One-finger fiddle chords

Covers a lot of the most-needed chords for backup!

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Did you know you can play backup chords to most fiddle tunes just using open strings or one finger?

Chords are built using three notes — the 1st, 3d, and 5th notes of the scale. On the fiddle, we can cover two of these three notes with a doublestop (notes on two strings played together). A doublestop can function as any full chord would for backup. Using only 2 of the 3 notes allows some leeway in which notes we play, and also allows for some ambiguity, because two notes can be part of more than one chord. For example, a C chord is C, E, and G. If we use two of those notes, C and E, they could suggest a C chord but also an A minor chord, which uses A, C, and E. If you play E & G, it could suggest either a C chord (C,E,G) or an E minor chord (E,G,B). Some musicians “fiddle around” with these ambiguities and develop interesting harmonies.

Note that if you have a Finger Finder, you can look up any scale/key and find the first note of the scale (in dark blue) and the 3d and 5th notes of the scale (in yellow). Combining any two of these will give you a doublestop you can use as a fiddle chord.

Most of the chords that fiddlers need can be played just using open strings and 1st finger notes. Below, we’ll chart them out.

Sometimes we use the other combinations, of course. For the D chord (D, F#, A, or 0,2,0 in finger numbers) the easiest doublestop is the two open strings, D & A. But we could also choose the D & F# notes, using the 2d finger on the D string with 3d on the A string. To play F# and A, we could use the open A string with 2d finger on the D (keeping the open A string clear), or instead of open A, we could use the 1st finger on the G, which is another A note.

When you can think in patterns instead of relying on named notes, you can also easily transfer fingering patterns to a different pair of strings to play chords in a different key. The options below are for the key of D, but moving the same patterns one string higher gives you chords in the key of A, and one string lower the key of G.

I, IV, V chords

Many tunes in the major key use the I, IV, and V chords, usually starting and ending a tune with the chord built on the “I”, which is the key of the tune (D chord in the key of D); one chord built on the “IV”, or fourth note of the scale (G in the key of D); and the third chord built on the “V”, or fifth note of the scale (A in the key of D).

Since we’re limiting ourselves to doublestops, or two of the the three chord notes at a time, here are some ways to play the I, IV, and V chords in the key of D just using open strings and 1 finger on the D & A strings:

Key of D — I, IV, V chords

     I chord (D) = 0-0, open D and open A (first and fifth notes of the D scale)
  IV chord (G) = 0-1, open D with 1st finger on A (D and B, the third and fifth notes of the G scale)
    V chord (A) = 1-0, 1st finger on D with open A string (E and A, the first and fifth notes of the A scale) 

You can transfer this same pattern one string lower onto the G & D strings to get the I, IV, and V chords in the key of G. Or one string higher, on the A & E strings, to get I, IV, and V chords in the key of A.

Being able to play I, IV, V in the keys of G, D, and A covers a tremendous amount of ground when talking about fiddle tunes.

And we haven’t even begun to discuss minor keys or double-tonic tunes such as the many Celtic and American folk tunes which play the key chord and the one below (equivalent to I and VII), and many of those patterns can also be done with no more than one finger too!

One-finger chords on the D & A strings

    0-0 = D & A — D or D minor chord
    1-0 = E & A — A or A minor chord
    0-1 = D & B — G or B minor chord
    1-1 = E & B — E or E minor chord

Moving these patterns down a string to the G & D strings gets you G, Gm, D, Dm, C, Em, A, Am.

Moving them up a string A & E strings gets you A, Am, E, Em, D, F#m, B, Bm.

That’s a lot of chords just with one finger!

Which chords to choose

You do have to train your ears to get a sense of which chords to use, but limiting them to I, IV, and V can be a big help, and in some tunes, just I and VII. Below is a pretty common pattern of chords for a fiddle tune that uses I, IV, V chords — there are usually four strong beats in each phrase, and four phrases per part. Here’s a typical pattern using one chord per beat:

    Phrase 1:  I  I  IV  IV
    Phrase 2:  I  I  V  V (2d phrases often end on V)
    Phrase 3:  repeat Phrase 1
    Ending phrase:  V  V  I  I (ending phrases usually end on I)

You may have some written music at home or online with chords written in, so you can experiment with using the doublestops above to work with a tune. If you use fiddle-online, all tunes have audio by phrase and by whole tune, so you can experiment as you listen, to train your ears on how best to find the chords that work. It’s especially helpful to use the self-repeating audio by phrase (orange buttons on the interactive sheet music) so that you can work with a manageable amount of music and get a good feel for the best chords that fit.

The most important thing for backup chords

When playing backup chords, remember that the most important thing you can do is to keep in time with the beats. This is far more important that getting the right chords!

Experiment and enjoy!

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Your comments are always welcome!