Tips for learning to play the fiddle
I often find that fiddle players looking for tunes to learn turn to the Foinn Seisiun recordings. These are really useful resources for finding recordings of well know Irish session tunes. But for a fiddle player starting out with playing in sessions, they may also have their limitations, which I’ll discuss below. I hope that … Read more
On a site called Learn to Play the Fiddle, the question ‘What is a fiddle?’ may seem a little odd! But it is important to know something about the history of the fiddle, how it is different from a violin, and how it ended up with such an important role in Irish music. Fiddle vs … Read more
In my short Irish fiddle course, you will find FREE Irish fiddle lessons, covering a range of Irish fiddle tunes, techniques and playing advice. I hope you will enjoy the lessons in this course, and that they will help you take your fiddle further. In the first lessons in my Free Irish Fiddle Course, we … Read more
One of the things I occasionally get asked by those interested in playing Irish fiddle, is: ‘What is the normal Irish fiddle tuning?’. I think this can sometimes cause some confusion. Perhaps because people aren’t always sure about the difference between a fiddle and a violin. (Spoiler – there is no difference between a violin … Read more
Can you learn the fiddle without reading music? Absolutely! You can certainly play the fiddle without being able to read sheet music. In fact, I’d go further and say it’s best if you don’t learn to play the fiddle by reading sheet music! I’ll explain why. Learning from sheet music v learning by ear Fiddle … Read more
If you are just starting out learning how to play Irish fiddle music, you may find that you are struggling to get your fiddle playing to sound authetically Irish. Or you can’t seem to replicate the sound of the fiddlers that you like listening to. So how can you achieve that authetic traditional Irish sound … Read more
Learning to read music can seem complicated. Especially if you have never learned a musical instrument before. But you absolutely don’t need to be able to read music to begin learning to play the fiddle! You can learn to play the fiddle ‘by ear’. Traditional music has always been taught and learned ‘by ear’. Tunes … Read more
What is the difference between a fiddle and a violin? People often find this confusing – so, what is the difference? The short answer is, there isn’t really any difference. At least, not if we are talking about the musical instrument itself. A fiddle is just another name for a violin. When people use the … Read more
If you are a beginner fiddle player just working out how to play the fiddle, it can seem difficult to know how to begin. So below are my top 3 tips for a beginner irish fiddle player. If you are just starting out, and looking help on how to play the fiddle, including how to … Read more