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Hi Guys,
You can call me m8, and I would be honored to join this great online community at fiddlerman.com. I've spent a bit of time lurking the website and checking out some instructional videos, and I've been really inspired by this entire community.
My story, in brief, is that I actually took violin lessons as a little kid from 2nd - 6th grade. I moved across the U.S. in 7th grade, and left a lot behind me. While I still played the violin throughout middle and high school, my progress on the violin halted, and the sad truth is that I lacked motivation to excel, let alone continue.
While there were many good things going on in my life at the time, throughout high school and college I never picked up the violin. Music has always been a part of me, and to this day I really love listening to artists like Yo-Yo Ma, or works by Howard Shore, John Williams, and recently, Fiddlerman
A little bit about myself, I'm a younger guy in my 20's, I now live in Hawaii, and I'm interested in science and math. I'm also going to pick up a violin for the first time in six years once my Cecilio electric violin arrives on May 31, and I can't wait (your review sold me, Fiddlerman). I'm really looking forward to practicing with a pair of headphones on.
My goals:
Anyway, I'm really excited to continue my learning of the violin alongside everyone else on here. Some things I want to improve upon is my ability to read music so I may confidently sight-read. I'm also really excited to develop some vibrato. When I last played I was beginning to learn what I now know is called arm vibrato. My dream, like others, is to make that violin sing like FM and so many other great artists. To help me in that goal, I'm hoping to learn some wrist and finger vibrato. Finally, the last thing I would really like to learn is some blues, bluegrass, and fiddle music. I've never played a drop of it, but I would love to start.
Of course, I hope to make some friends here too!
Well everyone, that's my introduction.

Members

Welcome aboard, M8.
I have found this to be a good site and community to call "home", at least for a while. Lots to learn here, much encouragement, and quite a lot of experienced folks when you come up with a question.
Hope you like it here.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman

Regulars

Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars


Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars

Remember you from the chatbox M8, welcome, you will fit in perfectly in our little community! Looks like many styles interest you and it's cool because we have violinists in all of those! Thanks for your nice introduction and enjoy you time here
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
Honorary advisor
Regulars


Member

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.
@cdennyb I'm probably going to sound really scratchy, but at least this time around it's all going to be about having FUN! and enjoying the music
@NoirVelours yep, that was me yesterday
@Kevin M., you sure can mate!
The thing I'm most afraid of is tuning the violin when it arrives... I hope I don't snap a string! I'll be sure to follow FM's tutorials as best I can.
I also bought some peg drops after hearing that the pegs slip out on the Ceciliio e-violin. Is that true, and does anyone else use these with the instrument?

Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars


Member

thanks everyone!! You guys are great.
But alas, my violin still hasn't arrived!! I am bummed.
The violin was supposed to be in my hands on the 31st, but after calling up UPS I found out the UPS driver was unable to find my apartment... "driver error" aie!!
I hope it gets here soon!! I'm leaving for a brief trip tonight, and oh how I would love to hold it before I go.
heh! Anyway, I was wondering if ya'll could recommend a good fiddling song to me. One that would be good for pulling out at parties, etc. It will be my first, but I don't mind a good challenge. Thanks.

Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars

I think the easiest I know would be Boil'em Cabbage Down. It's a super easy one that can be played with many variations and you CAN make it into a more complex song over time.
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov

Regulars

Regulars

Welcome m8; great introduction!
Probably the single best book I've used for beginner fiddle music is Mark O'Connor's "O'Connor Violin Method" (there are books I - IV); the progression through the book is VERY easy and fun and informative. It contains exercises using songs like "Boil 'em Cabbage" (as NV referenced), "Oh Susanna", "Buffalo Girls", "Amazing Grace" (which FM has a vid on here), etc.
Best of luck, hope you have fun!

Member

great, thanks everyone, I'm going to check all these out! The more input, the better.
Update: 6/2
My violin arrived shortly before I had to leave!!! While attempting to tune, however, I found that the pegs on the Cecilio were slipping. I'll try once more to push them in farther, but I think it may be a combination of the pegs themselves, and the fact that I live in a place with 80% relative humidity. I'm glad I bought peg drops, but I've yet to apply them.
I can already tell that I'll need to re-learn everything. Scales, mechanics, etc. Oh well, it will be a great opportunity to build a better foundation this time.
Take it away Willie Nelson...
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