Hey, all. I’ve been playing fiddle almost a year doing mainly irish tunes, and I’m beginner intermediate to straight intermediate in skill level. I’m trying to get into playing more bluegrass on the fiddle and am wondering what y’all would consider essential repertoire (that’s tunes you know, for any of y’all from Arkansas) so lists of ten to twenty tunes would be helpful. I also play guitar and banjo, so I’m already familiar with the style, just not the fiddle oriented side of it.
Essential bluegrass fiddle repertoire?
Sally Ann
Sally Goodin
Turkey in the Straw
Cripple Creek
St Annes Reel
Old Joe Clark
Leather Britches
Paddy in the Turnpike
Cherokee Shuffle
Grey Eagle
Angeline the Baker
Orange Blossom Special
Pretty much any bluegrass tune fits with the fiddle.
What I would do is checkout bands on YouTube that have a prominent fiddle player in their line up.
Michael Cleveland is one great fiddle player to study.
Thanks for the list, I didn’t know paddy on the turnpike was bluegrass, I thought it was irish.
I wish I could, but my parents don’t want me on YouTube (understandably) except with supervision to download lesson vids. That’s why I asked for this list, so I know what lessons to download
Paddy on the turnpike is it Irish ? The name suggests not. Turnpike is an American word and there’s abundance of Irish over there. The tune is on one of my Murphy Method video’s Banjo Backup for Fiddle Tunes, Murphy refers to it as an old fiddle tune.
I understand your parents not wishing you to access YouTube and I respect their decision.
Hi @Dragonslayer Here’s a website that might help you get started. I feel sure your parents would approve of this resource it has a lot of gospel tunes.
Ok, I assumed paddy ottp was irish, cuz I had only learned irish tuned from that teacher and she seemed to do them mostly, and also, I had never heard the word “turnpike” and assumed it was irish too based on the sound of the tune, the use of the typically irish name paddy, and the other factors I mentioned
Is there supposed to be a link in this post? I can’t see it if there is
John Cockman runs a decent fiddle site and is a good teacher.
might consider checking it out…
his teaching methods are similar to Ben’s and the site is fairly affordable
https://bluegrassdaddy.com/
Wow, I was literally just at that site five minutes ago! I have a couple of his free lessons (setup and bow technique) and I would love to get a membership there, but at the moment I’m rather penniless, and when I do get some quid I’ll hopefully be buying a mandolin and a good fiddle. I’ve been using fiddlehed lessons off YouTube for free as well as a couple other yt teachers.
Red Haired Boy, Devil’s Dream, Billy in the Low Ground, Ragtime Annie, Big Sciota, Redwing, Salt Creek, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Bill Cheatham, BlackBerry Blossom, Big Sandy River, Big Mon, Sailor’s Hornpipe, Fire on the Mountain, Forked Deer, Solier’s Joy, and Temperence Reel.
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