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IntermediateViolinCountryFolk
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Beginning Folk Fiddle, by Chris Haigh

Beginning Folk Fiddle, by Chris Haigh

Chris Haigh

by

Chris Haigh

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Modules216
Replay songs115
InstrumentViolin
LanguageEnglish

Contents (216 modules, 115 replay)

About this songbook

Folk fiddle is the fastest way to get real music under your fingers - and this book is built to make that journey feel clear, musical, and fun. Beginning Folk Fiddle by Chris Haigh is a beginner-friendly guide to folk styles and technique on the violin, starting with the instrument basics and moving quickly into dance tunes you’ll actually want to play.

You’ll work through the core tune types - polkas, jigs, reels, hornpipes, and waltzes - learning how their rhythms feel, not just how they look on the page. Along the way you’ll pick up essential folk tools like playing by ear, groove-based bowing, and common ornaments (including cuts and rolls). Most tunes stay in easy keys and first position, with lots of repeats and clear 32-bar structures that help memorisation and session readiness.

What you’ll get inside:

  • Setup and fundamentals (strings, bow, posture, reading, scales and fingering)
  • Progressive repertoire across Irish, Scottish, English, American, Canadian and European traditions
  • Technique “unlockers” placed right where you need them (bowing ideas, ornaments, rhythm feel)
  • Recorded audio for every tune, played at slow or medium tempo, so you can press play and learn

Start now, turn the page, and let the backing tracks pull you into the groove. Press play and learn - one dance tune at a time.

Interactive Replay
Slow the tempo down
Practise any passage at your own speed — pitch stays correct.
Loop tricky bars
Select a section and drill it hands-free.
Fretboard & keyboard pop-ups
Notes light up on a guitar fretboard or piano keys as they play, with fingering shown.

Meet the Guru

Chris Haigh

Chris Haigh

Chris Haigh has been a professional fiddle player for 25 years, with experience covering many different genres. He has played on over 75 albums, working with artists including Alison Moyet, Bob Geldof, All About Eve, Michael Ball, David Soul, Oumou Sangare, The Quireboys, Riverdance, Morcheeba, James Galway and Steps.

He has played swing jazz with The Kimbara Brothers, Diz Disley, Le Jazz, The Hot Club of London, and the Quecumbar Allstars, and leads a 7-piece Soviet swing band, The Kremlinaires.

Chris gives lessons and workshops on jazz violin technique and has taught jazz violin at Middlesex, Brunel and Newcastle universities and Truro College. His writing credits include nine fiddle books, among them The Fiddle Handbook.

He also runs Fiddling Around (fiddlingaround.co.uk), probably the most comprehensive and widely visited source of fiddle information on the web.

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Published with

Schott Music

Founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770, Schott Music is one of Europe's oldest and largest music publishers, with a catalogue of more than 30,000 titles. Over its 250-year history Schott has issued first editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner, championed 20th-century voices from Hindemith and Schoenberg to Ligeti and Henze, and today publishes sheet music, books and educational materials from offices in Mainz, London, New York, Tokyo and beyond.
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Schott Music

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