Hellooooooooo Fiddlers!
 
This week's lesson features the great, the wonderful, the legendary, Benny Thomasson! This lesson is the advanced follow-up to the Cripple Creek lesson I posted a while back. I've transcribed a solo from Benny Thomasson's playing on the "Weiser Reunion" album, a live recording of him jamming with his son Jerry Thomasson back in the 70's. My brother and I listen to this album every year as we drive into Weiser, Idaho to compete in the National Old Time Fiddlers Contest. Benny is the first true Texas style fiddler I ever listened to and for me his playing continues to be the most iconic representation of the style. The arrangement I teach in this lessonn is made up of selections from his performance. In this lesson you also get backup track videos and audio-only tracks for those of you who want to put it on your iPod or use the Amazing Slow Downer.
 
Texas style fiddling is all about controlled improvisation, so every time Benny plays a section he actually does it a little differently than he did before. Another cool part about Texas fiddling is that over time these variations take on a life of their own and become a whole new section. So although Cripple Creek is normally a 2 part tune, Benny turns it into a 3 part tune! This lesson is super long (45 minutes! Yowza!) so I broke it up into 2 Parts so that you don't have to process too much at once. Part 1 comes today and Part 2 will come in a few days.