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I'm having motivation issues... so even the thought of Sevcik, Flesch, or Mazas exercises - makes my brain shut down, right now.
I barely ever think about double stops & my 'to do' list is getting overloaded. 😔 Know I'm missing out on a lot of potential enrichment in playing the fiddle, so I want to move forward with better double stops!
Been trying to give myself something to get excited about. I know that Bobby Hicks always used a lot of doublestops in different ways - thought maybe one of his tunes might help. One did get my attention, but it's a lot to put on my plate - and wasn't a tutorial.
Jason Carter shows a unique 'moving' doublestop that Bobby Hicks has used - might help me focus.
Brittany Haas shows Sliding & Moving Between Double Stops.
🤔... I'M STILL LACKING A SENSE OF PURPOSE! I don't want to practice double stops, just for the sake of practicing double stops...
Ah, Ha! Megan Lynch Chowning has some interesting practice videos I hadn't seen.
Practicing 1 to 4 chord with flat 7 note open string version.
🤔... quite a few double stop 'progressions' practice videos!
...a double stop 'fill' lick!
...looks like there's practice on adding an ornament while using a double stop, too!
Was thinking I'd need to just chose a Western Swing tune that's chock-full of moving double stops, so I can force myself into action... maybe I won't have to now. Megan has a huge playlist of little 'SYSPTW' videos ('Something you should practice this Weekend').
Wow, these may solve my issues... I'm not feeling like I'm forcing myself into anything - going to give it a try this week! 🤗
I was wondering - anyone have a favorite way of practicing double stops you want to share?
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For a passage of double-stops, it's a good idea to work out fingerings first. Prioritize economy of movement. Keep in mind that shifting may be an easier movement than moving a finger from one string to another.
Once I have a fingering, here's how I go about practicing a double-stop passage:
1) Practice the upper and lower lines separately, fingering only one line at a time with the same fingerings that I would use when playing the double-stops.
2) Practice playing the upper and lower lines separately, fingering the double stops but only bowing one line at a time.
3) Put it together, slowly without rhythm at first. Focus on the transitions from one chord to the next. Add rhythm and push the tempo up after everything is in tune.
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@AndrewH -
Thank you, I have used that method - works great.
I was wondering if you had a particular piece you liked practicing double stops with?
Guess I've been looking for a reason to want to do more.
I know I 'could' add double stops to ANY tune, but the only way I can see to get motivated right now is to find something interesting that I don't have to think about - just learn & come out the better for it.
Think I found a waltz I could enjoy working on over time & I can see the fingering.
"Angel's Waltz" - Bobby Hicks.
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I don't have any particular piece in mind, because I mostly just practice it when it comes up in repertoire. A whole bunch of solo pieces I've worked on in recent years have had double-stop passages, and so did the viola part of the Mozart quartet I just performed.
I do have an exercise that my viola teacher has recommended, though it was recommended more for training intonation and thumb movement than for double-stop progressions per se. It's just crawling up and down two strings with alternating third and fourth double-stops... I'll write it out when I'm in front of a computer with notation software.
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I wish I could contribute something worthwhile here. But I don’t think I can.
I took up fiddle after a number of years playing mandolin. As everyone knows, mandolin is a major backup instrument, playing chops and chords to keep tunes moving forward. Tuned in fifths -- exactly like violin -- mandolin has the ability to create chords all over the fretboard using just a few repeatable patterns.
These patterns can be played with four, three, or just two strings. The two-string chord is what we call a double stop. With experience and/or practice, mandolin players (even mid-level players such as myself) develop the habit of playing a note and automatically adding an appropriate double-stop note.
I find myself adding double stops without thinking. Most often I don’t even know the names of the notes that I’m adding. I’m pretty much a simple I-IV-V player, so the double stops usually sound OK. (They may not pass muster with truly knowledgeable musicians, but the average listener doesn’t know or care.)
While three- and four-note chords are unusual and hard to play on the fiddle, two-note double stops are easy. So the mandolin habit carries over nicely to the violin.
Chord charts for mandolin are common in the mandolin world, and there is also a widely used shorthand for chords. For example, 4523 denotes a G chord first position, designating the frets of the four strings (from low to high) that are used to play the full four-finger G chord. It’s really just tablature notation without the diagram. Both of these chord notations are easily available.
So I think that’s all I can add to this discussion. It ain’t much, but perhaps it’s a simple way to think about double stops.
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Am I missing the point if I go back to basics?
If you are double-stopping for folk, you are probably going to be playing major or minor 6ths 99% of the time, unless one of your strings is open.
Thirds will be common, but quite advanced if you practise scales in them. And 6ths are only implied thirds anyway.
So to get a good feel for 6ths, play a note on the D string with your index finger. Say it's an F. If the same finger bridges the D and A strings, you get a perfect fifth - C. If you use your middle finger to play a semitone higher on the A string, that's a C# and you have a minor 6 from F to C# (an implied major third, C#-F): if your middle finger goes a semitone higher again to D, you have a major 6 (implied minor third). Play a few of those to get your ear used to them, and you'll find them useful for most applications.
====================
If you are confident, you can extend it - semitone higher on A string gives minor 7 (might be useful for an impled dominant 7), etc.
Andrew
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@Gordon Shumway -
Thanks for trying to pull a better explaination out of me!
I can do the typical doublestops - it's not that I want to learn specific double stops... I'm playing too many kinds of music.
I want to USE double stops to help me gain more independent control of multiple fingers, because I want more freedom of expression.
I'm probably being too picky, but hoped someone was using a tune that has elements of double stops with some independent finger movements I might like to learn - or an etude, but I want to hear it. It's better if I can get excited about learning a tune that 'acts' like an exercise'... then I could 'kill 2 birds with 1 stone'!
I've started working on these 2 things (pertaining to double stops):
- sliding each doublestop finger, individually - instead of in unison.
- using another finger independently, while 2 fingers intonate a double stop.
I'm using some of Megan Lynch Chowning's YT double stop videos, because they don't sound like an exercise - what I take away will be great to use for improvising, later.
I've also started used the 'Carter' video (link in OP) to practicing moving 2 double stop fingers, in different directions - at the same time.
@AndrewH -
Thank you! I'd like to see it.
@Strabo -
Sounds like you are using double stops quite a bit!
I might still take Bobby Hick's "Angel's Waltz" (post#3) & learn it phrase by phrase. 🤔... discovered it's MUCH better if I learn a tune WITH the ornaments & double stops - right from the start. There's been times I've learned a basic melody, meaning to go back & add everything else - and it just never happens!
Finding ways I like to play double stops means freedom to me. I don't have to rely on an additional track, or another player for harmony. ...no expectations of becoming a virtuosic fiddler - and I'm NOT really a huge fan of Bluegrass, Country & Oldtime (other than a handful of tunes), but harmony is useful in EVERY genre.
Talking about all this DOES MOTIVATE ME into action (really appreciate the replies)!
I've at least started, but we'll see how it goes over some time - there's always something on my never-ending list that's waiting to take precedence in my fiddle journey!
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Good double stop book is this one:
Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.
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@SharonC -
Thanks!
I'm not usually keen on using a book for something that depends so much on intonation, but I see there are also TWO volumes for VIOLA!
Looks worth checking out - etudes are better than plain exercises (for me) and at least there are several videos of the Violin etudes on YT.
If nothing else it should help me keep double stops a priority... ordered!
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