« Choosing What Instrument to Learn #5: Violin/Fiddle (part 1) | Main | Quick Tip: Online Gig Calendar »
Choosing What Instrument to Learn #5: Violin/Fiddle (part 2)
By Rick | September 16, 2008
If you missed the first part of this article, click the following link for learning Fiddle/Violin part 1
The Good News!
Last time, when I wrote this post, it must have seemed that I was actually trying to convince you all that fiddle was a nightmare of an instrument and that you should avoid it at all costs. No no no! Not at all! It’s just that if the stuff I post here is going to be of the lightest use to anyone, then it has to be honest and as comprehensive as my limited knowledge and experience will permit. So I have to point out the rough as well as the smooth.
Fiddle is my current obsession. I’ve been “playing” mine for a couple of months and I can get a handful of semi-recognisable tunes out of it. Unlike guitar, ukulele, mandolin etc, it is likely to be a few months before a beginner can actually get an violin to make anything like a consistently nice sound. However, after just a couple of weeks one starts to hear intermittent hints of the cool music one might (with luck and a good tail-wind) be able to wrestle out of the instrument a few months down the line.
I’ll concentrate on fiddle playing styles rather than formal, classical violin, because fiddle is the style I’m learning, and that about which I know most. Which reminds me… why the hell should you listen to anything a novice like me has to say? Well, maybe you shouldn’t. All I can say is that every time I learn a new instrument I immerse myself totally. I spend months reading up, asking questions until people’s eyes glaze over, studying the construction of the instrument I have chosen (with mandolin that stretched to the extent of building one myself!). I can kind of distill quite a bit of existing knowledge from some great sources, but I have the “advantage” of having a beginner’s angle on what the newbie needs to know. Judge for yourselves.
Here, to balance the list of doom I wrote last time, is a list of a few good things about learning fiddle:-
Upside 1) It’s different. Whether you want to play folk music, blues, jazz or rock - all genres which can successfully include fiddle - chances are pretty good that you’ll be the only fiddler, and possibly a centre of attention.
Upside 2) It’s a small, light, portable instrument. If you hope to gig, never underestimate the benefits of portable gear!
Upside 3) It only has four strings. This can make it easier to learn one’s way around the fingerboard. Furthermore, those four strings may not need changing for a year or more, unlike guitar or mandolin strings which have a life expectancy of a couple of months with regular play.
Upside 4) From bass to treble, fiddle is tuned in ascending 5ths. For the uninitiated, what this means in practical terms is that the major scales used in much fiddle music fall easily and conveniently under the fingers for most players.
Upside 5) Fiddle is a very tactile instrument. Time and effort put into learning bow technique is rewarded with a playing experience very, very different to that one gets with plucked/strummed string instruments.
Upside 6) There may not be the wide range of teach-yourself style tutorial material that is available for guitar, but some of what there is is absolutely outstanding and will effectively lead the beginner from first steps through to pretty solid intermediate ability. More on tutorial material in a future post.
Upside 7) Even a couple of months in, it is a very enjoyable instrument. Despite moments of frustration, every new bit of progress is the source of immense satisfaction.
Upside 8.) “Silent” electric fiddles are available, at fairly modest prices, which enable one to practise quietly without fear of annoying neigbours or embarrassing oneself! These things can be plugged into headphones, or even into amplifiers.
Upside 9) I have mentioned electric fiddles. Electric versions can be used with the same effects used by guitarists, and are thus perfectly suitable for rock bands as well as for more acoustic orientated groups. An electric fiddle adds a great and unusual sonic dimension to a rock band. I have both acoustic and electric violins, and I have to say that I prefer the acoustic. When you hold an acoustic fiddle there is a very cool feeling of connection to hundreds of years of earlier players. It inspires one to really try to get good.
Upside 10) Fiddle and mandolin have quite a bit in common. If you can play a bit of mandolin, that should help you to understand the left hand fingering of a violin.
There’s no denying that this is a difficult instrument in the early stages, and the learning curve never ends, but it is alo the instrument with the most character of any I have tried.
Next time I will probably cover some of the tutorial material available for the various instruments I’ve written about so far.
Topics: Acoustic, Amplified, Getting Started, Instruments, Uncategorized |