Thanks for the kind words, folks.  I can see I need to work on keeping the left hand in frame when I'm showing how to do something.  LOL  Well, I never claimed to know what I was doing with video. 

The reason I've been working things like this into my practice more lately is I've been considering some of the sounds used with violin/fiddle, and how it can be used in rock/pop/blues band context, or recording project context.  

Melody and "solo" type playing seems to be most of what there are tutorials out there for at beginner level.  But the instrument has good potential for working with the rhythm section or providing counter melody or accents.   I've seen maybe one tutorial on how to vamp a bit along with the rhythm, compared to many on how to play melodies.

I am sure there is more than one out there somewhere, and I'm not looking for a bunch of links.  My point is that there seems to be comparatively very little for the beginner on playing violin or fiddle as a rhythm or accompaniment instrument.

In actual jam or band or even recording contexts though, the solos or melodic parts aren't really what one ends up doing most of the time.  Mostly, you end up working with the other instruments to support a vocalist or whichever other instrument is having it's time in the spotlight.  It is an important part of making a song or piece sound good.  Most symphonic/orchestral music even, if you listen, the violins aren't all playing the melody over and over as the piece goes on. 

I don't know how guitar is taught these days, but many moons ago, back when I was first learning to play guitar, the first things you usually learned were how to play the rhythm parts.  Chords and beats came before melody for the most part.  With piano, yeah, melody was more of a focus at first, but I think that was because most people in the class were also learning to read music at that time.  But chords and arpeggio patterns and left hand work (bass lines) still came in pretty early in the program.

For all I know, maybe such things get covered when folks take actual lessons and it is really only an issue with folks that are self-taught via the internet.  But I've been giving some thought and practice to violin/fiddle sounds that could potentially be used on the support or accompaniment side of music when playing with other musicians or doing multi-track recording.

@Mad_Wed: These are real easy doublestops, and if you just kind of have some fun with the sound and play around with it, they really aren't scary. 

I may be a bit odd on this point, but I think it is good to often spend some time just playing with the instrument like a child plays with a toy.  See what interesting sounds one can get and finding things that are just fun to do. 

@KindaScratchy: The backdrop.. is a shower curtain.  The main bathroom ended up being a reasonable location for shooting a quick video.  Two front light sources (one of them natural light from a window) that were bright enough and somewhat adjustable, lockable door that a sign can be taped up on to avoid people walking in and botching the take, large mirror handy, and enough hanging cloth in the form of shower curtains and towels and such to dampen the room acoustics a bit.  Kind of an oddball choice, but short of taking time to set up a special little corner or room for doing video like some folks do for podcasting or youtube vids, it wasn't a bad choice for a quick "one take" sort of vid.

@Rattus Norvegicus:  Glad you liked it!  I honestly don't think it takes any more work to get it to start sounding kinda good than "Twinkle Twinkle" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" take. 

@Mr. Jim: Well, you make some very good use of boogie-woogie style in some of your pieces.  More than anyone else I recall ever seeing.  If I remember your video on it correctly, you show a more proper form of it than the simplified 2 note variation I did here.  This is more the simple rhythm guitar "boogie pattern" that was shown to noob guitarists like myself back in the day so they could be included in at least part of jam sessions even if they'd only been playing a couple weeks. 

Most of us figured out pretty quick, back then, that with learning the simple "boogie" rhythm and learning the form for a 12 bar pattern (which is basically how many times to repeat each part and where to change from one part to another), you have suddenly learned quite a list of songs that you can play at the drop of a hat.  "Johnny Be Good" has already been mentioned, "Roll Over Beethoven", and many other early rock n roll faves.  You can recognize the sound in more contemporary pieces as well.  But it goes further, since the sound existed and was popular before rock n roll, and it has been a mainstay of party/dance music through at least most of the 1900s.  It is one of the roots of rock n roll. 

Now for anyone who has tried the little bit I showed in the vid and maybe went "Ok, got it.. now what can I do with it?"   You may want to give a try to jamming along with something like this: 

http://www.guitarbackingtrack......e_in_a.htm

...and you can be playing stuff folks could actually dance or party to or where you could get together with one or more other musicians and jam a bit.