Maddie Denton is a third generation fiddle player from Murfreesboro, Tennessee who began playing at the age of five. She plays in The Dan Tyminski Band and IBMA New Artist of the Year East Nash Grass. She also won IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year in 2021.
She offered a 3 hour workshop at the Boston Bluegrass Union's "Jam Val" event in 2025 and I wanted to share my notes from that course with you!
Bluegrass Fiddle Tips from Maddie Denton
Transpose as often as possible
Transposing at slow speeds can genuinely help develop your tone, timing, and style.
Don’t forget to transpose other instruments or even vocals
Use the amazing slow downer or the chrome extension “Transpose” to make difficult solos feel more accessible.
Get Friendly with Metronome Work
Use it as often as possible - if you’re not using a metronome, “you are practicing having bad time”
Try playing the metronome through a bluetooth speaker, and make sure you can play with the metronome set to the backbeat or the downbeat.
Try using the app "Time Guru" which randomly drops beats
Learn when to play and when to lay out
Fiddle is not part of the rhythm section.
Its Job is to “add color” and in bluegrass, this is usually done by one instrument at a time
When Dobro, a second fiddle, or mandolin is playing backup behind the singer, lay out and listen instead
Draw Influences from many players
Billy Contreras - Fearlessly playing up the neck, using fourth finger in closed positions
Stuart Duncan - Smooth, easy to work with- always thinking of how to improve the ensemble.
Alison Krauss - Backbeat feel is often present in her musical ideas.
Nate Leath, Sami Braman, Brittany Hass, Natalie Padilla - Bringing old time influences into bluegrass
Stuff Smith - Check out the album “Have Violin, Will Swing”
Master the “Fiddle Capo” to unlock playing in B, Bb, Eb, and in other parts of the neck
Other instruments have a means of making it easier to play in different keys. Planting a first finger across two strings will ground you in the key that is the bottom of the two notes
Try learning a simple melody like “Your Love is Like a Flower” in B then move it up, down, and over.
Check out John Mailander moveable shapes book
Develop Style - Don’t over follow the rules
Listening to players outside of the genre is how any fiddle player made a mark with their unique style
Borrow musical ideas and licks and learn to adapt them to the fiddle. That adaptation may
Take lessons from people who don't play your instrument
Tips on Improvisation:
Follow Jake Eddy on Instagram
He puts a metronome and spends an hour with a tune, giving himself challenges on each repeat.
Some Challenges: Play the melody straight, then keep the notes the same but change the rhythm, or change the notes but not the rhythm.
Learn fiddle tunes and melodies in different keys and positions:
This will help you develop flexibility and comfort
Master the fingerboard by taking familiar melodies and forcing your fingers to find new ways to play it.
Practice with a Drone Pitch
Use this YouTube Playlist to improve your intonation and sense of tonality
Try the Bebop Scale
Maddie learned from a jazz trumpet player in college. The foundation of that curriculum started with a twelve bar blues and the bebop scale
Why? - Every other note is a chord tone if you play constant eighth notes- this means that if you play this scale in any direction starting on any chord tone, it will sound great against the chord.
Try playing straight and then swung using swing bowings
Try switching bebop scales based on the chord, start with a 12 bar blues progression.
Try this starting on the root, third, fifth, or flat 7th
Have fun whenever possible
If your motivation when playing or performing is to impress, people will feel it. It can put out an “intense” sort of energy which is fine in doses, but can be overwhelming.
If your motivation is to have fun, the audience will reflect your energy
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