I am of Irish and German ancestry, born in Illinois,1950. I have been playing the fiddle since the early 70's. My early influences were bluegrass and country, but I found Irish and British Isles music really affected me at a different level from most music.
After a succession of poor quality intruments (one was found in the trash), I had an old "Tigerflame" violin with a pretty good sound. It served me well for eight years, but there were repaired cracks in the top and the sidesaddle chin rest caused the back to come unglued on one side. So it was sounding kind if scratchy and I schemed for a new instrument.
The opportunity to buy a new instrument came along and I bought a real beauty from The Violin Shop in Nashville over the internet. True love at last, A real flame maple back this time and a great sound for the price.
I am learning to read music. This is a big change for me as I have always played "by ear" up to now. I am building up my tune book and enjoy practicing from it and working on the tunes.
The best way for me to learn is to listen to the download while I have the chart in front of me. I play the tune with a guitar pick (like a mandolin) until I get the left hand down, then bow it.
Also, I have recently been flat picking the fiddle tunes on the quitar. These tunes can be very beautiful on the guitar, and also accompanied by rhythm guitar. I sometimes get my son to play the chords (along with me on the fiddle) and the two instruments sound so well together.
Thank you for this resource!
Tunes in Johnny Jeffries's tunebook: 21
| Discussions | Re: How do YOU learn new tunes? | November 9th 2004 |
| Name | Type | Key |
|---|---|---|
| Apples In Winter | jig | Edorian |
| Arran Boat Song | jig | Edorian |
| The Boyne Hunt | reel | Dmajor |
| The Boys Of Malin | reel | Amajor |
| Down The Broom | reel | Adorian |
| Drowsy Maggie | reel | Edorian |
| The Gatehouse Maid | reel | Gmajor |
| The Gravel Walks | reel | Adorian |
| Hardiman The Fiddler | slip jig | Adorian |
| King Of The Fairies | hornpipe | Edorian |
| Kitty In The Lane | reel | Ddorian |
| Last Night's Fun | reel | Dmajor |
| The Maids Of Mt. Kisco | reel | Adorian |
| The Mooncoin | jig | Amixolydian |
| My Darling Asleep | jig | Dmajor |
| The Pigeon On The Gate | reel | Edorian |
| The Red Haired Boy | reel | Amixolydian |
| The Road To The Glen | reel | Dminor |
| Sleepy Maggie | reel | Bminor |
| The Tar Road To Sligo | jig | Dmajor |
| Toss The Feathers | reel | Dmixolydian |