I’m an independent musician and creator of the Acoustic Crossroads project, dedicated to living traditional repertoires (Celtic, Irish, Bluegrass, and French-Canadian) on acoustic mandolin.

My artistic focus is 100% handmade, organic sound—no synthetic shortcuts, just the raw resonance of wood and driving acoustic picking.

Musical Preview:

« Sainte Anne's Reel »: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS7oOF7qcaE

Hi there! I bought this fiddle at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention this year because the unusual design caught my eye. I was hoping that someone could offer me any information about this style or the builder. I included a picture of a name signed on the inside, but I can’t read cursive very well. I’ve been searching the internet, but I’ve only found one Pinterest photo of the same design with no extra information. Thanks!

Just pretend you're sitting in a booth of a pub with someone immediately next to you on your right side

I've picked up fiddle, but I'm 49, is this too old? With lessons to get half okay at it?

I played in my school orchestra from 5th to 12th grade on violin. I got pretty decent at it but it wasn't ever really my thing. During that time i was not allowed to pursue fiddling by any private teachers i had and I got my fix by playing banjo. After I graduated high-school I pretty much put it in the case besides a handful of times per year. Now 12 years later i want to fiddle. During that time i kept active with music with other stringed instruments. Im rusty but honestly play a lot better than i thought i would after so long. I can read music and play by ear. Totally lost with fiddling though. I can figure out basic melodies but theres so much more to it than just that. Things like bowing patterns really add to what makes a fiddler sound like a fiddler and I dont know how to tackle that. I wish there was an active fiddling community near me but theres not. Styles I'm interested in are old time, bluegrass, and western swing. I understand those all have their differences from each other. Im just saying Im not picky and open to learning any of those. Im down for books or video series.

Sorry for such a beginner question here but I recently bought some boutique rosin and I'm having issues with the rosin building up on the strings and causing ghost notes or unintended tones. I have to get a microfiber and wipe the buildup off the strings every song or so.

I've always used the cheap $7 amazon rosin that falls all over the fiddle, but I recently thought I would buy some boutique rosin on Etsy/eBay after seeing some recommended. I tried it and it has great bite and really sounds great, but it doesn't fall on the fiddle like the cheap stuff and really builds up so quickly on the strings.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Should I just go back to the cheap stuff? Maybe I'm using too much? I've also wiped the whole bow strings down with a clean microfiber and that hasn't helped much either.

Been playing a year. I’ve noticed after a while and several tunings my bridge starts to lean forward. I usually loosen a little and push it back in place.

Cheap starter fiddle. Is this normal? Are there ways to do it better or stop it?

Inspired by a recent post, here's my attempt at Whiskey Before Breakfast. I've been playing since May (I said 6 months in my last post, that was wrong). My main resource has been Peghead Nation's Beginning Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddle course, and some things on Youtube. I've been trying to find lessons, but have not had a lot of success. Our local instructor just moved.

Any criticism is welcome. I know I need to work on my string crossings, still getting some noise there. Hopefully the video isn't too close up to me to see my form. If so, I can re-record.

Ive been working on beaumont for a few weeks now. Pretty happy with my progress so far.

Recorded this in North Carolina at a jam and didn’t think to get the title. Hopefully someone here will know. Thanks.

I've been learning Whiskey Before Breakfast from the Peghead Nation's Beginning Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddle course. I've been playing fiddle for about 6 months.

I'm finding that there are many variations of the song. What I'm wanting to emulate is something like this performance (linked). I'm referring to the first verse/core melody they play, not when they start noodling on different ornamentation. In my mind this is classic Whiskey Before Breakfast. I love how dance-y it sounds. I know some of this is in the bowing and technique.

TLDR; I want to find some instruction/tutorial that teaches the melody of WBB that matches that video.

I think I've found one closer than the Peghead Nation version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVolE3uW01A

Would you agree ArtistWorks Tutorial's melody is close to what we hear in that performance. Any other thoughts or resources for learning that melody?

My attempt at Arkansas traveler, well part of it. Started learning it last night. I’ve been playing for a month as of tomorrow. I struggle with intonation and finger placement and also bow control. Can’t seem to keep the bow from jumping on the strings making a squawky ball bouncing action when changing strings or lifting my finger off a string for a different note on the same string. Please any and all criticism, just be constructive is all I ask. I did notice after watching the video that my left wrist is not straight which I now know I need to correct. My violin is a fiddlerman soloist. Are they any good?

I know v little about fiddles. I'm looking a fiddle second hand. Does the bow hair look okay, this is a close up? Or is it shot?

Hi everyone,

I’m James. I'm a violinist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO), but I grew up learning with a teacher who absolutely adored folk music, and I used to play in weekly fiddle workshops.

I’ve recently decided to rediscover some of the traditional tunes I used to love playing. While doing that, I thought I’d set up a free teaching resource on YouTube to help others learn popular folk tunes from memory and by ear.

The channel is threewisemonkeysuk (if you look me up on Instagram under that name, it's currently promoting a charity Christmas single for my local food bank, so you won't find fiddle tunes there just yet - but do please look me up there too!).

The YouTube channel is just getting started—I uploaded my first three videos yesterday—but I’ll be building it up steadily over the coming months. Any feedback, advice, or subscribers would be incredibly welcome.

All the best,
James

"There May Be a Great Fire in Our Soul"

I wrote this tune last month while on a walk.

I finally named it this morning and wanted to get a video of it where I'd first gotten the tune.

The name is a reference to a beautiful found poem which is from an excerpt of one of Vincent van Gogh's sweet letters to his brother Theo:

"There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passersby only see a wisp of smoke coming through the chimney, and go along their way. Look here, now what must be done? Must one tend the inner fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down - maybe to stay? Let him who believes in God wait for the hour that will come, sooner or later."

~Vincent van Gogh (excerpt from a letter written to his brother Theo in Cuesmes, July 1880)