Are you trying to play too fast?

If you listen to much fiddle music, you know that some tunes are played pretty fast--especially in the bluegrass and Irish traditions. If you are a beginner or intermediate player, you might be tempted to try to play at that same speed. This is natural, but it is almost always a big mistake; and you need to fight the temptation. If you don't, you'll soon make a habit of dropping notes and slurring your fingering, and the rhythm of the tune will just disappear. If this sounds like you, try this cure. Get a metronome and set it at a slow speed. Take a favorite tune and play it at that speed. If all the notes don't come out clean and rhythmically correct, slow the metronome down some more and try again. Once you find a pace where you can play the tune really well, force yourself to practice the tune at that speed for a few minutes each day for a week or so. Then try a few other tunes at that same pace. Once you can play maybe 4-6 tunes really well at this very slow speed, pick up the pace a little, but not much. The objective is to build speed slowly over time, and not lose the clean notes and solid rhythm that you found with the slow approach. If you can make yourself go through this process (think "no pain; no gain), you'll do your playing a real favor.