Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Earlier

May 11, 2018 | Welcome Column

There are lots of technical musical tidbits that I wish I had known earlier in my playing (“Really, the notes in an arpeggio are the notes that make up a chord? Why didn’t anyone ever tell me this?” is genuinely a conversation that I had after about 18 months of lessons!) but we all know that music is about so much more than just the notes (…and rhythm, and intonation, and groove, and oh some other stuff I haven’t learned yet…) so here are some of the colateral things I think we should tell those who are new to the game:

The fiddle is fiendishly difficult. Just because your friends were self-taught on guitar and could play a bunch of tunes after 3 months doesn’t mean you will be able to play fiddle respectably this side of half a decade. Welcome to a world of hurt my newbie fiddling friend.

Never sit between two banjo players at a jam. This one’s self-explanatory, ‘nuff said. Music theory isn’t as hard as you think, and gosh darn it some of it just might be useful at some point so you should learn a little bit of it as you go along. No-one else thinks music theory is interesting so keep it to yourself unless you want someone to sit you over between those two banjo players at the next jam to teach you to be quiet.

Daily practice really is the way to go. Just do it.

If picking up your instrument once a day to practice seems too hard then you probably don’t love music enough to be learning anyway. Just don’t bother doing it.

There are lots of great web sites were you can find tips on how to make daily practice more fun and how to motivate yourself to play better and more often.

When it comes to improving, daily playing is far more helpful than daily surfing through websites looking for advice on how to get better from a bunch of strangers.

Strangers who post on those music websites are either idiots who would sound better if they picked up their instruments and played them once a day instead of surfing music websites, OR they are your absolute musical heroes slumming it incognito. You cannot tell which of these thehy are from their profile pictures or on-screen names so you should be careful what you write there.

If you really can’t motivate yourself to practice every day then you should at least keep yourself engaged by doing some basic upkeep such as changing strings or polishing your instrument.

No matter how new your strings or how shiny your instrument is, you’ll still sound bad if you don’t practice.  

Being able to sight-read music really isn’t all that helpful. Seriously, go out and have a few beers instead of staying home wasting time trying to learn how to sight-read.
Nobody sounds good playing fiddle after they’ve a had a few beers.

Go to as many festivals as you can. You’ll meet cool people who don’t think it’s weird for an adult to spend all weekend in their room learning a “funny little tune”. Also, festivals have beer.  

Never ever enter the merchandise tent at a festival with a clear credit card and a few beers on board.

Try not to let really good players play your fiddle. They will make what you have mentally classified as a ‘substandard instrument’ sound like the Gods themselves created it. You will forever after have no excuse for sounding as bad as you do when you play. Try not to let bad players play your fiddle. They will spread rosin over everything, break strings and make it sound horrible while they play. People will forever after be listening to your playing expecting a repeat of those horrible sounds.  

People hear what they are expecting to hear.

No-one is expecting to hear a bass break so be QUIET when the bass player takes a break during a jam.

After a bad player has borrowed your fiddle you will have to spend a whole day changing strings and polishing your instrument back to it’s glorious best. This will cut into your practice time and your playing will suffer.

Be INVISIBLE when the bass player needs help packing up after a jam. Standing between two banjo players is a great way to make yourself effectively invisible to anyone who knows what’s good for them.

Every time someone told you that attitude was what really counts they were telling you the truth not being kind to a newbie.

If your attitude rocks then the truth is people will be kind about your playing and expect you to do well.

People hear what they are expecting to hear.

They are not expecting to hear vibrato in Bluegrass. Don’t go there.

Playing fiddle is awesome. When it goes well you will feel like the love child of Wonder Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. Welcome to a world of joy my newbie fiddling friend.

Read about: