Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 02:39:59 -0500 (Central Standard Time)
Subject: Fiddle Tools for Guitarists

Dear Mickey, My name is Dan Ertel and I just reviewed your website. It's awesome! You give a great deal of knowledgeable advice. My question to you is: do you think guitarists would be interested in a new product which would help them play the fiddle much quicker? You can view my video demo at violinnow.com. The link is on page 2.
I've played this way for 1 1/2 years now and just played at a bluegrass festival in Cecil, Wisconsin in July. I'm having a blast doing it! Would you please tell me what you think of this? Your feedback would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

Sincerely, Dan Ertel

Greetings Dan,

Yes, I sincerely believe guitarists would be interested in your product...and, at the very least, the most difficult aspect of learning to play fiddle, the bowing arm, can be bypassed. However, as you so aptly put in your video, practice would still be of the essence.

I believe your video came off very nicely...and, in consideration that you may be targeting the performing guitarist, who is looking for a different voicing at a gig, I believe your product will have immense success. Additionally, keep in mind, your product would also have an intense appeal to mandolinists. Mandolinists already have the fingerboard language down...and, the flatpicking hand is relative to a guitarist's hand. Hence, this may have even more appeal in the mando marketplace. You can announce your product on Mandolin Cafe: www.mandolincafe.com

I'd be more than happy to exchange links with you if you'd like...and, hopefully assist you in you further in your promotional efforts.

Mickey

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 21:44:00 EST
Subject: Bouncing Bows

Another guitarist-with-a-fiddle here,

I'm making good progress with intonation and vibrato. How on earth do they do
the bouncing bowings, as in the Paganini caprices?

I realize this is difficult to do and ridiculous to write about, but humor
me. If 4 1/16 notes are one on each string, is the trick to get a first
bounce and bump the rest due to arm motion, or are they consciously
"dribbling" the bow, so they could keep it going indefinitely, directing it
at will, whether on one string or across strings.

Any other resources?

Thanks, Pat

Greetings Pat,

This one's difficult to assess...I believe most violinists have their own style and approach to bouncing the bow. I, personally, would experiment with the technique until something clicked. Who knows, you might discover your very own style and approach to this technique. Now, I've only been studying violin/fiddle for 1.5 years and am also a guitarist. I've found the violin to be far more disciplinary in that every movement seems to be critical to the tonal outcome. For instance, the position of the bow in approximation to the neck, how many fingers are placed above the frog, how high you hold the fiddle neck up, how loose you hold the bow, how you cradle the neck, and so on infinitude...it seems there's far more latitude given to playing guitar without drastically altering the tonal quality. Learning violin/fiddle has been great for me since it has given me a new perspective on the many facets of technique and how it influences the tonality as applied to most any stringed instrument.

There's a video out sold through www.melbay.com that focuses strictly on fiddle bowing techniques. I haven't watched it to date...but hope to soon.

Let me know if you find out any other resources...keep on fiddlin' Mickey

Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 00:15:35 EDT
Subject: help

I can play the guitar and I understand tabulature, could you send me chords
for the violin.

--

Sorry, I don't have any chord charts readily available for violin. If you do understand tab, you can experiment with mandolin tab and try to relate it to your violin...ultimately, it's best to get a beginner fiddle/violin book to build the fundamentals...the most critical aspect in learning to play is proper positioning. It's easy to develop bad habits from the start that will limit your playing in the future. By acquiring a book or video, you will at the very least have a solid reference in the beginning stages.

Mickey

Subject: begining fiddle.
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 23:46:03 -0700

im kinda wondering how to go about understanding how to apply scales and cords to the fiddle. i play guitar and would love to start on the fiddle. is there some kind of tab or something to help me find the patterns that i already understand on guitar and apply them to the fiddle?

thank you for your consideration

lonnie wright


Greetings Lonnie,

Glad to assist...

First and foremost, because the violin is tuned in fifths, it most definitely is a far cry from guitar. The intervals from one string to another will throw you off as a guitarist where you normally deal with fourths instead of fifths. I personally play both and found that there are some crossovers from guitar to violin:

1. The theory of music remains static...that is, you still adhere to the same music principles. Every melody, or scale, consists of certain intervals that never change from instrument to instrument. Therefore, when playing on a single string, you can observe the whole steps and the half steps as you walk up a major scale. This is also true on violin.

2. Chord construction remains the same...although, chords on a violin are rarely performed other than two-note versions (these would be called double-stops on a violin). So, when building a major chord, we know that the notes consist of the tonic (1), the third and the fifth tones of a scale. This still applies to violin even when building two-note double-stops...you know that on average, you would use the tonic (first) and the third for a harmonious combination. For instance, in the key of G, you would be using the "G" and the "B" notes to create a chord on the violin.

3. If you flatpick guitar, you can apply the same rhythmic patterns...for instance, when playing with a flatpick, you would use your down stroke to establish the downbeat and the up stroke for the off beats. This pattern also works well for bluegrass fiddling where each note is separated by a down and up stroke.

Hope the above helps in establishing a relationship between guitar and violin technique.

Mickey