www.markwoodmusic.com/
I've tried his fiddle, at a conference with him. Personally, I'm not a fan of fretted fiddles. One can get them with 7 strings, too.
I use a Zeta, 4 string. I like the sound, very natural. I use it for gigs where we plug in.
That would take all the fun out of it.
Especially once you get above 5th position! Besides I love the look the guitar players get on their faces when they say.
When I took up the fiddle over thirty years ago, after nearly twenty years of playing guitar, I briefly tried frets (nylon guitar strings tied around the neck, like a lute). It worked, but I quickly realized it wasn’t worth the hassle. By the time your bowing is good enough to play, your left hand should be able to find the notes well enough. It's pointless.
Don't think so. Frets would murder a beginners intonation. The fret is right on the note and you finger behind the fret not on it. Fretted violins - let them get on with it but a fiddle is the same but different. Why fit a handycap to your instrument.
After playing both an electric bass guitar (which has frets on it) and an acoustic bass fiddle (which doesn't have frets), I have never been able to decide which one I prefer to play. They both have advantages and disadvantages.
I believe one of the reasons fiddles don't have frets is so they can be played perfectly in tune. I've never attained this feat myself but I have watched accomplished fiddlers adjust there fingers ever so slightly to get very close to perfect intonation. Frets would be a handicap rather than a benefit. As Mary said earlier you will be out of tune in higher positions but even in first position double stops would be out of tune.
Fretlessness was the very reason I took up the fiddle after 10 years on mandolin - to throw off the shackles of equal temperament. Of course, there are days when I wish my fiddle did have frets - I have a tone to wake the long-decayed, so being able to play in tune would at least be some consolation to me. But then, there are odd days when I *can* play in tune without any metallic aid, so I think I'll stick with plain ebony. Frets on a fiddle seems to me an oxymoron - it would be a completely different instrument (a treble viol, perhaps?) - a bit like a four-string mandolin or a tin whistle without a fipple.
Yeah, that's a good point bogman. Jackstraw has it nailed too.
Half the point of playing the instrument is actually listening and reacting by small adjustments of your fingers. With stickers of dots for beginners, they can actually make those movements while still .cheating'.
Part of the fun of fiddle is the precision it takes to get the exact note you want. With frets I guess you can only play the notes "programmed" and can never play the sounds that are in between the frets.
In my mind, frets would take lot of fun out of fiddle playing, but I would like to try it. Just to feel the difference.
Ishhh! wrong website, my mistake. I guess fiddle has nothing to do with ITM, and that no one on this website can share an opinion about fretted fiddle...
In that case, I guess no one on this web site can share their opinions about basses--both acoustic and electric as well as whether or not the instrument is fretless or fretful.
Don't anyone take it personally... you did read my info. right? I don't have time for rock n roll, I get everything I need from Irish music. It doesn't need Hendrix, so I don't need Hendrix.
I mean there are fiddles in classical music and jazz and everything you want it to be in.
And also... I don't see why people in these discussion posts always have to refer to their topsy wopsy training in "classical" or "jazz" or tempermant distempermant theory or whatever. Let the rockers be the rockers and orchestras be the orchestras and the jazz be the jazz, but again, I don't need it one stinking winking bit to play Irish tunes.
of course he has frets - he play a "viper" by mark wood. www.woodviolins.com.
but then, the viper is something that really adds a new dimension to violin playing. note that i say violin and not "fiddle". i think the wood-violins are the best way to REALLY make a rock-music-instruments out of the violin and they are certainly great for motivating young people, or moving around a lot in a stage-show (you strap them to your body like a guitar so you can take your hands off without dropping it) or using all sorts of sound effects. if we need this in ITM, i don't know. If "folk music" means an "everyone can join in"-approach, i think frets are good idea. If it means "traditional even through playing un-tempered", then not. certainly in jazz, people like bass players prefer the unfretted to the fretted version of the instrument...
Seriously, is he playing a fiddle of any description ?
It's electric, has 6 strings, and frets.
It's a bowed electric guitar.
And he tries to make it sound like Hendrix.
Case closed.
PS No ITM content. Yellow card.
Its not a guitar: Vipers come in 4, 5 and 6-string versions.
I think many people find their way to traditional music through actually looking for somethin less standardized than classical or pop music. why dealing yellow cards for a harmless post about something not strictly ITM?
A forum with the possibility of choosing different threads would maybe help keeping the worlds apart, if that is really needed.
I think i'll just be off to the fiddleforum.
Fretted Fiddle
Fretted Fiddle
I just saw this guy on youtube playing rock fiddle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-fqWIDSL0&feature=related
I cannot see very good but I think he has frets on the fingerboard. If you want to try it with your own fiddle go to the following link:
http://www.frettedfiddle.com/
Personally, I think fretless rocks. Another discussion about fretted fiddles:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4375/comments#comment89433
Beside this, I really like what Ed Alleyne-Johnson does on this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUO6kYLb6As
But I don't think he is using fretted fiddle.
Cheers!
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Dr.Carabus
Re: Fretted Fiddle
www.markwoodmusic.com/
I've tried his fiddle, at a conference with him. Personally, I'm not a fan of fretted fiddles. One can get them with 7 strings, too.
I use a Zeta, 4 string. I like the sound, very natural. I use it for gigs where we plug in.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Wyogal
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Oh no, no fretted fiddles please.
That would take all the fun out of it.
Especially once you get above 5th position! Besides I love the look the guitar players get on their faces when they say.
"How do you know where to put your fingers???"
