Schaick said
@EricBluegrassFiddle

Great playing of a great song!!  I know the person - do not know that tune.  That is one thing at jam - everyone is talking about all these different people and their songs and I have no idea who they are.  I run home and search them out.  What did we do before the internet!?! 

Chubby Wise - I need to check him out.

The only thing I can see is that you are using the chin rest as a... chin rest.  It should really be called a jaw rest!!

Yes, I thought about that recently. I know lot's of folks play with their head kinda turned to the side a little, fiddlerman does too. My question is, how do you see the fingerboard the other way? Actually, it's probably a crutch, but when I'm looking down the fingerboard, Im actually watching to make sure the bow stays nice and straight, and occasionally glancing down the fingerboard as well.

Even so it feels pretty comfortable so far but does it look a bit weird, tense?

You said: p.s. Using the rest as a jaw rest is a more natural position and will help you keep from getting a kink in your neck.  It will also keep you from straining your back and shoulder muscles. - I just saw this, can you show me some examples of what you mean?

A little about Chubby: "Chubby Wise" was an old country/swing fiddler from "Lake City" Florida ( just north of Gainesville Florida off of I-75 on your way to Atlanta ) and was the fiddler player for Bill Monroe during what they call "the golden years" of Bluegrass. Basically this was when Bill Monroe also had Flatt & Scruggs as part of their band and Chubby was the fiddler. They were at the Grand Ole Opry and were one of the hottes acts of the day.

Chubby claims he co-wrote "The Orange Blossom Special" although there's some debate about that. Anways, "OBS" was his signature tune and he was one of the first fiddlers to make it famous and play it on the "Grand Ole Opry"

Chubby was a very gentle man and short and a bit chubby, hence the nickname. Because he was one of the early fiddlers, alot of Bluegrass fiddlers will study his material early on as it kinda gives you "the rock" with which to build upon everything else. Lot's of bluesy slides, long bows, pentatonic scales but in closed positions in "B" "Bflat" and "C"

Later he also played with Hank Snow and Merle Haggard but always retained his first love for Bluegrass, making guest appearances.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubby_Wise

here's some videos if you're interested:

Pierre I REALLY appreciate the thoughtful insight and the time you've taken to respond and listen.

Great job Eric. Personally I'm perfectly fine with the way you're holding the fiddle. Just don't press so much that you get any neck pains. If you are relaxed I think it's great.  - Ok great...so far it's not been an issue I don't notice any discomfort but if I do I'll examine that.

Don't loose sight of the time/rhythm/beat . This piece is in 4/4 and the listener WANTS to beat his foot and stomp while you are playing but doesn't know where to beat. You start a pickup on 3 so place an accent on the 1st beat. For the fun of it, count out loud some time while playing (or in your head ;0) I'm not sure you are understanding the rhythm 100% at this time. Don't get me wrong, you sound great, especially for the amount of time you have been playing - This is interesting that you mention this because on Saturday, and again after watching this same video, my Fiddle teacher challenged me and he said: "Eric, I don't know if you realize this, but you subconciously add a "shuffle" to everything you do. He said a shuffle in and of itself is not a bad thing, just learn to "choose your battles" rythmically and learn some independent bowing and learn to mix it up. He game me some scale excercises to do to help remedy this and change it. I think its gonna be a bit of a challenge because it's been so subconciously ingrained in my bowing. Either way, I agree it's sloppy, and it sounds kinda "blah" to me, and not "spirited" sounding. I will say, when I have the metronome in my ear ( which I didn't in this case because I can't film and play the metronome at the same time ) I can lock onto the beat alot better. However, I need to have as rock solid timing as possible without hearing the beat as well, and it exposes a weakness in my bowing and timing.

Intonation is always an issue (for everyone not just you), and in some cases not as important as one might think (can be charming to be a little dirty), however, it's something that everyone can get disturbed by and sometimes not even know why they are bothered. Your intonation is not bad but always work on getting the notes more in tune. Practice a few times real slowly with concentration on every note. I know you hear it because you are obviously very musical - I know, let's face it, my intonation is also sloppy at times, and sometimes I catch it and alot of times I don't LOL. I'll get lazy and start playing through stuff and letting things slide at times in my playing a bit too much. I think sometimes also what happens is when I slide or push up to a note, I push a little too far or I dont come back and let my fingers fall back squarely on the notes in tune. I think that's another thing I need to do while playing is listening and pushing myself and really paying attention to trying to get those notes in tune.

Thanks again for the great feedback, I was hoping you'd give it a listen over and I appreciate you taking the time to point these things out to me.

I have a new video of a new song I just started with my fiddle instructor. It's a standard Bluegrass sonf, key of A called: "Little Cabin Home On The Hill" ....I just started on it. Kinda bluesy, has some slides. Its not supposed to be played very syncopated so I have some work to do on the bowing and intonation. This is the simple solo for the song

http://youtu.be/fEMLUmQgnTQ

coolpinkone said
Very very very cool...  Way to manage that bow!

Awesome...thanks for sharing.

Thanks, I'll post practice videos here from time to time.

My fiddle teacher told me to play this as smoothe as I can with as much long bow as possible, not syncopated at all. Which, for me, makes it harder...it's easier for me to chop it up a bit more! I notice my intonation is still "so so" even thopugh I've been working on it. When I play along with the recordings my intonation seems pretty much dead on, it's only when I play without it....LOL

Also, I'm lifting the pinky a bit when I down bow, some folks say it's ok to do that, some don't...

SecondFiddle said
You're sounding and looking good!

Thanks.....I'm looking forward to a new year of Fiddle learning!