dat fiddle, can 'Eb out Bb, mate?

Subject: RE: dat fiddle, can 'Eb out Bb, mate?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 05:26 PM

Fair enough, Russ. And I understand that, but it isn't really the same. A fiddle is a single note instrument, and a guitar is a chorded instrument. When I am playing melody lines, it isn't that big a thing to move around the neck on the guitar, bouzouki, etc. It seems to me, and I say this with great respect for the fiddle, but it is a matter of working with other scales, as opposed to chord construction. I am not belittling here, but I am trying to figure out if I am really asking all that much.

Mick

Subject: RE: dat fiddle, can 'Eb out Bb, mate?
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 05:15 PM

You can use a capo, a fiddler cannot.

Imagine playing in different keys on your guitar without using a capo.

Some guitar players can play all over the neck without a capo and it's no big deal to them. For some guitar players with a different skill set giving up the capo would be a big deal.

Same with fiddlers.

Subject: dat fiddle, can 'Eb out Bb, mate?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 04:18 PM

Well?

As a singer of limited range, with vocal cords that suffer from years of abuse, it is very important to me to be able to sing "in the gap" where the top end and bottom end of my range fit. That, and the fact that it is a major emphasis for me to find that spot where I can sing for the greatest effect. I think that this is very important for ballad singers that strive to deliver the message of the song, be it a love song, social action song, whatever. Very often, that key is Eb or Bb. When I do this, the fiddle players often want me to move the capo up a fret, or down a fret for ease of playing for them, even though it takes a bit off the delivery of the song/message/story. In the band that I play with, when I push the fiddle player (one of the perks of being the "leader" whatever the hell that is) she always manages to do it and it sounds very good. So the question I have is, is it really that big a deal, or is this just fiddlin' folks not wanting to get outside their comfort zone? I constantly push the musician's around me to go beyond what we feel we can accomplish. Am I being unreasonable on this one? Or is this do-able with work?

All the best,

Mick