Scottish Fiddle Tunes

First tune- I Wish You Would Marry Me Now"
Second- Exerpt from "My Home"

Thanks for listening! I appreciate critiques the most as I don't currently have a fiddle teacher and am lacking in perspective. General advice and specifics.

I've been playing for 2 1/2 years now and consider myself a beginner.

What do I need to do to improve my tone?
Tempo?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• scottish fiddle
• violin
• fiddle
• scottish
• girl
• short hair

[jkvideo42]

Any updates on this ? Any "next tries" ? Did you sign-up for lessons ? Please keep going; by no means was I trying to discourage you. You have put in alot of work to get this far. The fiddle/violin is one of the more difficult instruments to play (western instruments anyway !)

[llkrystalrosell]

Thanks so much for your feedback! I'll post an updated version soon with your suggestions. I really appreciate your two's insight and I have started to take lessons from a friend of mine with alot more experience. Thanks again!

[WillowPeterson]

I've been playing for about the same amount of time as you have. Watch your intonation, and try and maybe get lessons. You're rhythm is great and you have A LOT of potential. Where did you get this piece? Or are you perhaps playing this by ear? And how did you learn to get this far, anyways, without a teacher? I'm astounded. You should practice your scales and arpeggios, do you know how to tune properly? Make sure your holding your bow right, and that your placing it on the strings properly.

[losttribe21]

cool tune:) don't know it. nice time as well..now, lets get you a super tone. ready? breathe. slowly and deep, relax both shoulders, keeping them even, not slanted,try to hold and control bow with only index and thumb, travelling frog to tip, in STRAIGHT PATH, then add fingers for more security, but sensing the weightof the bow is more than enough, so no pressing bow into string! travel with same speed, say 17 mph, w/o slowing down at the changes, voila! centered, clear tone..git to it;)

[jkvideo42]

Another idea to help your intonation is to look at where you are placing your fingers on the strings. Unfortunately, the tolerances for finger placement are pretty small. Hitting a note (decently) is a combination of where you place your finger - due to a marker on the fingerboard - or muscle memory), plus what you hear & any minute corrections you make. A good player corrects without most people knowing. So - literally - watch what your fingers are doing. Hope these comments help. Keep going !

[jkvideo42]

Intonation exercise: get software that will play the notes of a fiddle; use your tuner. First, make sure your fiddle is in-tune. Next, get the software to play a note & try to match that note on your fiddle, using the tuner as a guide. Try to do a scale that way - listening first & matching what you hear. Repeat for a month, 15 minutes at the begining of each practice session. Don't be shy about putting some tiny marks on the fingerboard (masking tape) to show where your fingers should be.

[jkvideo42]

Please take this in the spirit intended - trying to help. Please consider getting a teacher & some formal lessons - that's the first thought. You have done extremely well getting this far on your own.

Your rhythm is great. My guess is that your ear needs abit of development to help your intonation. It might help if you kept your bow about half-way between the bridge and the fingerboard - that helps the sound. More on intonation in the next post...