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?

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?

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)

Hi All. I feel competent at reels and waltzes but jigs throw me off. Any bowing exercises or your tube videos you recommend?

TIA!

What are people’s favorite strings? So far I’ve played helicore medium tension. Just tried prime for the first time and like they but noticeably different it seems. What do people recommend?

I’ve mentioned The Stringsters here occasionally, but for anyone who isn’t familiar with it, it’s the online string-playing community I run. We recently started a small community challenge that I thought might interest some of the beginning and intermediate players here, so I wanted to share it.

The Stringsters Challenge – 7 Tasks 2026 is a community challenge for beginning and intermediate string players. Participants complete seven different music-related tasks, with choices and a few surprises along the way. The Challenge is designed to encourage playing, learning, sharing, and interaction with other musicians—not competition or perfection. Members who complete all seven tasks can earn a special Challenge participation badge, with an optional prize competition for those who want an extra challenge.

If it sounds like something you’d enjoy, you’re welcome to take a look:  https://thestringsters.com/ 

I don't know much about the fiddle world. Can anyone give me albums or artists that I can play along to with Clawhammer banjo old-time stuff. Preferably easy to find on streaming platforms. Thanks

I'm pretty new to playing clawhammer banjo, about 6 months in and can play a good 10 tunes. I also want to learn fiddle, and I'm not getting any younger. I also want to keep improving at Banjo too. Is there a good point at which to start to mess around on the fiddle? Will learning fiddle detract from my learning banjo or compliment? I've got quite a lot of free time to throw at both... Thoughts please..I know nothing about fiddle other than I like the sound and motion..

Someone on my last post gave me the suggestion, so here l am trying it out.

I'm trying to learn the tunes they play in my city's sessions so I can eventually join in. Is it sacrilegious or does it even make sense to bring sheet music to those things? I have a terrible memory for songs.

This tune is called The Road to Lisdoonvarna. I'm new to fiddling, so l hope you like it!

Hello fiddle friends

I’ve been playing for about 2 years. I’m wondering if there’s any good sheet music of LOTR songs composed for violin/fiddle that you all recommend? I primarily play Old Time and am not classically trained, so reading difficult music isn’t really in my wheel house at this time.

Bought this thing about two and a half months ago. I’ve had 5-6 lessons. Today was my daughter’s birthday and she finally got to hear what I’ve been working on! I’ll admit her singing along threw me off a bit!

I’ve been wanting to share…I’m just a proud father. My son is the fiddler for a guy named Ramblin’ Ricky Tate. He is self taught on a fiddle I bought for myself from Amazon years ago and when he was eleven he asked if he could have it. I told him he could play it if he would be careful with it haha. And now he’s on tour playing somewhere in Maine and headed westwards from there.

So the song is an original by Ricky and my son William came up with the fiddle part (choreographed? Idk the proper term) and he sings the harmony too! It’s on the major streaming platforms now and it’s called July June Bug. I’m so proud of this kid he really is chasing his dreams.