Hey Reader,

Something came up over and over during the Chord Backup Bootcamp, so let's talk about it.

Don't read all the chords at once.

When you first look at a song with chord symbols over it, the temptation is to take the whole thing in. Every chord, every change, all at once. I've tried this. It isn't reading. It's just looking at a page really hard.

So do what we already do with fiddle tunes. Chunk it.

1. Play each chord by itself. Just one. Get a good sound out of it before you ask it to move anywhere. The Single-double stop exercise helps here — play the two notes separately, then together:

Then loop that one chord with the rhythm you'll actually use in the song. Quarter notes. Hoedown. Waltz triplets.

2. Hear each chord in your head. Play it once. Then try to hear it without playing. This is called audiation, which sounds fancy but just means imagining sound. If you can hear it before you play it, your hands have somewhere to aim.

3. Play the two-chord transitions. Not the song. Just the changes. For Bile 'em Cabbage Down that's D to G, and D to A. Loop each pair until it flows.

4. Play a phrase. Now grab a chunk of the song big enough to have a couple of changes in it.

5. Play the whole song.

Do it slowly. Then add rhythmic patterns.

Then, if you want to go further, move it.

Once a song is under your fingers, transpose it two different ways. They teach you two different things.

Say you're practicing backup for a song like Bile 'em Cabbage Down in D.

• D: D0A0
• G: D0A1
• A: D1A0

Same fingering, new key. Bile 'em Cabbage Down in G, on the G and D strings:

• G: G0D0
• C: G0D1
• D: G1D0

Same shapes you already know.

Same key, new fingering. Now play it in D, but on the G and D strings (instead of the D and A):

• D: G1D0
• G: G0D0
• A: G1D1

Same song. Same key. Totally different territory under your hand.

This is just the process of fiddling. You're learning something and making something up at the same time. You're running experiments on a song. Art and practice rolled together. That's why I learning music, especially fiddling.

🥾 Chord Backup Bootcamp

A note on the replays. Some of you couldn't get the replays to play on mobile. I think that's fixed — every workshop lesson now has a "View the replay on Vimeo" link right at the top, which should work on any phone. Please tell me if you're still stuck. Thanks for your patience with all of this. It's been a blast, and also a parade of technical problems I'd never met before.

Workshop 3 — Minor Without the Fear Minor chords sound like they should be the hard part. Turns out you'd been playing them since Workshop 1 — the A major chord you learned in the first hour is also A minor. 👉 Watch the replay →​

Workshop 4 — The Jam Mostly playing. Four tunes, ten two-chord loops, and the chunking ladder above tying it all together. One genuinely new shape all day, and it's one finger. 👉 Watch the replay →​

The handbook keeps growing. A new version lands next week with everything from Workshops 3 and 4 folded in. You already have access — no need to save copies or worry about missing a version. 👉 The Fiddler's Chord Backup Handbook →​

One more session: Thursday, August 20 · 3:00 PM EDT No Fear Fiddle, Chord Backup Edition. You'll go into small breakout groups of two or three and take turns — one person plays a simple melody, the other plays backup. Then you swap.

Two things happen at once. You practice backup with a real human instead of a metronome. And you play in front of somebody, which is the entire point of No Fear Fiddle. Nobody in that room is a stranger to being nervous.

Login info:

• ​Zoom link​
• Password: Grow

🎻 Upcoming in Play Every Day

Mon, Aug 17 · 3:00 PM EDT / Potluck Practice with Kathryn

Bring whatever you're working on. We play, share, and practice together.

Tue, Aug 18 · 10:00 AM EDT / Weekly Meetup with Tom and Deb

Our long-running weekly play session. Everyone's welcome — tune up and drop in.

Thu, Aug 20 · 6:00 PM EDT / Country Blues Corner with Philip

Listening and talking through the blues — recordings, favorite players, fiddle and vocal styles.

Fri, Aug 21 · 11:00 AM EDT / Classical Corner Practice Group

Relaxed classical violin practice with Krista. Bowing and technique from the early Suzuki books. All levels.

Fiddle for the kids in your life...

Listen here.

🎻 Until next week, keep on fiddling…

— Jason

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