Bringing Reels to Life – Collier’s Reel

Bringing Reels to Life – Collier’s Reel

If you want to inject some life into your reels, make them light, fast and foot-tapping then this article will help.  Things like intonation, ornamentation, tone and variations are important, but what really makes a reel fly is the bowing. Below, I’ll go through the...
Making sense of 7/8

Making sense of 7/8

When I first tried to get my head around a tune in 7/8, I was mystified.  The tune was Bulgarian and, whilst the music sounded amazing, the notes made no sense to me – having been over-exposed to 4/4 for all my life.  The rhythm was driving and exciting, but where was...
5 Quick Tips for Mandolin Players – The Left Hand

5 Quick Tips for Mandolin Players – The Left Hand

1 Make sure your left hand fingers stay as close as possible to the fret-board, even when they’re not being used.  Having unused fingers flapping about will slow you down by adding a lot of unnecessary effort to the process of playing 2 A left hand change of position...
A Starry Night For a Ramble

A Starry Night For a Ramble

Starry Night For a Ramble by Phil Berthoud | In the Footsteps of the Vagabond https://philberthoud.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Starry-Night.mp3 Listen to an excerpt of Phil Berthoud’s arrangement of A Starry Night for a Ramble, from the album In the Footsteps...
Tips for Great-Sounding Double Stops

Tips for Great-Sounding Double Stops

A very characteristic aspect of traditional fiddle playing is the use of double-stops, or playing two strings at once. Here, I’ll explain the 4 types of double stops, and show you how to incorporate them into a tune.  The four kinds of double-stop are: Double-stops...