Category: Site Tips

Yes, it’s a lot of work creating and maintaining this service, but we do have fun getting together in live workshops both with Ed 3x a month, and with a different great guest instructor one Sunday each month. Many also enjoy looking back at previous workshop materials, or working on technique or tune videos at their own pace.

But if you have either a financial crunch or wonder whether fiddle-online is worth paying for, here are a few ways to use it for free and see what it’s like.

1. Join for free and receive 4 credits into your new account just by filling out a couple of brief questionnaires (including essential things like choosing a password for yourself, and less essential things like jotting down a note about your own fiddle experience — this info goes only to Ed, and since he’s not a jerk, he doesn’t pass it along to anyone else for any reason! ). Spending credits instead of dollars makes fiddle-online much quicker and easier to use, and more easily allows Ed to adjust things for you if there’s any kind of problem or error. By getting 4 credits you will be able to try several things for free, such as 2 tune videos which teach a tune each using a basic and advanced video, or the technique sampler which gives you a video from each of the 5 ten-video technique groups.
2. Make use of the Credits Sharing Center. This allows you to get 10 or 20 credits for free so you can take a workshop or try some of the past workshop materials or technique or tune video groups. These credits were donated by members of fiddle-online who enjoyed it so much that they wanted others such as yourself to be able to join in. If you find you do appreciate the workshops and other services, you may wish to donate back to this fund so others can make use of it as you did.
3. Try some of the free samples, which include complete workshop pages, with interactive sheet music (sheet music with self-repeating audio by phrase, and listening and playalong tracks), and a video helping you with note patterns, bowing, and ornamentation ideas.
4. Check out the fiddle-online YouTube channel, which features full-length online concerts that were presented throughout the pandemic. Most of the artists included there have done workshops on fiddle-online, and all their materials are available at a very low cost of 6 credits for 2 weeks of access. That’s $6, or only $2 if you apply the 4 credits you earn just by joining fiddle-online.
5. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Ed and he’ll help you out. Enjoy exploring fiddle-online!

You don’t need to subscribe to fiddle-online to use it, but there are benefits to having one of our two subscriptions. Let’s take a look at the benefits to you, as well as how to subscribe, and how to change or end your subscription, and what the impacts are of doing that.

Benefits of Subscribing

Everything on fiddle-online is a-la-carte, and you’re welcome to purchase credits as needed. The main benefit of having subscription is that you get bonus credits, which is equivalent to getting up to 20% off the cost of credits. It’s also convenient to have credits added to your account for you every month. You don’t need to subscribe to use the site, it’s just a convenience, and gives you the bonus credits to thank you for participating on a regular basis.

Two Kinds of Subscription

The most popular kind of subscription is the regular “Monthly With Bonus”, which costs $20 each month. The first month of your subscription, you get 20 credits, the normal cost of credits. The second month you get 22 credits, and from the third month on, you get 24 credits, even though you’re still being charged $20/month.

If you regularly make use of live workshops and like to use other materials during the month, or if you are a couple, you’ll appreciate the “Frequent Learner” subscription. This costs $40/month and after getting 40 credits into your account the first month, you get 45 the second month, and 50 each month after that.

How to Subscribe

Once you’ve logged in, click on  Continue reading About Subscriptions

In the materials from our past live workshops you’ll find some tunes not easily defined. For example, Jeremy Kittel, a fiddler who works with traditional roots, jazz, Celtic, classical, and electronic music, offered two fiddle-online concert/workshops that feature original tunes of his. They’re sort of Celtic but also very much his own. Neil Pearlman, who plays fiddle and mandolin but primarly is known as a great pianist in Scottish, Cape Breton, jazz, funk and other styles, taught a fiddle-online workshop focusing on a jig he wrote that is in both 6/8 and 9/8.

Another eclectic set of workshops is the “Mixed Tunes & Topics” workshop series taught by Ed Pearlman, usually containing 3 tunes to learn in each workshop. Some of the topics speak for themselves, such as the ones from Brittany, Spanish New Mexico, or English tunes.

There are 23 groups of workshops in “Mixed Tunes & Topics” — check them out, and audio from each, just by clicking on the titles of the workshops. Names of the tunes included are also listed below each title.

