Folk Music for String Quartet

Folk Music for String Quartet

String quartets these days need a large repertoire of music at their disposal for functions such as weddings, parties or corporate events.  Whether it’s pop music, jazz standards, popular classics or even the occasional rock cover, a successful quartet needs to have...
Folk Music for String Quartet

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...
5 Great Tips for Fiddle Players – The Left Hand

5 Great Tips for Fiddle Players – The Left Hand

5 Great Fiddle Tips The Left Hand (if you’re right-handed) 1 – Left hand finger pressure Don’t press the left hand fingers down too hard. There’s a tendency to do this when playing under pressure, or playing a tune you find really hard.  Or it could just be a...