Elevate Your Playing Through Fiddle Tunes

This is a multi-instrument workshop (whatever instrument you play is welcome!) that will provide an introduction to learning and playing fiddle tunes. For this workshop, we will focus on the tune The Girl I Left Behind Me. Then we will introduce New Five Cent Piece as an additional tune on Day 2.

Learning fiddle tunes is an enjoyable and effective way to achieve fluency on your instrument. A genre-straddling tradition centered on auditory learning, fiddle tunes provide an excellent opportunity to hone your musical abilities, whether it be:

• Picking out melodies
• Learn fiddle tunes by ear
• Mapping the notes on your instrument
• Finding and maintaining a solid groove
• Building confidence playing in different keys
• Switch between comping and soloing in a jam
• Have a foundational understanding of playing and improvising in a jam setting

Difficulty level:

This workshop is ideal for Beginner-Intermediate level players. In this context, that means you know basic chords on your instrument and can transition between them (G, C, and D for example). No music reading skills (sheet music/tablature) required.

Materials Needed:

Students should bring the following items to the workshop:

• Their instrument
• A portable tuner
• A smartphone or recording device