Mary
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Antikhntr
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Talk about 'defeating the purpose', but a nifty tool for beginners. Certainly makes more sense than the little dot stickers.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Fretted Fiddle
BLASPHEMER! LMAO
That kid rocks.
Plastic frets on an 18th century violin doesn't.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Fishmonger
Re: Fretted Fiddle
HA! Seriously fish, the last thing that kid needs is frets. That's like Mario Andretti using training wheels. Cripes.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Fretted Fiddle
When I took up the fiddle over thirty years ago, after nearly twenty years of playing guitar, I briefly tried frets (nylon guitar strings tied around the neck, like a lute). It worked, but I quickly realized it wasn’t worth the hassle. By the time your bowing is good enough to play, your left hand should be able to find the notes well enough. It's pointless.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Bob himself
Re: Fretted Fiddle
'nifty tool for beginners'
Don't think so. Frets would murder a beginners intonation. The fret is right on the note and you finger behind the fret not on it. Fretted violins - let them get on with it but a fiddle is the same but different. Why fit a handycap to your instrument.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by bogman
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Are there no slurs in Irish music?
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by bogman
Re: Fretted Fiddle
After playing both an electric bass guitar (which has frets on it) and an acoustic bass fiddle (which doesn't have frets), I have never been able to decide which one I prefer to play. They both have advantages and disadvantages.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Fretted Fiddle
I believe one of the reasons fiddles don't have frets is so they can be played perfectly in tune. I've never attained this feat myself but I have watched accomplished fiddlers adjust there fingers ever so slightly to get very close to perfect intonation. Frets would be a handicap rather than a benefit. As Mary said earlier you will be out of tune in higher positions but even in first position double stops would be out of tune.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by jackstraw
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Fretlessness was the very reason I took up the fiddle after 10 years on mandolin - to throw off the shackles of equal temperament. Of course, there are days when I wish my fiddle did have frets - I have a tone to wake the long-decayed, so being able to play in tune would at least be some consolation to me. But then, there are odd days when I *can* play in tune without any metallic aid, so I think I'll stick with plain ebony. Frets on a fiddle seems to me an oxymoron - it would be a completely different instrument (a treble viol, perhaps?) - a bit like a four-string mandolin or a tin whistle without a fipple.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Yeah, that's a good point bogman. Jackstraw has it nailed too.
Half the point of playing the instrument is actually listening and reacting by small adjustments of your fingers. With stickers of dots for beginners, they can actually make those movements while still .cheating'.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Fretted Fiddle
"there are odd days when I *can* play in tune"
...or more accurately, there are days when my playing sounds to me to be in tune most of the time.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Part of the fun of fiddle is the precision it takes to get the exact note you want. With frets I guess you can only play the notes "programmed" and can never play the sounds that are in between the frets.
In my mind, frets would take lot of fun out of fiddle playing, but I would like to try it. Just to feel the difference.
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Dr.Carabus
Re: Fretted Fiddle
The only use for a fretted fiddle would be for a guitar player. Equally I knew someone who had a fretless bass guitar...
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by snowyowl
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Did you mean to post this on the dopeyrocksession.org?
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by McCracken
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Ishhh! wrong website, my mistake. I guess fiddle has nothing to do with ITM, and that no one on this website can share an opinion about fretted fiddle...
# Posted on September 4th 2008 by Dr.Carabus
Re: Fretted Fiddle
In that case, I guess no one on this web site can share their opinions about basses--both acoustic and electric as well as whether or not the instrument is fretless or fretful.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Don't anyone take it personally... you did read my info. right? I don't have time for rock n roll, I get everything I need from Irish music. It doesn't need Hendrix, so I don't need Hendrix.
I mean there are fiddles in classical music and jazz and everything you want it to be in.
And also... I don't see why people in these discussion posts always have to refer to their topsy wopsy training in "classical" or "jazz" or tempermant distempermant theory or whatever. Let the rockers be the rockers and orchestras be the orchestras and the jazz be the jazz, but again, I don't need it one stinking winking bit to play Irish tunes.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by McCracken
Re: Fretted Fiddle
of course he has frets - he play a "viper" by mark wood. www.woodviolins.com.
but then, the viper is something that really adds a new dimension to violin playing. note that i say violin and not "fiddle". i think the wood-violins are the best way to REALLY make a rock-music-instruments out of the violin and they are certainly great for motivating young people, or moving around a lot in a stage-show (you strap them to your body like a guitar so you can take your hands off without dropping it) or using all sorts of sound effects. if we need this in ITM, i don't know. If "folk music" means an "everyone can join in"-approach, i think frets are good idea. If it means "traditional even through playing un-tempered", then not. certainly in jazz, people like bass players prefer the unfretted to the fretted version of the instrument...
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by Mina the Fiddler
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Seriously, is he playing a fiddle of any description ?
It's electric, has 6 strings, and frets.
It's a bowed electric guitar.
And he tries to make it sound like Hendrix.
Case closed.
PS No ITM content. Yellow card.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Fretted Fiddle
no, red
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Yellow is the final warning.
# Posted on September 5th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Fretted Fiddle
Its not a guitar: Vipers come in 4, 5 and 6-string versions.
I think many people find their way to traditional music through actually looking for somethin less standardized than classical or pop music. why dealing yellow cards for a harmless post about something not strictly ITM?
A forum with the possibility of choosing different threads would maybe help keeping the worlds apart, if that is really needed.
I think i'll just be off to the fiddleforum.
# Posted on September 8th 2008 by Mina the Fiddler