Tuning the Fiddle | Beginning/Intermediate Fiddle

Tuning the Fiddle

from: Beginning/Intermediate Fiddle with Chad Manning

This lesson is part of the course Beginning/Intermediate Fiddle with Chad Manning.

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About This Course

Learn basic fiddle techniques by learning popular traditional tunes, with lots of technique tips and advice on how to get that fiddley sound.

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June Apple

In this lesson, Chad teaches you the popular old-time tune "June Apple," which is in the key of A Mixolydian. Mixolydian means that the seventh in the major scale (in this case, G#) is lowered a half step (to G). In the first part of the lesson, Chad teaches the A part of "June Apple" phrase by phrase and also shows you the "Nashville shuffle" bowing pattern, which works well on the A part of this tune.

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Tuning the Fiddle

If you watched Chad’s video on Finding Pitch, you’ll know that pitch can be fluid. In this video Chad defines Equal Tempered tuning and shows how to get in tune using an electronic tuner, which is the standard tuning device for many instruments, but doesn’t necessarily work as well for fiddle. You’ll also get basic advice on tuning the fiddle—using the pegs to make major adjustments and the fine tuners to make small adjustments.

Previous Lesson

← Care and Maintenance of Your Fiddle

Next Lesson

Bow Technique, Part 1: Getting Comfortable with the Bow →

Previous Lesson

← Care and Maintenance of Your Fiddle

Next Lesson

Bow Technique, Part 1: Getting Comfortable with the Bow →

Previous Lesson

← Care and Maintenance of Your Fiddle

Next Lesson

Bow Technique, Part 1: Getting Comfortable with the Bow →

Fiddle Articles

New Lessons Released for June 2021

Great new tunes and techniques to learn in Peghead Nation courses.

Fiddle Videos

Oisín McAuley and Brittany Haas: “The Spey in Spate”

Oisín McAuley is one of today’s premier Irish fiddlers. A member of the band Danu, he recorded his solo debut, Far from the Hills of Donegal, for Compass Records in 2007. Born in County Donegal, Ireland, Oisín is currently living in Boston, where he’s the Director of Summer Programs at Berklee College of Music. He was recently a guest in Brittany Haas’s Fiddle Styles Workshop for Peghead Nation, where he taught the tune “The Road to the Glen” and demonstrated some of the ornaments and bowing characteristic of Irish fiddling. In this video, Brittany backs Oisín up on the reel “The Spey in Spate,” from Scottish composer James Scott Skinner.In her Fiddle Styles Workshop for Peghead Nation, Brittany hosts some of the best fiddlers on the planet, as they teach some of their favorite tunes and techniques. To learn from Brittany and her guests, enroll in the Fiddle Styles Workshop today.