Hot Licks for Bluegrass Fiddle - Book with Online Audio

A great review on bluegrass fiddle for beginners. Great fun with the hot links. Easy to read, good instructions 👍

I just started working on this book and can't wait to continue. It's a great resource. Everything is explained really well and I love all the examples. This book really gets me thinking creatively about my solos and my improvisational options when fiddling. It will also give me a lot of riffs to fall back on in case I ever get stuck during a solo. My only complaint is that the author didn't record all the licks. The recording examples provided are great and this book is definitely worth buying.

It's the only music instruction book I've ever owned that put some of the most difficult material at the very beginning. I do realize that some of it is foundational in nature, but it might have been easier for beginning bluegrass fiddlers if they had started out with accompaniment fills and vamps and later worked their way into the more demanding material. Having said that, the book does contain a wealth of good information. I just wish that the order in which it was presented had been thought out a bit more with the novice fiddler in mind. After all....those are the people who most need the book in the first place!

Liked

I'm just getting started but I really like this book. Most books are merely a collection of author's interpretation of tunes. This book gives you the tools to put you're own spin on tunes.The only set back is that the CD doesn't have all the examples on it.

arrived in good shape thanks

Wonderful! Thanks!

This book has been so helpful in my quest to become a fiddler! The information is real and very useable.

Das Buch kommt mit CD, auf der zwar nicht alle der knapp 500 Übungen erfasst sind, aber exemplarisch die wichtigsten. Insgesamt eine erstaunliche Breite und Fülle an Übungen, geordnet nach Kapiteln wie "Double Stops", "Connecting Licks", "Kickoffs, Tags, and End-of Line Fills" uvm. , dazu ein Anhang zu den Chord Positions..Alles sehr gut gemeint, sinnvoll aufgebaut und interessant zu spielen, wobei man evtl. von der Fülle etwas erschlagen wird. Weniger gut finde ich, dass das Buch neben den über 400 kurzen Übungen nur eine kleine Auswahl an zusammenhängenden fertigen Songs enthält. In welchem Kontext man das Ganze in den Übungen erworbene Know How dann anwendet, bleibt der/dem SpielerIn überlassen, da der unmittelbare Anwendungsbezug meist nicht durch Songs im Buch gegeben ist. Insgesamt für Studienzwecke empfehlenswert.

This book is the best one that I've found on the topic of note sequences that go by the names of licks, fills, riffs, kickoffs, endings, etc - in other words, ornamental note sequences that are not part of the main song melody.After reading this book, I have given up on my naïve thinking that licks / riffs / fills / etc were special things, with hidden structure or meaning or conformance to unspoken rules that only advanced players knew about (maybe "secrets" that could only be learned by long experience and osmosis, and that no one could explain, and that no one had explained).Now (after reading this book by this obvious master) I think I understand quite clearly that licks are just a series of notes that someone put together, just like any other series of notes (hopefully interesting to the ear, of course), and that usually have nothing at all to do with the melody or the "anchors" of the melody (the few notes that really define the melody). The licks are just note sequences that hopefully sound interesting in the context of the chords and melody of the song that is being played.Because the licks are just a series of non-special notes and rhythms, it was easier to believe that I could use them, or make up my own that were "just as good" (assuming that all these licks sound good, even though some of them didn't do a thing for me..). So the book is very worthwhile to drive this point home to readers.Another thing the book does really well is to use Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms as a base melody for discussing tens of licks. It's easy to recognize the tune, and easy to listen to (and read, and play) the many, many licks that the author provides. There are so many licks provided for the chord progression of the song that you quickly realize that there cannot be that many "secret" or "special" licks that conform to rules that you don't know. You also quickly realize that almost any sequence of notes (including the ones that you can make up) also qualify as legitimate licks.Another thing the book does well is to provide a variety of rhythms and note contours in the licks, emphasizing how you can make up a lick, and then just hack away at the notes in the lick, changing them, varying rhythms, etc, to create new legitimate licks. Even the author's narrative text talks about just changing things around, and to feel free to do your own thing to make licks that you personally like.There are no big sets of rules, beyond following the chord progression (harmonic style) or hints of the melody (melodic lick style). But the author clearly points out that you can vary "as far as your conscience allows" from the chords and melody. A few of the licks he provides are very bizarre (and yet "famous" people have used them). Go figure.Yet another thing the author does well is to provide many variations on kickoffs and endings. Once again, I came away realizing that they are all just sequences of notes, not really bound by any rules or conventions, as long as they sound interesting to someone.What an enabling, empowering book. I'd recommend it to anyone (on any instrument) who wants to know more about licks (aka riffs, etc), and how they can be varied.

曲よりも「リック」をたくさん掲載してあり、アドリブの役に立つ教本です。コード進行に沿ったアドリブのネタがいっぱいです。ボウイングの解説も豊富です。音源は、おそらくカセットテープだった時代のものをCD化しているだけで、音質は（泣）ですが、生々しいフィドルの音が入っています。伴奏などはついていない音源なので、練習時にはメトロノームや、自分でリズムや伴奏などを用意できるといいかもしれません。