Liked on YouTube: The Double Shuffle (Hokum Bowing). Let's take it from the start!

The Double Shuffle (Hokum Bowing). Let's take it from the start!
The Double Shuffle, also known as Hokum Bowing, is a fiddle bowing technique equally at home in bluegrass, western swing and commercial country. In this fiddle lesson I explain and demonstrate how to master the pattern, starting really slow and simple. It is a syncopated pattern covering two bars of quavers, in a pattern of two, four threes and another two. A single lower note, usually an open string, makes up most of the pattern, while a note on the next string up starts each group of three, so that the bow is energetically rocking backwards and forwards. The upper note provides an accent which constantly pulls or pushes against the beat, providing a high level of excitement. The double shuffle is found in several Old Time tunes including Cotton Patch Rag, Back up and Push and Beaumont Rag. Most famously it is used in instrumental versions of the Orange Blossom Special. This was a song written by Ervine T Rouse in honour of the brand new diesel-electric train running from New York to the "Orange Blossom State" of Florida, inaugurated in 1938. In this video lesson I start with a single bar with 2,3,3, working really slowly. I then add the second bar of 3,3,2, giving the pattern 2,3,3,3,2. A helpful mnemonic is "With a one-and a- two and a three and a four and a five". We gradually increase the speed, then start to add different upper notes. We then add doubled or drone notes on the accents. Finally we look at the chord sequence A/D/E/A used in the Orange Blossom Special chorus, and show some double stop variations commonly used by fiddlers when playing the tune. Finally I demonstrate how, once the pattern is mastered, it is possible to improvise on the upper notes. I have a book "Exploring Country and Bluegrass Fiddle" published by Schott, due out in October 2021. This covers many aspects of country fiddle, including old time, bluegrass, western swing, cajun, honky tonk and contemporary country. To look at or buy my other books, go to https://bit.ly/32B9IiF I will be posting many more old time, country, western swing and bluegrass tunes on The Fiddle Channel; let me know if you have any requests! If you subscribe, I can send you a free pdf of the sheet music for the exercises and patterns used in this video. email me at haighchris@hotmail.com. Also see my website at https://bit.ly/3jrBLb7 for huge amounts of information about every branch of fiddle playing