For example, Continue reading Eclectic Tunes!

Did you know there’s an “FAQ and Tutorials” https://www.fiddle-online.com/faq.php page for fiddle-online?

Two tutorial videos are on that page, each with a video timeline so you can skip to a topic you’re particularly interested in if you like. One video is about how to get started with fiddle-online, and the other is about what you can do once you’ve joined and logged in. Note that the home page design changes at least seasonally so although all the information is accurate, some of the visuals may not show the current design.

The FAQ include the following questions — clicking them on that page provides you with concise answers about these 9 topics:

• How does this site work? — This will list and briefly describe the major offerings you’ll find, such as blog articles, live events, technique videos, tune learning pages, and tune videos.
• Free stuff — A listing of free offerings such as the valuable articles, how to view listings and hear audio samples, and how to join not only for free but to earn free credits along the way. There are also some free samples such as on the past workshop materials page…

Continue reading About our FAQ and Tutorials

The Credits Store is a place where you can use your credits to buy stuff. It never stares you in the face, so some people may miss it entirely, but there is a link to it at the top right of your own home page, and a yellow “Visit the Credits Store” button at the top right of the Credits/Account page.

The Credits Store can also be found via the drop-down menu for “Credits” in the black-and-white top menu of most pages.

Offerings change from time to time, but some include …

• T-shirts in various sizes and colors with fiddle-online’s motto: “I Played It Better At Home!”
• Finger Finders, a slide rule that helps you learn finger spacing and arpeggios in any key.
• A fiddle-online face mask!
• You can also use your credits to purchase private online lessons with Ed Pearlman, ranging from a 15-minute “focus lesson” to focus on one particular issue, tune or technique, to half-hour and one-hour lessons.

Check out the Credits Store some time, especially if you notice you have extra credits in your account!

©2022 Ed Pearlman

Need credits to try something on fiddle-online? Low on cash or not sure you want to spend on that tune? Or do you have credits you’re not using and want to let someone else use them who needs help? Check out the Credits Sharing Center.

The Credits Sharing Center was set up because a generous regular student on our site wanted to give people who are low on funds a chance to use fiddle-online. His donation was matched by fiddle-online and others have contributed since then as well.

The result is that we have a place where anyone can go and request 10 or 20 credits if they need them to try out something on fiddle-online. Though intended to help people who don’t have extra funds to do this, it’s also nice for people who aren’t sure they want to spend money to try our resources. Usually, once they get to know what’s on offer, they are happy with it, and may well donate back the credits they received earlier.

Just visit the Credits Sharing Center and either request or donate credits. There is no “application” process; there is simply a place where you are asked to explain why you need the credits — whether you’re low on funds or want to try things you’re not sure of. Nobody decides whether or not you’ll get the credits.

There is a limit to the use of the Center — you can’t use it more often than every 2 weeks or 4 times a year — but it’s there to be used.

If you don’t need it yourself, let a friend know who is low in funds and would like to improve their fiddling!

©2021 Ed Pearlman

When you first visit fiddle-online.com, the home page gives you links to the main features — Live Workshops, and Tunes & Techniques. There are a few other tricksy features of the page, though, so check them out!

Not too much needs to be said about the box of options at upper right, so I’ll start with that. Most of this discussion will be about the great options you can discover when you click on that sneaky “hamburger” — the 3 lines laying flat like as in the picture below.

In the upper right is the all-important red “Log In” button, which all members will use to get to their own home page. There they’ll find links to all the materials they’ve signed up for (plus a pitchpipe, a chat box, and other stuff).

The green “Join for free” button lets nonmembers join and gives them 2 or 4 credits in their account so they can try a few things for free and see how they like them! Be sure to activate your new account from your email, otherwise joining will be a dead end. You can always contact Ed if any problem — see the last item in the hamburger.

Below the Join button is the dark blue “How to use this site” button, taking you to a list of FAQ you can click to view answers, and two videos to give you a tour of the site.

Now about that “hamburger” — click it and you will see a list of options. Here’s the scoop on what they all offer —

Continue reading The Tricksy Home Page and all its tricks!