Welcome aboard @thegael !

"I had no choice!" - yeah, well, the devil's own instrument has this subtle, but definite way of taking over....   I started at the same age, and every moment has been enjoyable... (OK, I exaggerate slightly, but what pain there is (not physical pain, just when IT is being a proper PITA), it's soon forgotten !

Enjoy your journey and the forum !  

@thegael -Ahhh - I just HAD to go check it out - how cool is THAT ! 

Obviously an old, noisy recording, but you can sure get the feel of his fiddling !   It's a tad faster than my own (attempts) at Soldier's Joy     You must be proud to have such a musical heritage !

"Tendency to ramble" - nah - not at all - you're a beginner at rambling.... it's an art that develops the more time you spend on the forum.  And just to prove it - 

As a Scot, until I joined the forum, I was never really fully aware of the various musical traditions of America - I'm searching for the correct word here - I (probably incorrectly) refer to all such styles as "Americana", be it old-time, bluegrass, blues, gospel, Appalachian and so on....    [ waits for the flame wars to start ! LOL ] - really - all I'm doing in a sense is decoupling all of that great music and tunes that I hardly know, from my own culture and musical exposure which of course is rooted in the rhythms and feel of trad Scottish and Irish airs, jigs, reels, strathspeys and so on.

Soooo... Since the forum is largely populated by folks from the other side of the pond, a lot of my initial fiddle tunes belonged to those "Americana" pieces.  I too play by ear (largely - although I'll initially resort to sheet, often to uncover the B part of a tune - the A part usually seems (for me) to be the bit that sticks in my head).   So, other than my initial stumblings of some simple Scottish tunes, I got pulled-in to working on pieces more familiar to my American colleagues!

I started with a couple I actually DID know - like Red River Valley, Tennessee Waltz, Red Wing etc....    

I soon moved on to things like Turkey in the Straw, and yes, Soldier's Joy and so on - and the really strange thing is that some folks commented "Nicely played, but it's got a Scottish twist to it"   - Aye, ye can tak the lad oot o' Scotland, but ye cannae tak Scotland oot o' the boy.   

But, that's exactly what fiddle is all about.   You take something, shake it around a bit, add your own embellishments, ornaments, maybe even mess with the timing, and you come to "own it" in your own way, and it has become unique to you.

So, you see, these ramblings, such as the above, all do have a point to them in the sense of sharing experiences, learning, and background.  It's all good ! 

Ramble on !

Another good "ramble" @AndrewH - thanks for sharing your musical background.  It all adds to the wonderful tapestry of our members' playing journeys - and indeed may make folks think about investigating other styles and genres !   

Yup - fiddle tunes with a classical technique - nothing wrong with that at all - and although I'll never be a classical / concert violinist  - even at my current limited playing level, I sort of do something similar - let me think because it becomes almost automatic to me - right got an example - some fiddle tunes, perhaps in faster jigs and reels will expect the player to have a very specific "fiddle technique" on say certain triplets or fast quarter or eighth note sequences - I can pretty much do it like that (and will involve rapid bow direction changes on each note and almost stopping on the string) - but - I often prefer to implement these short runs as a type of flying staccato  - if that makes sense !    Sometimes simple slurring with added "expression from bow-control" can replace the "sharpness" of what would normally be played as individual bow direction changes, and so on..

And again, that's what makes it all so much fun !