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Violin tips & More

Learn a Musical Instrument from Scratch, Part 3

Check out this Chinese proverb: I really like it a lot. But sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly how to act on a proverb, even if I think I agree with it. In today's video I take about 10 minutes to get very specific about what relaxation means to me and how it...

Learn a Musical Instrument from Scratch, Part 2

This was email only when I sent it out on Wednesday. Because of requests on YouTube, I've made it a blog post as well. Please sign up for the email list if you'd like to catch everything like this in the future. 🙂 Here's a little about how I got bit by the music bug:...

Learn a Musical Instrument from Scratch, Part 1

I’m not here to say that everyone should learn to learn to play an instrument. Some people just want to listen, so if playing isn’t your thing, more power to you. As my pal Jay used to say about things like this, “That’s why they make more than one kind of breakfast...

Auld Lang Syne Bluegrass Style

Only problem with instrumental music is sometimes you miss out on great Robert Burns lyrics: Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne,...

11 Hottest Gifts for Violinists and Fiddlers 2016!

Looking for gifts for violinists and fiddlers? This 2016 edition of my yearly list has some special ideas for some of the toughest-to-gift types of violinists on your list such as.... -Violinists to be -Violinists with not enough time in the day -Trad purists And the...

Princess Leia Teaches The Star Wars Main Theme

So... here's an example of something that started as a joke and has become a reality. Ha! Actually, I can think of multiple examples of that right here, now that I mention it... (After the original "Hot Violinist" vid filmed by Paul Michaels went viral, my comedian...

The North Jetty Living Room

Here's an oldie but goldie from the E Muzeki days of yore! We wrote it while our band was on tour in Florida in 2007 and first recorded it on our Agrafa album released later that year. It was influenced by some Appalachian fiddle tricks I learned from Judy Hyman along...