, was at the sea shanty sing. I got out a few instruments in advance, in case anyone wanted to grab one and play (the mandolin, the 12 string, etc.), and Darling Wife told me I had to bring the fiddle out, that people would want to see and hear it. Sure enough, my friend Don walked in and grabbed it right away. He played Ashokan Farewell (from Ken Burns' Civil War series), and it sounded fantastic.
Coincidentally, that's a song I know on the mandolin and have been practicing on the fiddle, so I played started in on it when he handed it back to me. Then I played a couple of mandolin/fiddle standards: Whiskey Before Breakfast and Red Haired Boy, and Don grabbed an acoustic guitar and played the chords along with me. It sounded great together.
All I could hear was the notes I missed, the notes that weren't quite in tune, and where my bow touched the wrong strings. But it was very gratifying to learn that it doesn't sound completely horrible to an audience of supportive friends. So I'll keep practicing.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sea Shanty Sing
Right after New Year's, we went with our friend Don to a new Meetup.com group devoted to singing sea shanties. That sounded like fun, and it was. Rhythmic call and response tunes with interesting history behind them.
We weren't able to make the next meetup, but Darling Wife suggested to a few friends that we could have an informal sea shanty sing in our house, and the idea quickly met with approval and spread. We invited our musical friends, and everyone seemed excited.
Our intention was to make it a little lighter in atmosphere than the meetup - there were a few people there who had very rigid ideas about what constituted a sea shanty, and what didn't. Our idea was that everyone would bring a few nautically-themed songs (or drinking songs...they seem to go hand in hand) that would be fun to play and sing, and we'd get together and have a good time.
And that's exactly what happened yesterday. There were a couple of last-minute cancellations, but a fun and friendly group convened at 3:00, and we played and sang until 6:00.
Here are the songs we brought:
Very fun afternoon, and we hope to be able to do it again.
We weren't able to make the next meetup, but Darling Wife suggested to a few friends that we could have an informal sea shanty sing in our house, and the idea quickly met with approval and spread. We invited our musical friends, and everyone seemed excited.
Our intention was to make it a little lighter in atmosphere than the meetup - there were a few people there who had very rigid ideas about what constituted a sea shanty, and what didn't. Our idea was that everyone would bring a few nautically-themed songs (or drinking songs...they seem to go hand in hand) that would be fun to play and sing, and we'd get together and have a good time.
And that's exactly what happened yesterday. There were a couple of last-minute cancellations, but a fun and friendly group convened at 3:00, and we played and sang until 6:00.
Here are the songs we brought:
Very fun afternoon, and we hope to be able to do it again.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
I V vi IV
Here's an amusing video on how widespread the chord progression I V vi IV is. In the key of G, that would be G D Em C. I had no idea how popular it is.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Fiddling About
From the "As if I need another distraction" file.
Seeing fiddlers at the Folk Fest and at some jams we've been to has planted the seed that it might be fun to fool around with a fiddle. It hasn't been a burning desire - lord knows that guitar and mandolin provide all the challenge I need - not to mention that my actual gigging instrument is the bass. But I thought that if the opportunity to get a reasonable quality fiddle on the cheap, I'd probably go for it.
Well, I found the opportunity, and I now have a nice little used fiddle. As my very wise wife is fond of saying (usually with a raised eyebrow when learning of my latest transaction), the problem with looking is that it leads to finding.
I saw a Craigslist ad for a used violin, and I responded with a few questions. I e-mailed back and forth with the seller, who turned out to be a woman who buys old violins from wherever she can find them (Good Will, estate sales, garage sales, etc.), fixes them up, sets them up properly, and sells them. She said she understood what I was looking for, and would gather up a few that would probably be suitable for me.
As an aside, I thought "violin" and "fiddle" were two different words for an identical instrument. That's not exactly true. They *are* the same instrument, but they're set up a little differently. A fiddle is set up with a flatter bridge, to make playing double-stops (two strings at a time) easier. I'm looking to play fiddle tunes, not Mozart concertos, so I was looking for a fiddle setup.
I met her at McDonald's Sunday morning at 10:30, and it was easy to spot the woman with four black instrument cases on a table. She showed them to me one by one, and each one had a spec sheet and price. Each one came as a package, with fiddle, bow, case, rosin. I had lots of questions, and she patiently answered them all. Then we went out to her car so she could play them for me.
They all sounded fine to me, but the ones I liked best were the cheapest ($110) and the most expensive ($225). I couldn't decide on one over the other, so price was the tie-breaker - especially since this is a "try it out and see if I like playing it" starter instrument. So I bought it and brought it home.
Now I'm painfully aware from grade school orchestra concerts that violin is not an easy instrument to learn, and that the screeching of a beginner violinist can be a painful-sounding thing. But the only way through that is to practice and get through the learning curve of putting your fingers in the right spot. So I'll try to play in the basement when no one is around to hear. My joke has been, "Here's a little number I call 'Sackful of Screeching Cats.'"
After two days, I'm kinda starting to get the hang of it, just a little. It's fun, and it's definitely challenging. Time will tell if I decide to stick with it.
Seeing fiddlers at the Folk Fest and at some jams we've been to has planted the seed that it might be fun to fool around with a fiddle. It hasn't been a burning desire - lord knows that guitar and mandolin provide all the challenge I need - not to mention that my actual gigging instrument is the bass. But I thought that if the opportunity to get a reasonable quality fiddle on the cheap, I'd probably go for it.
Well, I found the opportunity, and I now have a nice little used fiddle. As my very wise wife is fond of saying (usually with a raised eyebrow when learning of my latest transaction), the problem with looking is that it leads to finding.
I saw a Craigslist ad for a used violin, and I responded with a few questions. I e-mailed back and forth with the seller, who turned out to be a woman who buys old violins from wherever she can find them (Good Will, estate sales, garage sales, etc.), fixes them up, sets them up properly, and sells them. She said she understood what I was looking for, and would gather up a few that would probably be suitable for me.
As an aside, I thought "violin" and "fiddle" were two different words for an identical instrument. That's not exactly true. They *are* the same instrument, but they're set up a little differently. A fiddle is set up with a flatter bridge, to make playing double-stops (two strings at a time) easier. I'm looking to play fiddle tunes, not Mozart concertos, so I was looking for a fiddle setup.
They all sounded fine to me, but the ones I liked best were the cheapest ($110) and the most expensive ($225). I couldn't decide on one over the other, so price was the tie-breaker - especially since this is a "try it out and see if I like playing it" starter instrument. So I bought it and brought it home.
Now I'm painfully aware from grade school orchestra concerts that violin is not an easy instrument to learn, and that the screeching of a beginner violinist can be a painful-sounding thing. But the only way through that is to practice and get through the learning curve of putting your fingers in the right spot. So I'll try to play in the basement when no one is around to hear. My joke has been, "Here's a little number I call 'Sackful of Screeching Cats.'"
After two days, I'm kinda starting to get the hang of it, just a little. It's fun, and it's definitely challenging. Time will tell if I decide to stick with it.
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