Fiddle Tunes Basic & Beyond with CD (Audio)

Rating:
Summary: Just what I was looking for
Review: I almost never write reviews, but I felt compelled to for this book. I just started playing the violin (fiddle) a little while ago, and enjoy practicing fun tunes that are a little more challenging than "Mary Had A Little Lamb." Problem is, I can't play them very well unless I know what they are supposed to sound like. This book has a LOT of cool classic fiddle songs, each arranged with both beginner and advanced versions. I listen to the CD to know what the song sounds like, then play it for myself. I am having a GREAT time practicing. LOVE IT LOVE IT. I recently purchased seven other books that I hoped would be as good as this, but they don't come close. Now I need one that has beginner and advanced versions of classic classical tunes (WITH a CD!) THANK YOU TO THE AUTHORS!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent fiddle music sampler.
Review: This book is a valuable resource for anyone from beginner to intermediate who wants to play the fiddle, as it contains quite a few fiddle classics. I particularly like the range of very simple tunes to really challenging pieces. Most pieces are presented in a simple form, and then repeated with more challenging versions. The accompanying CD demonstrates each piece in the book, so that you can hear what the tune is supposed to sound like. There are over seventy tracks, but each piece is quite short.
What it is NOT: This is not a book that will teach you how to play a violin - it assumes you have basic skills. The CD does not have beautifully arranged songs - it just has the fiddle playing, along with a guitar strumming occasionally to help keep the beat.
I have been taking lessons for only a few months, but there are a few pieces I can follow easily, and I see this book will be useful to me for a long time coming.