Mel Bay A Fiddle Player's Guide to Jamming Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I may have been expecting too much from this book, but it didn't deliver.
Pros:
Explained vamping and a little about bluegrass jam sessions in general.
Has a diagram with the correct spacing for notes on violin.
Cons:
The CD it came with does not show examples of techniques it teaches, instead it is just music to try to play along with. This was my biggest disappointment because sometimes reading how to do something is not enough, you must hear what it is supposed to sound like.
I have only been playing violin for about 6 months, but when I put tape on my violin according to the spacing chart in this book (which they say you could try), I started playing worse. Obviously not the fault of this book, but just a negative outcome for me. I suggest never using tape or markers for learning violin/fiddling finger placement ... just mentally memorize it over time.

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This book presents everything a beginning or intermediate fiddler player needs to know to participate in a jam session. There are sections that describe the anatomy of a jam session, jam session etiquette, chords and keys for jamming, and vamping. A play-along CD is included with 9 typical bluegrass jam tunes. The tunes are played twice: once with the tune played on the left channel and a verbal description on the right channel, and once in stereo.

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The Fiddler's Fakebook Review

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(More customer reviews)Printed in 1983, the Fakebook remains the undisputed champion of music references for fiddlers, and it's aided a fair number of other non-fiddlers as well.
Inside its broad covers you'll find nearly 500 tunes from the various fiddle traditions. Jigs, reels, hornpipes, rags and breakdowns, each clearly labeled for origins (Irish, bluegrass, French-Canadian, old-time, etc.) and including a short list of recordings where the tune can be heard. Just flip it open randomly for a taste of its contents, and imagine the sound of tunes like "Haste to the Wedding," "Leather Britches," "The Munster Buttermilk," "Drowsy Maggie," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," "Hanged Man's Reel" and "Great Big Taters in Sandy Land."
Eight pages of textbook materials -- music theory, history and culture, style and genre -- give a wonderfully brief overview of the things you'd like to know without loading the book down with endless information which, frankly, can get in the way of the tunes and make it too bulky for carrying. Better still, the book is held together by a sturdy plastic binding which allows you to plop it down on your music stand with ease. There's nothing so frustrating as a music book with tight bindings which make it impossible to play straight from the page.

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Contains nearly 500 jigs, reels, rags, and hornpipes from all the major fiddling traditions. Special introductory materials on regional styles, bowing, and ornamentation. Includes an extensive discography.

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