Chords for How to make jigs sound fiddle-y
Tempo:
112.2 bpm
Chords used:
D
Em
Bm
E
G
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Hey fiddlers, today we are going to be talking about how to take your jigs from [D] this.
[Bm] [D]
[Em] [D]
[G] [A] [D] [N] Hey guys, welcome to this month's fiddle focus video.
This month we are talking about a topic
that was requested by my wonderful patrons over on patreon.com slash lizbaelmusic.
So folks were
wondering, how do we take a jig from sounding more kind of plodding and make it into something that
sounds danceable?
Sometimes when we learn tunes for the first time they can sound a little bit
like etudes.
They just don't sound like the sort of thing that makes you want to tap your foot.
But then somehow there's this magical thing that can happen that can make a tune sound like you
want to dance to it.
This is a question I also get sort of from classical musicians more frequently,
people who play classical violin.
They're wondering basically what is it that makes a
jig sound less classical, less [D] like this
[G#] and [D]
[D#] more like [D] this.
[Bm]
[E] [D] [N] The first sounds very much like
classical piece, the second sounds a lot more like something you might hear in an Irish session.
So I'm going to take you through three tips on how to make your jigs sound more danceable and
more fiddly.
Tip number one, and I think that this is actually the most crucial thing, when you're
playing a jig generally you are not going to be playing all of those eighth notes exactly equally.
So in a jig it's 6-8 time and we have six eighth notes per measure or the equivalent.
So for
example let's take a tune called Ross and the Bow that I really like to play.
It's a jig and you
[F#] could play it like [D] this.
[G] [D]
[C#] [N] In that way of playing it all your eighth notes are exactly equal.
But really
what we want to do is we want to give the jig a little bit of a dotted rhythm.
Here's what I mean
by that.
In each group of three eighth notes that you encounter in this tune you're going to play
the first eighth note a little longer so it might be more like a dotted eighth note.
The second note
is going to be pretty short so it might be more like a sixteenth note and the last note is sort of
medium which is more like an eighth note.
That sounds really complicated and it might be a lot
to try and think about in the moment so it's better just to get a sense of how it feels and
sounds to play it that way.
Here's what it sounds like in slow motion on an open string.
Instead [D] of
you've got four in a set of six eighth notes
[E] and you can practice that rhythm on an open string just to get the feel of it.
It'll go like [D] this.
So the phrase that sounded like this before [G] is [D]
going to sound more like this.
[Em]
[D] [Em] [D] [Em] This takes a little getting used to and [N] I recommend listening to other fiddlers
playing jigs.
If you want an especially dotted rhythm listen to some Cape Breton fiddlers,
people like Nile McMaster who really extend that first note in a set of three and then the other
two are much shorter.
It can be helpful to listen a lot, even try playing along and just get the
feel of it.
And now moving on to tip number two, use shorter bows.
When you're playing up to speed
and you're trying to use big bows it comes across sounding kind of laborious and [D] plodding like this.
[N] Aside from sounding not quite the way you might want it to, it's just not super fun.
You really
want to economize your bow.
Use just like this much.
I actually mean that.
And then you're going
to have a little bit more lightness in your sound.
You can still keep weight on the bow,
but the shorter bows are definitely going to give it this kind of buoyancy.
So here's what that'll
sound [D] like.
And [Bm] [D] [B] [D]
[Bm] [D] [E] [D]
[N] tip number three, this is a general rule that's great for fiddling in general,
really relax that right arm.
When you're trying to give a tune a sense of buoyancy and lift,
it just doesn't get that feeling if your arm is really tense.
This is what it might sound
like if you have a lot of tension in your shoulder and your wrist and your [F#m] hand.
[Bm] So [D]
[Em] [D]
[N] even if you're using shorter bows and you've got the jig rhythm, it still just doesn't sound
like you want to dance to it.
There are a lot of things that can help you relax your bow arm.
I
think one of the key things is really thinking about it as starting from your shoulder.
You know,
those marionette puppets, like in that scene from the sound of music, they're really floppy,
but then they have strings holding up their joints.
That's kind of the feeling that you
want to have in your bow arm.
It's [F#m] not collapsed, but it's very loose and relaxed.
And then you'll
get a sound a little bit more like this.
[Em] [D] [B]
[D] [E] [D]
[N] All right, you guys, that is it for this fiddle focus
video.
If you want to vote for topics for videos like this, or if you also want fiddle lesson
videos and sheet music for a tune a month, like the tune that I played today, Ross and the Bow,
you can get all of that over on patreon.com slash Liz Fiala Music, where there's a really
awesome community of fiddlers who are learning these tunes along with variations, harmonies,
all kinds of good stuff.
