basic melody to fiddle style

[Joe Brown]

Are there any lessons on how to take a basic melody and turn it into a fiddle arrangement? For example, I watched the Blackberry Blossom lesson and noticed that Casey is not following the exact melody in the basic arrangement. It got me wondering if there are any lessons that show how we would take the exact melody and what things go into making a “fiddle” version like Casey did for Blackberry Blossom.

Thank you

[Casey Willis]

Hi, Joe.

I’d say that what you’re after is something that will become innate/easier the more tunes you work through. The more you go through the process of learning a basic version of the tune and then adding in the triplets, ornamentations, double stops, variations, etc. that are included in the advanced lessons, the easier it will be to do this for other tunes not taught on this website. You will be building up a bag of licks and tricks you can plug and play in any number of tunes.

I know that probably seems like general advice, but I think what you’re looking for will happen naturally the longer you play fiddle tunes/the more fiddle tunes you work up from basic to advanced melody. Hope that’s helpful, sir!

[Joe Brown]

Thank you Casey. That makes sense. I started learning multiple versions of songs that I already know like Blackberry Blossom and I think I am beginning to understand what you mean. Each arrangement is a little different and gives me ideas I can use on other songs.

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