Fiddle Lessons in Cowpens. Amazing Teachers.

All kind of fiddling taught.
Have played fiddle for over 25 years, have taught fiddle for 15 years.

I have over 20 years of profession touring and studio experience playing with some of the biggest names in the business that I bring to my lessons. I studied music in school and have continued to teach over the years which gives me the ability to use teaching and music school language with real world live performance experience. If you want to learn to play the way the pros do and have a lot of fun in the process, then this might be for you. My approach involves learning songs that you want to learn and teaching you techniques and theory in the process. Music is fun and should also be when taking lessons. Let’s get started!

A new approach to the tunes they play in the back roads and row houses. Jam with the local banjo player.
These a system of hearing the keys and chords that never change through time.

I specialize in helping students learn practice and listening techniques that will allow you to make faster more efficient progress as well as increase your understanding of music and how you best learn to play. I teach many fiddle styles including Irish, Gypsy Jazz Old Time and Bluegrass. I specialize in Irish fiddle, which I have been playing and teaching for 25 years. I have studied in Ireland with numerous masters of the Irish fiddle such as Kevin Burke, Tommy Peoples , Martin Hayes, Matt Cranitch, Oisin Mac Diarmada and many others. I am founding member of the band Beyond The Pale and have taught at numerous camps and festivals including The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat.
I also specialize in “Gypsy Jazz” or “ Hot Club of Paris” style jazz fiddle in the style of Stephane Grapelli and played for many years in the very popular Dallas based band The Texas Gypsies.

Have you ever wanted to play fiddle, but never knew where to start? Do you have trouble learning correct technique, practice strategies, or struggle finding good repertoire to learn? Well, you've come to the right place!

In our first lesson, I will likely ask you to demonstrate your level to me, either by telling me or showing me what you know. I will use this to better understand your strengths and weaknesses and go from there. You can expect to come away from our first lesson with some learning materials, a plan for going forward, and an encouraging start to our journey as musicians together!

Some examples of things students can learn from me include: expanding repertoire, ear training, music reading, improvising, jamming, music theory, and technique.

My teaching methods for the fiddle start with the correct setup of holding the violin and bow to be able to play with easy and not occur an injury or discomfort while learning. I help students learn to read musical notation as well as learn simple tunes by ear to help them have a broad understanding of learning to play the fiddle. I introduce Fiddle methods that come with CD's so that the student can hear and internalize a tune before learning to play it on the fiddle. I get fiddle students together so that they can learn from each other and enjoy fiddle playing at local jams once they are ready to play in a crowd. Fiddle playing is a social event and playing with others is a wonderful opportunity to have fun and learn at the same time. I teach beginners fiddle and also teach classical players the fiddle style to help them enjoy their violin experience.
I teach tunes by ear in the Old-Time genre. We start with the basic's of rhythm, learning notes by ear in a particular scale ...