So check that out.
Stay tuned for more videos,
and I will look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye guys.
[Bm] [D]
[Em] [D]
[G] [A] [D] [N] Hey guys, welcome to this month's fiddle focus video.
This month we are talking about a topic
that was requested by my wonderful patrons over on patreon.com slash lizbaelmusic.
So folks were
wondering, how do we take a jig from sounding more kind of plodding and make it into something that
sounds danceable?
Sometimes when we learn tunes for the first time they can sound a little bit
like etudes.
They just don't sound like the sort of thing that makes you want to tap your foot.
But then somehow there's this magical thing that can happen that can make a tune sound like you
want to dance to it.
This is a question I also get sort of from classical musicians more frequently,
people who play classical violin.
They're wondering basically what is it that makes a
jig sound less classical, less [D] like this
[G#] and [D]
[D#] more like [D] this.
[Bm]
[E] [D] [N] The first sounds very much like
classical piece, the second sounds a lot more like something you might hear in an Irish session.
So I'm going to take you through three tips on how to make your jigs sound more danceable and
more fiddly.
Tip number one, and I think that this is actually the most crucial thing, when you're
playing a jig generally you are not going to be playing all of those eighth notes exactly equally.
So in a jig it's 6-8 time and we have six eighth notes per measure or the equivalent.
So for
example let's take a tune called Ross and the Bow that I really like to play.
It's a jig and you
[F#] could play it like [D] this.
[G] [D]
[C#] [N] In that way of playing it all your eighth notes are exactly equal.
But really
what we want to do is we want to give the jig a little bit of a dotted rhythm.
Here's what I mean
by that.
In each group of three eighth notes that you encounter in this tune you're going to play
the first eighth note a little longer so it might be more like a dotted eighth note.
The second note
is going to be pretty short so it might be more like a sixteenth note and the last note is sort of
medium which is more like an eighth note.
That sounds really complicated and it might be a lot
to try and think about in the moment so it's better just to get a sense of how it feels and
sounds to play it that way.
Here's what it sounds like in slow motion on an open string.
Instead [D] of
you've got four in a set of six eighth notes
[E] and you can practice that rhythm on an open string just to get the feel of it.
It'll go like [D] this.
So the phrase that sounded like this before [G] is [D]
going to sound more like this.
[Em]
[D] [Em] [D] [Em] This takes a little getting used to and [N] I recommend listening to other fiddlers
playing jigs.
If you want an especially dotted rhythm listen to some Cape Breton fiddlers,
people like Nile McMaster who really extend that first note in a set of three and then the other
two are much shorter.
It can be helpful to listen a lot, even try playing along and just get the
feel of it.
And now moving on to tip number two, use shorter bows.
When you're playing up to speed
and you're trying to use big bows it comes across sounding kind of laborious and [D] plodding like this.
[N] Aside from sounding not quite the way you might want it to, it's just not super fun.
You really
want to economize your bow.
Use just like this much.
I actually mean that.
And then you're going
to have a little bit more lightness in your sound.
You can still keep weight on the bow,
but the shorter bows are definitely going to give it this kind of buoyancy.
So here's what that'll
sound [D] like.
And [Bm] [D] [B] [D]
[Bm] [D] [E] [D]
[N] tip number three, this is a general rule that's great for fiddling in general,
really relax that right arm.
When you're trying to give a tune a sense of buoyancy and lift,
it just doesn't get that feeling if your arm is really tense.
This is what it might sound
like if you have a lot of tension in your shoulder and your wrist and your [F#m] hand.
[Bm] So [D]
[Em] [D]
[N] even if you're using shorter bows and you've got the jig rhythm, it still just doesn't sound
like you want to dance to it.
There are a lot of things that can help you relax your bow arm.
I
think one of the key things is really thinking about it as starting from your shoulder.
You know,
those marionette puppets, like in that scene from the sound of music, they're really floppy,
but then they have strings holding up their joints.
That's kind of the feeling that you
want to have in your bow arm.
It's [F#m] not collapsed, but it's very loose and relaxed.
And then you'll
get a sound a little bit more like this.
[Em] [D] [B]
[D] [E] [D]
[N] All right, you guys, that is it for this fiddle focus
video.
If you want to vote for topics for videos like this, or if you also want fiddle lesson
videos and sheet music for a tune a month, like the tune that I played today, Ross and the Bow,
you can get all of that over on patreon.com slash Liz Fiala Music, where there's a really
awesome community of fiddlers who are learning these tunes along with variations, harmonies,
all kinds of good stuff.
So check that out.
Stay tuned for more videos,
and I will look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye guys.
