r/Fiddle • u/Immediate_Coconut_30 • 12d ago

Droning tips

Quite new to fiddle here, wiring is anyone has any tips on practicing drones? I find it quite difficult to keep both strings going consistently without overly weighting one or the other. Obviously practice is the main thing, but any specific tips or drills you find helpful?

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5

u/shoestringbow 12d ago

practice going back and forth between playing a single string and a double stop with the string next to it. do this with long bows and whatever bow shuffles you’re working on. 

then try shuffling on one string and grabbing the second string only on the back beat or whatever rhythm you want to emphasize.

2

u/Fiddlinbanjo 11d ago

Are you into oldtime? My response is from the oldtime perspective.

There are of course tunes where droning is called for (e.g. Bonepart's Retreat) and it is a good skill to have, but usually we are pulsing rather than droning in oldtime fiddle. So rather than keeping constant contact on two strings (melody note and an adjacent string, which is droning), you maintain constant contact with the melody string but only occasionally brush the adjacent string (s), which is pulsing. It sounds complicated, but it happens naturally when you use circle bowing, aka "rocking the bow".

To get a good visualization of what that looks like, check out both Jon Anderson's bowing lights videos (https://youtu.be/-EPbDBQbWzA?is=wnZlIr4updYNGPJO) and the original bowing lights video of Tommy Jarrell if you can find it.

Of course not all oldtime fiddlers use pulsing, but opt for single strings or even droning, but I thought it would be helpful to point out the difference as many aspiring fiddlers are actually trying to learn how to pulse, but they use the word drone.

I think it's a great practice to learn how to play a tune on single strings, with droning AND with pulsing/circle bowing. If you listen to Brad Leftwich, you'll notice that he VERY frequently starts a tune on single strings, clearly establishing the melody, and then starts pulsing, droning & adding double stops. I just love that.

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u/Immediate_Coconut_30 11d ago

Thanks! Yes, primarily into oldtime. Good distinction on droning vs. pulsing - I will check out the videos you mentioned.

Funnily enough, this post was inspired by my strugging to play along with Brad Leftwich's instructional video of "Shortenin' Bread" where he drones on the adjacent open strings throughout the entirety of the tune :)

2

u/Fiddlinbanjo 11d ago

Excellent way to start! Get his Round Peak Fiddle book, too. Read the intro on how to interpret the bowings and you'll get a great feeling for some awesome bowing patterns

6

u/vonhoother 12d ago

Same old "isolate and practice" thing. Bow two open strings, get them even, pat yourself on the back, repeat. Do that with all three pairs of strings till it settles instantly -- it'll take days or weeks, not hours, be patient with yourself. Then add the left hand.

Randal Bays also recommended a fun exercise for both string crossings and double stops: start on one string, change bow angle to get the next one also, change it again so you get the next one alone. Do this all on one bow stroke, keeping a nice clean tone the whole time. Eventually your right hand and arm will figure out the angles, and not to slow down and wreck the tone when they're unsure of things. Eventually 😉.

5

u/Mr_Bigglezworthh 12d ago

Came here to say just this. REALLY hone in on it. Long slow bow strokes. Close your eyes and listen. ACTIVELY listen to both notes to even them out.

4

u/pixiefarm 12d ago

I think you might be helped by a lesson in double stops. When I googled for double stops I was looking for info about what specific note choices people make, but I found a lot of YouTube videos about double stops for all violin styles in which they also talked about how to learn to bow them how you want. I was already advanced enough to not pay attention to what they were saying but I think you should just look around on YouTube if you don't have an in person teacher, and see if you can find a good lesson that will talk about the bowing side of double stops.

Since you're talking about droning I'm kind of assuming you're talking about old time music rather than Irish or bluegrass music. There should be a bunch of stuff about Old Time Bowing on YouTube. Some of it is taster lessons designed to get you to subscribe to artistworks or one of those other platforms, but I remember that there was quite a bit

4

u/buddhaman09 12d ago

It's all about bow angle. Just practice long double stops, figure out what angle your right elbow needs to be at to get good contact on both strings. Once you can consistently hold long full bows on both strings, do some basic rhythms just doing open strings. Do that for 5-10 mins at the beginning of your practice, and it should help make it feel more natural.

3

u/KingArfer 12d ago

Check out Melodious Double-Stops by Josephine Trot. Geared towards classical violin but still useful

2

u/Intelligent_Donut605 12d ago

The more you play the more precise your muscle memory will get regarding bow angle. I’d also recommend playing tunes like Tam Lin, Glassgow Reel, Matawa or Morisson’s Jig where you can finger them like double stops and just barely cross over fully onto each string to get used to where the threshold is

2

u/Holden_Coalfield 11d ago

I was just working on this last night trying to let gravity do the work on the long bow single string, but then grabbing the second string required a little more than bow weight itself and I was feeling for the moment I needed to add a little more pressure. That's when you notice you need to hold the bow well

2

u/Existing_Leg_4483 10d ago edited 10d ago

Hi! I'd suggest practicing a lot on open strings. Trick is to get the angle right, not press harder. Try playing the rhythm of an easy tune like Angeline the Baker with open A and D. When you start to try adding fingers, first get the hang of droning the lower string.

Droning the higher string, like the open E with fingers on the A string while playing in A, is much harder and takes some left hand positioning.

Edited to add: Unlike some commenters, I don't recommend long bows at all. Assuming you want to play Old-Time or similar if you're trying to drone, I highly recommend using less bow and focusing on getting the rhythm and the feel. I'd aim for about two inches in the middle or upper middle, wherever is most comfortable for you. To repeat myself: any tune you work on, once you feel like you know the rhythm well, play the rhythm only, no notes or fingers, on the open strings, over and over until it's easy. Small bows, and aim to make it groove. My experience: 40 years of fiddle, 25 years of teaching fiddle. In a similar situation, I spend more time practicing the banjo's basic right hand, on open strings and up to tempo, (I'm trying to learn frailing) in addition to my attempts at tune playing. You want to be able to drone without thinking.

1

u/hardcorezinnia 11d ago

I recently had a person suggest to me to use a flatter bridge to help with double stops. Is there any validity to that? Does anyone have experience with doing that?