Soldier's Joy
Tune Links: A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 Entire A Part
B-1 B-2 B-3 B-4 Entire B Part Play Along Tracks
Part B, Phrase 1
Bowing:
- Use short strokes, near the middle of the bow, for the first two pick-up notes. Then use a longer stroke for the third note. You'll finish up toward the end of your stick, but you'll be in position to play the slur with a duplicate stroke in the opposite direction.
- After the first slur, you should be back toward the mid-point, but you'll notice in the video that I don't get all the way back. I finish the slur a little on the high side of the mid-point. I find that I do that sometimes to set up a smooth 8th note or 16th note passage on the high E string that I'm not going to slur. Using that portion of the bow above the mid-point helps me get a cleaner sound if I want to avoid the "bite" that I'm normally looking for.
- Play the three 8th notes after the first slur with short strokes, all in the upper part of the bow, and then use a long stroke on the second slur to get back toward the mid-point.
- Play the 2nd and 3rd finger notes on the A string with short strokes and then use longer strokes on the two slurs.
- After the last slur you should be back toward the middle of your bow.
Fingering:
- Because you will be playing on the E string immediately after the first note on the A string, you only need to bring down your 3rd finger for the first note.
- You could leave your 3rd finger down on the A string while you play the second and third notes on the E string, but you don't need to; and in this case I don't do it in the video. I would if I was going to play several notes back and forth on the two strings in quick succession; but here that's not the case here.
- Once you place your 1st finger on the E string, leave it down while you play the 2nd and 3rd finger notes.