Key:
D
Em
Bm
E
G
D
Em
Bm
Hey fiddlers, today we are going to be talking about how to take your jigs from [D] this.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ [D] _ [N] Hey guys, welcome to this month's fiddle focus video.
This month we are talking about a topic
that was requested by my wonderful patrons over on patreon.com slash lizbaelmusic.
So folks were
wondering, how do we take a jig from sounding more kind of plodding and make it into something that
sounds danceable?
Sometimes when we learn tunes for the first time they can sound a little bit
like etudes.
They just don't sound like the sort of thing that makes you want to tap your foot.
But then somehow there's this magical thing that can happen that can make a tune sound like you
want to dance to it.
This is a question I also get sort of from classical musicians more frequently,
people who play classical violin.
They're wondering basically what is it that makes a
jig sound less classical, less [D] like this_
_ _ [G#] and [D] _ _ _ _
[D#] more like [D] this.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[E] _ [D] _ [N] The first sounds very much like
classical piece, the second sounds a lot more like something you might hear in an Irish session.
So I'm going to take you through three tips on how to make your jigs sound more danceable and
more fiddly.
Tip number one, and I think that this is actually the most crucial thing, when you're
playing a jig generally you are not going to be playing all of those eighth notes exactly equally.
So in a jig it's 6-8 time and we have six eighth notes per measure or the equivalent.
So for
example let's take a tune called Ross and the Bow that I really like to play.
It's a jig and you
[F#] could play it like [D] this.
_ _ _ [G] _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ [C#] [N] In that way of playing it all your eighth notes are exactly equal.
But really
what we want to do is we want to give the jig a little bit of a dotted rhythm.
Here's what I mean
by that.
In each group of three eighth notes that you encounter in this tune you're going to play
the first eighth note a little longer so it might be more like a dotted eighth note.
The second note
is going to be pretty short so it might be more like a sixteenth note and the last note is sort of
medium which is more like an eighth note.
That sounds really complicated and it might be a lot
to try and think about in the moment so it's better just to get a sense of how it feels and
sounds to play it that way.
Here's what it sounds like in slow motion on an open string.
Instead [D] of
_ you've got _ _ four in a set of six eighth notes
_ _ [E] and you can practice that rhythm on an open string just to get the feel of it.
It'll go like [D] this. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So the phrase that sounded like this before _ _ [G] is [D] _ _ _ _
going to sound more like this.
_ _ _ _ [Em] _
[D] _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Em] This takes a little getting used to and [N] I recommend listening to other fiddlers
playing jigs.
If you want an especially dotted rhythm listen to some Cape Breton fiddlers,
people like Nile McMaster who really extend that first note in a set of three and then the other
two are much shorter.
It can be helpful to listen a lot, even try playing along and just get the
feel of it.
And now moving on to tip number two, use shorter bows.
When you're playing up to speed
and you're trying to use big bows it comes across sounding kind of laborious and [D] plodding like this. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] Aside from sounding not quite the way you might want it to, it's just not super fun.
You really
want to economize your bow.
Use just like this much.
I actually mean that.
And then you're going
to have a little bit more lightness in your sound.
You can still keep weight on the bow,
but the shorter bows are definitely going to give it this kind of buoyancy.
So here's what that'll
sound [D] like. _
And [Bm] _ [D] _ _ [B] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Bm] _ [D] _ [E] _ [D] _ _
_ [N] tip number three, this is a general rule that's great for fiddling in general,
_ really relax that right arm.
When you're trying to give a tune a sense of buoyancy and lift,
it just doesn't get that feeling if your arm is really tense.
This is what it might sound
like if you have a lot of tension in your shoulder and your wrist and your [F#m] hand. _
[Bm] _ _ So _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _
[N] even if you're using shorter bows and you've got the jig rhythm, it still just doesn't sound
like you want to dance to it.
There are a lot of things that can help you relax your bow arm.
I
think one of the key things is really thinking about it as starting from your shoulder.
You know,
those marionette puppets, like in that scene from the sound of music, they're really floppy,
but then they have strings holding up their joints.
That's kind of the feeling that you
want to have in your bow arm.
It's [F#m] not collapsed, but it's very loose and relaxed.
And then you'll
get a sound a little bit more like this.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ [B] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ [D] _ _
_ _ [N] All right, you guys, that is it for this fiddle focus
video.
If you want to vote for topics for videos like this, or if you also want fiddle lesson
_ videos and sheet music for a tune a month, like the tune that I played today, Ross and the Bow,
you can get all of that over on patreon.com slash Liz Fiala Music, where there's a really
awesome community of fiddlers who are learning these tunes along with variations, harmonies,
all kinds of good stuff.
So check that out.
