By Evan Price In this solo, I made extensive use of ‘neighbor tones’ in order to create the illusion of harmonic motion, of which there is very little in the chords of the tune.  ‘Neighbor tones’ are simply non-chordal notes which surround the chordal notes.  They can belong to the scale which corresponds to the [...]

by Michael Mendelson Cripple Creek as played by Benny Thomason; Transciption by Michael Mendelson. Printable Version   DiggShareShare with StumblersTweet

  (continued from the October/November 2011 issue) Interview conducted by Willa Horowitz, Au.D. Tues. Feb. 1, 2011 Wendy Cheng (C): How I hear/play music. Over the years I’ve discovered that I can tell when I’m playing in tune with my teacher if we are playing in unison. Willa Horowitz (H): On the Association of Adult [...]

By Kat Bula If you’ve read the first two installments of this article (“Chords: What To Play When You Don’t Know What to Play” and “How Do I Know Which Chord to Play?”), you should have a pretty good idea about how to figure out which chords go in a song and how to play [...]

 by Matt Glaser A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR AND TRANSCRIBER  Matt begins this part of our interview demonstrating how he might ask someone with background in bluegrass fiddle to approach swing violin.   Soon he’s onto other levels of improvisation.   In mid-stream Matt mentions Richard Lieberson, a wonderful guitarist from New York who introduced a [...]

by Marty Laster The first break uses the melody and has a minimal amount of chromaticism (notes outside the scales or arpeggios) Bowings are a personal matter, but you may like some of mine. On break #2, I am playing off of the chords, not the melody, and am incorporating more chromaticism, blues and leaping [...]

Interview conducted by Willa Horowitz, Au.D. on Tues. Feb. 1, 2011 I wanted learn how a fiddler/violin player who has been diagnosed as having some hearing impairment as a result of playing his/her instrument dealt with the disability.  My search turned up the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss (AAMHL) and I approached its [...]

by Kat Bula If you read part one of this series (“Chords: What To Play When You Don’t Know What To Play” –August/September issue of Fiddle Sessions), you should have a general idea of which notes go in a given chord. That’s all fine and well, but how do you know which chord to play [...]

ENTER TODAY! Enter for your chance to win a Rozanna’s Violin Kit and a collection of fiddle books from Mel Bay Publications! Sweepstakes ends September 30, 2011 at 11:59 pm ET. This contest brought to you by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. with the help of our friends at Rozanna’s Violins. Results: Stay tuned for the [...]

By Graham Clark   The entire solo is played with swung quavers, heavy on the second and fourth beats of the bar. I start with a simple bluesy  riff begun on the sixth which is repeated with slight variations, in the manner of, say, Count Basie. This sets up an accessible swinging  beginning to the [...]