Customer Reviews

Mel Bay presents The American Fiddle Method, Vol. 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been playing the fiddle for 7 years. The hardest thing for me is learning to jam with other musicians. AMF, Vol 1 was a big help in this regard. The first nine tunes were especially helpful because they are easy to memorize, easy to play in tune, and have a nice rhythm. These tunes are also familiar to other musicians in the bluegrass jam that I attend.

As an adult student, I found this book incredibly productive. This book does a great job getting you up to speed with easy melodies and a solid foundation to build further advanced skills you will use forever. You will learn to read music at the same time. A valuable asset. This book will start you building an Old-time standards repertoire, another asset. The music is broken down to two A parts and two B parts. I learned about muscle memory and how your brain wires finger motion. Amazing stuff.
I have purchased the second book and I am very much enjoying a profound sense of achievement. The CD's work wonderful as a reference to keep you in check. Highly recommended along with a good fiddle teacher.

Have been playing about 3 mo. Songs are easy to learn and DVD is very helpful.

My daughter has been taking violin/fiddle lessons for 2 years and we decided to expand her skills in reading music and more difficult songs than ones just written by notation with her instructor. The songs are fun and fairly easy to play and learn. One down fall is that the songs on the CD are very fast and no slow speed for beginners. I think that it is best to have some basic music reading skills before starting this book as it jumps right in with little teaching of violin basics.

First, I give the study method five stars. It stresses tone, accuracy, posture, and good study habits. He also points out trouble spots and shows how to avoid common mistakes. The way it's done visually is very helpful. It loses two stars for the actual music. It literally hurts my ears and gives me a headache. Someone should tell Brian Wicklund that there are three other strings on the fiddle besides the E and he should give them a shot. On the cd, there are many instances when you could easily mistake the fiddle for a harmonica, and if I'm working hard to play a fiddle, I want it to sound like a fiddle. (and not give people headaches and earaches.)

Had this product delivered twice without the DVD. Never got it, canceled order. Rep at Amazon couldn't understand that it was to have had a DVD and a CD.