Stay tuned for more videos,
and I will look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye guys.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ [D] _ [N] Hey guys, welcome to this month's fiddle focus video.
This month we are talking about a topic
that was requested by my wonderful patrons over on patreon.com slash lizbaelmusic.
So folks were
wondering, how do we take a jig from sounding more kind of plodding and make it into something that
sounds danceable?
Sometimes when we learn tunes for the first time they can sound a little bit
like etudes.
They just don't sound like the sort of thing that makes you want to tap your foot.
But then somehow there's this magical thing that can happen that can make a tune sound like you
want to dance to it.
This is a question I also get sort of from classical musicians more frequently,
people who play classical violin.
They're wondering basically what is it that makes a
jig sound less classical, less [D] like this_
_ _ [G#] and [D] _ _ _ _
[D#] more like [D] this.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[E] _ [D] _ [N] The first sounds very much like
classical piece, the second sounds a lot more like something you might hear in an Irish session.
So I'm going to take you through three tips on how to make your jigs sound more danceable and
more fiddly.
Tip number one, and I think that this is actually the most crucial thing, when you're
playing a jig generally you are not going to be playing all of those eighth notes exactly equally.
So in a jig it's 6-8 time and we have six eighth notes per measure or the equivalent.
So for
example let's take a tune called Ross and the Bow that I really like to play.
It's a jig and you
[F#] could play it like [D] this.
_ _ _ [G] _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ [C#] [N] In that way of playing it all your eighth notes are exactly equal.
But really
what we want to do is we want to give the jig a little bit of a dotted rhythm.
Here's what I mean
by that.
In each group of three eighth notes that you encounter in this tune you're going to play
the first eighth note a little longer so it might be more like a dotted eighth note.
The second note
is going to be pretty short so it might be more like a sixteenth note and the last note is sort of
medium which is more like an eighth note.
That sounds really complicated and it might be a lot
to try and think about in the moment so it's better just to get a sense of how it feels and
sounds to play it that way.
Here's what it sounds like in slow motion on an open string.
Instead [D] of
_ you've got _ _ four in a set of six eighth notes
_ _ [E] and you can practice that rhythm on an open string just to get the feel of it.
It'll go like [D] this. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ So the phrase that sounded like this before _ _ [G] is [D] _ _ _ _
going to sound more like this.
_ _ _ _ [Em] _
[D] _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [Em] This takes a little getting used to and [N] I recommend listening to other fiddlers
playing jigs.
If you want an especially dotted rhythm listen to some Cape Breton fiddlers,
people like Nile McMaster who really extend that first note in a set of three and then the other
two are much shorter.
It can be helpful to listen a lot, even try playing along and just get the
feel of it.
And now moving on to tip number two, use shorter bows.
When you're playing up to speed
and you're trying to use big bows it comes across sounding kind of laborious and [D] plodding like this. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] Aside from sounding not quite the way you might want it to, it's just not super fun.
You really
want to economize your bow.
Use just like this much.
I actually mean that.
And then you're going
to have a little bit more lightness in your sound.
You can still keep weight on the bow,
but the shorter bows are definitely going to give it this kind of buoyancy.
So here's what that'll
sound [D] like. _
And [Bm] _ [D] _ _ [B] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Bm] _ [D] _ [E] _ [D] _ _
_ [N] tip number three, this is a general rule that's great for fiddling in general,
_ really relax that right arm.
When you're trying to give a tune a sense of buoyancy and lift,
it just doesn't get that feeling if your arm is really tense.
This is what it might sound
like if you have a lot of tension in your shoulder and your wrist and your [F#m] hand. _
[Bm] _ _ So _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _
[N] even if you're using shorter bows and you've got the jig rhythm, it still just doesn't sound
like you want to dance to it.
There are a lot of things that can help you relax your bow arm.
I
think one of the key things is really thinking about it as starting from your shoulder.
You know,
those marionette puppets, like in that scene from the sound of music, they're really floppy,
but then they have strings holding up their joints.
That's kind of the feeling that you
want to have in your bow arm.
It's [F#m] not collapsed, but it's very loose and relaxed.
And then you'll
get a sound a little bit more like this.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ [B] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ [D] _ _
_ _ [N] All right, you guys, that is it for this fiddle focus
video.
If you want to vote for topics for videos like this, or if you also want fiddle lesson
_ videos and sheet music for a tune a month, like the tune that I played today, Ross and the Bow,
you can get all of that over on patreon.com slash Liz Fiala Music, where there's a really
awesome community of fiddlers who are learning these tunes along with variations, harmonies,
all kinds of good stuff.
So check that out.
Stay tuned for more videos,
and I will look forward to seeing you in the next one.
Bye guys.