Complete Country Fiddler

This comprehensive, in-depth book shows players how to create authentic licks and solos in the major fiddle styles of blues, bluegrass, swing, and commercial country. With 300 musical examples and analysis, the book helps the player build a standard repertoire of licks with typical melodic and rhythmic manipulations in the various styles. Another aim of the book is to show how to fit licks into representative tunes in several keys, and to suggest some of the underlying relationships between notes, keys, and chords by introducing some basic music theory in the context of the music examples. This text also provides real-world insights through the inclusion of interviews with 11 top professional fiddlers: Rob Hajacos, Hoot Hester, Hank Singer, Jerry Rivers, Mark O'Connor, Buddy Spicher, Benny Martin, John Hartford, Dale Potter, Vassar Clements, and Kenny Kosek. As an aid to "by ear" players, the accompanying recording demonstrates the correct sound of almost all of the music in the book, played slightly slower than normal, occasionally with guitar accompaniment.