Angelina's a Baker, Sciota's big, what else do I need to know?

August 5, 2013 4:30 PM

What's a good book of fiddle tunes?

I'm having a blast playing blue-grass, and thanks to you guys, I'm listening to some great stuff. I do however hate slowing down rehearsals so they can teach me fiddle tunes.

So I need a good book of fiddle and bluegrass standards I could start learning tunes from, what do you recommend?

posted by Gygesringtone to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Try this.

http://ootfa4.org/Ootfa4Tunebooks.htm

I'm guessing you have their playlist, and I'd be surprised if the tunes you want aren't in here. Be advised, though, that variations abound, and some of them are not trivial.

I've come across two versions of Westphalia Waltz that box with each other. (I'm a guitar player, so you'd think it would be easy to fake it. Nope.)
posted by mule98J at 6:50 PM on August 5, 2013

Best answer: I have been told that Ryan's Mammoth Collection is a standby. It is certainly large and packed full of tunes. It is available free (legally) as a pdf. (scroll down)

It's not all or even primarily bluegrass, but I bet some of the stuff your bandmates know is in there. And hey, it's free.

Mel Bay sells a paper version for $25 or so if you prefer to swing that way. Available on amazon.
posted by contrarian at 4:51 AM on August 6, 2013

Seconding Fiddler's Fakebook and hades' excellent advice about watching the guitar player's left hand for the chord changes... that's definitely how I fake my way through tunes I don't know.
posted by usonian at 8:55 AM on August 6, 2013