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singing bluegrass

I teach a variety of fiddle styles, including bluegrass, old-time, Western Swing, and swing. For beginners, we'll work on basic fundamentals including proper hand and finger posture, bowing mechanics, and playing in tune with good tone. I use my own materials which include hundreds of pieces at all levels.

A major emphasis is on developing proper bowing patterns and playing stylistically in the correct genre, especially important for violinists turned fiddlers. Over the years I have carefully transcribed countless solos from many of the greatest fiddlers for use as lesson material. I do use my own self-published books, Jack Tuttle's Traditional Fiddle Collection, Jack Tuttle's Bluegrass Fiddle Collection and sometimes also use The Fiddler’s Fakebook (Oak Publications).

I also work on playing by ear, playing both fiddle tunes and solos for singing pieces. Developing improvising skills is also a major focus for those who are ready and willing. I now use an iPod in my lessons with over 700 CDs loaded on it, including many fiddle recordings both old and new, so we can listen to real-world examples. I often play along with the student, sometimes on fiddle, but often accompanying on guitar. Students are encouraged to record the lesson and I do have a cassette recorder in my room for students’ use.

Return to the Lessons Page

Here are some helpful resources for fiddle:

I have two books o fiddling at my Books page.

Here is my Recommended Fiddle Albums and my Recommended Bluegrass Albums page.

Here is some advice on Vibrato.

Go to the Transcriptions Page for a few tunes to work on.

My list of practice suggestions has always included playing with others. Band-in-a-Box or a similar program to play along with can help you get there. It can also be a good "non-complaining" accompianist for when you want to go through your fiddle tunes for hours on end. It can also be your metronome as you try to play slow cleanly, or get faster. It's also great for improvising over chord progressions. If you have the Band-in-a-Box program but don't want to take the time to enter the chords, I have done all the work. You can download a zip file containing the chord progressions for 161 fiddle tunes.