Bluegrass fiddle player and teacher Brian Wicklund has a brand new website for fiddle players at FiddlePal.com. Brian is the author the best-selling fiddle books, The American Fiddle Method. He is also a member of the acoustic power trio, Brother Mule, and the founder of the on-line lesson site Bluegrass College.

The site in nicely laid out, featuring a lot of content, and promising even more to come in the future. Features include all the usual content one would expect from a musicians website, including Brian’s tour schedule, and a store with all his various recordings, books and DVDs for sale.

In addition, Brian has started a blog where he’ll be posting news and answering all your fiddle related questions. And the home page is sporting a free fiddle tune of the month feature. This month the tune is an intermediate version of Blackberry Blossom. The fiddle music for the tune is provided in standard notation via a downloadable PDF.

The site also promises the imminent availability of free lessons for both fiddle and mandolin. The lessons are scheduled for publication on the site in May (mandolin) and June (fiddle). These lessons will be designed to get you started from scratch and prepare you for further instruction.

If you’re a fiddle player, FiddlePal.com just may become one of your best friends.

UKBluegrass.com recently posted an interview with fiddle player, and instructor, Brian Wicklund. The interview centers around the instructional website BluegrassCollege.org. Brian was one of the founders of the site and continues to teach fiddle lessons online as one of the site’s main instructors.

We’ve told you about BluegrassCollege.org before, but for those who are new here, let me explain. The site offers online instruction on all the major bluegrass instruments, including: fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, dobro, and bass.

Each lesson includes notes and tips along with tab/notation in pdf format, the lesson in video (Quicktime) format at more than one skill level, and mp3 files of practice tracks at varying tempos.

If you want to know more, read the interview over at UKBluegrass.com and then visit BluegrassCollege.org.

Last year the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival held it’s first annual instructional camp for the three days prior to the festival. The camp was successful and they have organized it again this year. The camp and the festival are both held at the Grand Targhee Resort located within the Caribou/Targhee National Forest in Wyoming.

Having lived in Wyoming for three years I can attest to the beauty and splendor of the setting for this event.

The camp is scheduled for August 7-10, 2007 and boasts an impressive line up of instructors.

• Ben Winship - Mandolin & Camp Director
• Mike Marshall - Mandolin
• Scott Nygaard - Guitar
• Tony Trischka - Banjo
• Brian Wicklund - Fiddle
• Eric Thorin - Bass
• John Lowell - Songwriting

Using bluegrass music as the common language, the camp focus is on teaching individual instrumental skills, group playing and jamming. Each day features morning and afternoon classes on your chosen instrument, elective workshops, jam sessions (both structured and unstructured) and evening performances making this Targhee Institute event extraordinary.

Registration for the camp includes 3 days of meals and lodging. Registration fees range from $700 to just over $900 depending on your willingness to share a room with another student.

For information about the festival and the camp, visit them online at the Grand Targhee Resort website.

Online instructional resource The Bluegrass College, has undergone a complete website revamp. Based on feedback from it’s ever-growing numbers of subscribers, the site owners have made changes intended to increase the site usability and ease of use.

Site navigation is now easier to use with large icons providing clear direction to different areas of the site.

Additionally, the hosts have added a monthly subscription option of $8.95 and the ability to buy gift memberships. Tweaks to the video, audio and tab have made them even easier to use.

The Lesson Library is updated each month with a new tune performed and taught by different bluegrass masters. January’s tune of the month is the Stanley classic, Clinch Mountain Backstep. The instructors for the tune are the members of the Infamous String Dusters with Travis Book (bass, vocal), Jesse Cobb (mandolin), Chris ‘Critter’ Eldridge (guitar), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle, vocal), Andy Hall (dobro, vocal) and Chris Pandolfi (banjo).

If you are intersted in an online learning opportunity then I encourage you to check out The Bluegrass College.

Brian Wicklund, one of the founders and instructors of the site, sent along a few quotes from students who recently joined the site.

This is just what I need to get to the next level. – mandolin student

It is REALLY helpful for those of us who are learning. I’ve been playing the dobro for about a year and a half and the learning process for these songs is really helping me put things together (and make some sense of this instrument). –dobro student

This is great!!! I’ve been playing banjo for 3 years now and there are no teachers where i live! This has been by far the most help i’ve gotten since i started. Thank you so much! –banjo student

We”ve previously told you about a new online instructional resource, The Bluegrass College. (here and here)

Two of the sites founders, Brian Wicklund and Ian Nicholls, recently wrote us to give us some background information on the site and how it got started. It”s an interesting story. I”ll let them tell it in their own words. (more…)