I've put together a set of articles which describe my approach to fiddle tunes on harmonica. Topics include harmonica tunings, finding tune speeds, strategies for learning and the basic repertoire.
"At any time, in thousands of festivals, homes, bars and other places, people will be gathered for traditional music sessions. These are social events, but often feature players with extraordinary skill. Closely related to a session is a gathering of American "bluegrass" players, known as a "pick". Playing fiddle tunes on harmonica at is a way to enter this community...."
What is a "fiddle tune"? I've been playing the thing for over forty years now and never found any tune that couldn't be played by any other instrument equally well.
I suppose it’s an Americanism. For a long time, the fiddle was almost the sole keeper of trad tunes in North America. I remember when the bluegrass guitar revolution was getting started around forty years ago, guitar players referred to the tunes they played as “fiddle tunes”. I thought it was a little odd (to me they were just tunes), but it was as an effective way of specifying the style and provenance of the tunes without going into a lecture.
Maybe. But you can hardly play them with identical character on other instruments. Some tunes and settings just fall better under the fingers on a fiddle, or their best characteristics can are brought out on a fiddle. That rationale applies to all instruments. Some tunes were born on fiddles, for fiddles.
Boccherini's cello concertos can be played on the piano, but they were written by a cellist, for a cellist, and sound best that way. That's pretty universal.
Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
I've put together a set of articles which describe my approach to fiddle tunes on harmonica. Topics include harmonica tunings, finding tune speeds, strategies for learning and the basic repertoire.
"At any time, in thousands of festivals, homes, bars and other places, people will be gathered for traditional music sessions. These are social events, but often feature players with extraordinary skill. Closely related to a session is a gathering of American "bluegrass" players, known as a "pick". Playing fiddle tunes on harmonica at is a way to enter this community...."
The remainder of the article is at the link below
http://www.harmonicatunes.com/traditional
# Posted on January 23rd 2009 by harmonicatunes
Re: Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
Good stuff, did you put this in the 'Links' section? There needs to be more of this specific topic on the web. I'm too ignorant to do it myself!
# Posted on January 23rd 2009 by gravelwalks
Re: Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
What is a "fiddle tune"? I've been playing the thing for over forty years now and never found any tune that couldn't be played by any other instrument equally well.
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by Ebor_fiddler
Re: Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
I suppose it’s an Americanism. For a long time, the fiddle was almost the sole keeper of trad tunes in North America. I remember when the bluegrass guitar revolution was getting started around forty years ago, guitar players referred to the tunes they played as “fiddle tunes”. I thought it was a little odd (to me they were just tunes), but it was as an effective way of specifying the style and provenance of the tunes without going into a lecture.
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by Bob himself
Re: Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica
Maybe. But you can hardly play them with identical character on other instruments. Some tunes and settings just fall better under the fingers on a fiddle, or their best characteristics can are brought out on a fiddle. That rationale applies to all instruments. Some tunes were born on fiddles, for fiddles.
Boccherini's cello concertos can be played on the piano, but they were written by a cellist, for a cellist, and sound best that way. That's pretty universal.
# Posted on January 28th 2009 by gravelwalks