Chords and Backup

Cape Breton - Nova Scotia

"The Worlds Largest Fiddle"

 

If you play only the violin and have little experience with improvising, you're most likely struggling with chord changes. I did. If you you're not, then don't worry reading this and go practice something else. If you are, then here is a simple way to get used to the chord changes on the violin.
Playing backup, or simple chord changes is what most guitar students first learn how to do, but fiddle players never realize how much they should get used to hearing those chord changes until it hits them in the head. Playing basic backup on the fiddle will not sound as full as a guitar, but by practicing it you will get used to hearing the moving chords, and therefore let your ear and instincts do some of the work.
Let's start with 2 easy chords, using two strings for each chord.
For a G major chord you need G, B and D, although any combination of 2 of those will work. For starters, use your open G and D strings. No brainer. Then try an open D and B first finger. Also... No brainer.
For a D major, let's place the first finger on the G string for an A note, and play the open D and A with it. We will then have the D and A from the D major chord which is D, F# and A. If you want, you can use the F# second finger instead of the open D. Any combination of those 3 notes will work. If you want you can use the F# on the E string
Choose two notes (double stop) for each chord and keep those handy. From here there are several options. You can play a standard shuffle using a quarter note and two eighth notes, keeping the bow on two strings (double stop), playing the two notes you chose for the chord you are playing. Good back up also involves using your violin percussively. Striking the strings and muting them for the 1st and 3rd beat and pulling off a double stop on beats 2 and 4 is a very common backup when playing bluegrass(You can also reverse it to imitate the Mandolin).
Practice the following chord progression with any of the rhythmic ideas above:
\G   \G   \D   \G   \ (Each section represents a measure)

Slow Practice = Fast Progress
Fast Practice = Slow Progress
No Practice = No Progress

Funny how that works.


 

Lessons

My name is Luke Tripp and I have been teaching violin for over 16 years in the US and South America. I've also been playing violin, fiddle and mandolin for what I consider to be "all my life". I absolutely love to teach, and I intend to do so as long as God allows. I teach in Colorado Springs in my home studio and if you or your kids are interested in violin, fiddle or mandolin lessons send me an e-mail. If I can't help we'll find somebody who will. If you want to learn a little more about my style of teaching, I can fill you in on the details. I also work together with the Black Rose Acoustic Society (www.blackroseacoustic.org) and the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony (www.csysa.com), two great places to get your kid more involved with music.

My e-mail address is wattatripp@gmail.com.

Improvising with a bow

I thought I'd get back to blogging with one of my favorite topics: Improvising on the violin. I could go on for hours about all the interesting things I've observed over the years learning to teach improv, but I won't. Neither of us have the patience. Maybe I can share a little bit of what I've learned over the next posts. That way you'll keep you coming back. Well, at least that's the plan.

The first thing to do is start thinking like a rhythm guitar player. Think chords.
Why? Everybody else is. Even the singer knows the chord changes. Heck, even the drummer does... (Most of the time... Ok, let's just hope he does)
Although this is not easy, nor quick, it is well worth your time.
Let's start with a real easy one: G major, or just G. It is made up of three notes: g, b and d.
Play these notes over and over, faster and faster, anywhere on the violin, one after the other. The order does not matter, just make it sound good.
Now play a D major (D) chord: d, f# and a. Play it the same way you played the G chord.
Now for the hard part.
Find all the notes in the G chord from the lowest note of the chord to the highest in first position and do the same for the D chord. Practice these note progressions the same way you did with the smaller ones and memorize the fingering, to the point where you can change from one to the other without messing up... You know what I mean.
I'll pick from here later. Don't worry, funner and easier stuff is coming up.

Happy things!

Ok, so after many, many complaints about german websites and file sharing websites across the Atlantic, I've decided to look for something better to share Kids Jam files. Today I'm here to inform you that I have! So by clicking on the link below, you will have access to all the Kids Jam files in one big online folder. ..."But which file shall I download!?" you might say. I would start with Kids Jam I,II and III, but we eventually play'em all.  Have fun and stock up on ink!

http://www.box.net/shared/1x8yqu8ogkr09x3ck316

PS: I've also updated the link on the "Kids Jam" post as well.

