Hello, I have been playing fiddle for about a year, and I am trying to learn how to pick out peaces by ear, (I can't read music, very well) but I NEED help with embelishments, like grace notes, slurs, bow shuffles and so on, and where to put them. Could any one help me?

i can try. I learn all my music by ear, and have learned tunes off a cd/tape recorder by myself before. I'm not the expert, though. I played classical violin for several years, but i have only been doing fiddling for 5 mo. but i love ornamenting my music and will be welcome to help you with whatever!!

Sweet! my first question Is how do you know where to put grace notes? I have been trying to learn a song called Lukey but I cannot find, 1) the sheet music, or 2) a cd version of the song with a clear fiddle part. the one I have is by the Chietains, and though they have fiddle in it, they also have harmonica, harmonia and half-a-dozen other instuments so it is rather hard to pick out the fiddle.
Thanks ever so much!

Most of the ornamentations, such as grace notes, "flicky things" (what i call them) , double stops/ double strings , etc., are all added in according to one's preference.
Just play around with them and see what sounds best...

Also, ornaments such as birls (i have no clue how to spell them) are almost always written into the music. the are predominate in scottish fiddling, and look like a syncopated 8th note, but are played like a 16th note tripelet. And, with ornaments like double strings, droning, and double stops, you should only drone on strings that go well with whatever key your in. Fool around with it to figure out what sounds best. Also, in irish fiddling it is common to slur over the bar line. if you happen to be reading music, you can figure out where that is quickly. If you are listening, just slur where the person on the cd or whatever slurs.
Lastly, there are rolls, which are very fast and generally can be played when there is one note being played than the other note. to play a roll, you first play the note you are supposed to, then the note above, then the note, then the note below, then the note itself again as fast as you can.

Anything else you need???

almost forgot-

bow shuffles are hard to pick up- it is merely a way of accenting and slurring. The ones that i know are:

in a streak of 8 8th notes, accent on 1, 4, and 7, and repeat the shuffle. The bowing for the accents should first be down, then up, then down, then repeat.

another way of shuffling is slurring 3 notes, have a regular note inbetween, the slur more, ect.

shuffling also has a lot to do with listening to the music and trying to figure out where they are slurring.

Great! Thanks so much!

I cant read music so i am not absolutly sure on what you are talking about with "8 8th"s and all that. But I think I got it figured out.

Right now I am working too hard on Lukey and a song called Jereusalem Ridge to have any more questions. But I will have more in the near future!

I can't say how much I apreciate you taking the time to explain this stuff to me. tis like "a light in the dark"!

heres what i mean. but you will have to *kind of* use your imagination.




Above are 8 8th notes.

on the 1st note, the 4th note, and the 7th note you accent.(that means you play them louder than the other notes.) then you repeat. Make sure you don't forget the last note, when i was learning this rythm i forgot the last note often.

you need to start down bow on this.