More Music

I've been so behind on everything these last few months that I've all but abandoned my blog... Not good. But I'll be back! It sucks to think of how long it actually takes to write an entry and I've been so behind on doing them, even with a million different things to share. Anyway, I'm running a quick post here to send out some music for any jammer who wants music that's a little more advanced and a few waltzes... gotta love'em. Most of the kids don't care too much for them, but they should know that they do win fiddle championships... and the ladies.
Well, here are a few waltzes and some other tunes that every fiddler should know. Don't forget, click on the link below and if they ask you if you want to create an account click "no" and then click on "slow download". http://rapidshare.com/files/449726148/Kids_Jam_Waltzes_and_more.pdf

Christmas Jam

For all the Kids Jam kids and fans, here are some songs for our Christmas Jam. Some of the chords are completely wrong, such is the case in Frosty the Snowman. But, the melodies are all good, and that's what counts for most of the kids. As soon as I find the time, I will review and simplify the chords for the songs that are wrong, and repost them all, so that our guitar, mandolin and bass players can accompany us without a problem. You can find the files on the link below. Oh, and by the way, Rapidshare is my file hoster. There are no viruses related to this site... At least I've never come across any. It's the only reliable site I found to share larger files easily. If you have any trouble opening these files or downloading them, don't hesitate to e-mail me.

See you at the Jam!
http://www.box.com/s/1x8yqu8ogkr09x3ck316

First Impressions

This is a short I wrote for English Comp. class at PPCC and it's all true from memory - for whatever that's worth.
Here is also a copy of Fisher's Hornpipe with a 2nd Voice part here. It wrote the 2nd part for Mando or Fiddle, but it's not tablature, so go ahead and pull out the oboe. (I'm kidding)

The ring in the center of the pavilion was lackluster from close up, and the dark blue wooden crates that surrounded it were old and dirty. The people sitting beside us in the white plastic chairs were friends of friends and must not have been acquainted at the time since I hardly remember their names, although I'm sure I got to know every one in the year to follow. Somewhere in the middle of the seesaw act he caught my eye, and I saw him walking slowly towards me to my left. I hardly gave him any thought or attention – it must be part of the act – I thought. Only when he was getting dangerously close did I point him out to the man sitting beside me.
Fernando was the one guy in our group whom I knew pretty well. We had worked together for almost two years in an eight- piece band for two corny singers who sang sort of a cross between traditional Mexican music and American country. Of course there are many elements to their style which are quite unique, but to unfamiliar ears that description fits nicely. He was a great guy: Dependable, calm, passionate, handled criticism well, and was a pretty good keyboard player. He stood about five and a half feet tall, had short dark hair and dark skin – like most Brazilians – and wore a great smile and as the song suggests, had a way with women. He was the one who had brought me there.
Apparently Fernando knew some people who were related to people who were good friends of powerful people and who just happened to own three of the biggest itinerant circuses in South America. One of these circuses was about to be renovated, and a live band was to be added to the show in the fashion of the Canadian and European shows of the time. That's why we were there; we wanted the job.
The big cat stopped for a moment about fifteen feet from where we sat, and by this time we were not the only ones to have noticed him. One of the acrobats hurried behind the curtain while one of the clowns tried to get the leopard's attention by gesturing in front of him, and as it was pretty obvious he had no idea what he was doing, Luke – yes, that was the cat's name – just ignored him.
There might have been more of a sense of fear if there had been more people at the show that night; it seemed very empty. It must have been a Tuesday or Wednesday, and we were sitting in what they called the “VIP Area”, which was the area directly in front of the ring, off the bleachers.
Maybe because I initially thought it was part of the show, I wasn't really afraid... until a little girl a few feet away from us jumped up and screamed. Of course men don't scream... or jump up. Men calmly stand up and move their chairs away from danger, so that's what we did, although we didn't sit back down until Luke was gone.
After a few minutes, the bald clown – he was truly bald – responsible for not locking up the animal safely, had chased Luke back into his cage, but not before a little growling and complaining from the detainee. Sadly, it was a small cage and he spent all of his life in there. Even during his only stage time, he would be featured in that cage for a mediocre magic trick. He behaved like a grouchy seventy year old man who lived by himself with no living relatives, and it was pretty obvious that he had become tired of fighting and had settled for that fate.
Now I'm not going PETA all the way here – some of the circus animals such as the elephants were pampered like babies – but I felt really sorry for the old cat and many times thought he'd be better off dead.
As always, the show must go on! So we sat through the rest of it, ate popcorn, made dumb jokes, and wondered where we would find our guitar player if the meeting scheduled for after the show went well. I had never been to a circus before and was pretty excited to be that close to those kinds of performances. After all, we had 'VIP' seats. To say I felt like a child at the time would be presumptuous: I was a child. I was in my late teens and living the life of an old musician with nothing to show for it but a handful of violin students, weekend weddings and a boring gig with some boring music. I wanted to see the world, travel, learn, but still maintain the financial independence I had grown accustomed to, and the circus gig was perfect for all of that and much more, as I later found out.

To be continued... (hopefully)