I'm also always looking for new tunes and when I find them they go on the 'to learn list'. When I've run through those tunes a few times they're put on the 'learning list'. The other list I have is the 'repertoire list', these are the tunes I select when playing in a band or a session or for any other occasion I'm called to play a tune. I guess you gotta have a good reason to polish/finish tunes.

When I was in my first years of playing, I tried to learn as many tunes as I could, trying to catch up with all those fiddlers of my vintage who had started playing as kids (I was in my twenties). Forty years or so later, I only learn a new tune if I'm unable to resist it. Otherwise, as I mentioned on that other thread, I work on all those tunes I half-learned in a rush.

I usually pick tunes that have an - "I want to do that" - appeal.  I don't approach new tunes with a sense of immediacy or urgency. I'll include it with tunes I'm polishing - and I regularly play through the recordings of all of the tunes I have learned - for the purpose of continual polishing. So when a new tune comes up in that practice rotation - I start with just trying to hum the melody and play along with the recording I chose to learn from. I get a feel for playing along with the melody and discover "the issues". I'll spend time on "the issues" - but only for about 10 minutes. Then it's time to move on to the next tune. I'll get there - or I'll lose interest. But anything I pick up is going to serve me in the long run - whether I keep at it or set it down. Phrases have a way of popping up again in other tunes. 

Eventually, I'll get to where I play the tune all the way through. After that - it's time to really learn the tune. Every time I listen to the recording, It's not unusual to hear something I missed. Every time it comes up - I try to listen closer - for the details in the recording and how well I am playing along with the recording - at tempo.  

It seems to work - for me anyway. The only draw back i've had to deal with - is having to (literally) listen to about 2 seconds of a recording to remember how to start the tune. I seem to have handicapped myself a bit, but - mostly just the new tunes and only at sessions. Still... a little embarrassing at times. 

I’ve actually got a system for this, kind of!

In the morning I’ll spend 20-30 minutes just playing by myself. Mixing up tunes into sets together, trying to recall previous tunes, repeating favorite tunes…just playing. ( I seem to spend 80% of the time playing 20% of the tunes I know, but I have been reassured that’s normal and ok…)

Sometime later in the day or at night, I’ll spend 20-30 minutes learning new tunes or practicing techniques. This is generally by playing along with recordings - either on YouTube (cuz I can slow down the speed easily) or from tunes recorded at session. if I get stuck, I’ll go look up the sheet music somewhere…but playing things on repeat slowly, usually works.

I find both activities equally fun! :-)
I get restless if I go too long without a new tune…

I find my appetite for new fiddle tunes is unbounded; and that is a problem, because most of the time the sessions and people I play with don't know them and won't learn them.  I have to really be selective in adding new tunes, and prefer ones that can be picked up easily or that someone else already knows.  

At my age, I'm only learning new tunes, on the fly, at jams. Once in a while, I play tunes I know, that are almost  never played at jams, just to try and hold them in my head.

Daily sessions for me consist of running thru a few old tunes, ones that have particularly difficult sections a few times, working on new original tunes and lately practicing 3rd position licks and riffs, as that has been neglected for decades by me. I'm finding that if I keep in the back of my mind that the scale length are seriously shorter then 1st position, my intonation is pretty good! If I get lost in the moment however, that starts to drift and Ughh sounds pretty awful. When I'm feeling very ambitious, I'll listen to several versions of a tune, say Bill Cheatum, WBB or the like and pick out interesting variations and licks and bowing used by other fiddlers and try duplicating them.

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Originally posted by ndlxs

I find my appetite for new fiddle tunes is unbounded; and that is a problem, because most of the time the sessions and people I play with don't know them and won't learn them.  I have to really be selective in adding new tunes, and prefer ones that can be picked up easily or that someone else already knows.  

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I figured out a way for this! You just need to get one other player to agree to learn it too...then the two of you "debut" it at session and the backer picks it up then, figuring out the chords...and people will ask its name. THe next time it's the three of you starting (you, friend, backer) and maybe another person (an early adopter, LOL) will have gone and learned it, so that makes four. Once you hit four players, it often goes viral and everybody figures they better learn it :-)

* no luck with that tune in F-sharp minor though...so there are limits...

Well, in one session I do have an unusual key buddy: Hippodrome Reel, for example..in D and B flat! Also Batchelor's Reel in F; The New Land (waltz) in F....

I never have a plan of action when I pick up my fiddle, or when I play any other instrument, for that matter. Sure, lately when I grab the fiddle I assiduously devote a few minutes to play stuff that demands I either play up the neck or play in an oddball key, but that's about it.

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Originally posted by PlainTechApps

I always find myself chasing new tunes without finishing the ones I know. Do you set a rule - master X tunes before adding more? Or just go where it's fun? Curious how other fiddlers approach this.

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I don't think about a tune or song as ever really finished or mastered...

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Originally posted by Lonesome Fiddler

I never have a plan of action when I pick up my fiddle, or when I play any other instrument, for that matter. Sure, lately when I grab the fiddle I assiduously devote a few minutes to play stuff that demands I either play up the neck or play in an oddball key, but that's about it.

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Yep. But I don't even stretch my skills. Fiddle is just another layer on the looper, together with guitar, banjer, bass, maybe even squeezebox on the keyboard. 

I'm a total tune junkie, so the list of tunes I am supposedly learning is a mile long... one by one I am gradually picking them off by spending some intensive time over a week or more. But in the meantime I'm adding more tunes to the list-- and so it goes...

That sounds familiar, JonD! :-)

(Have you been to the “Tune Junkie” weekend in Tennessee? :-D

Once I’ve memorized a tune, I feel as though I’ve learned it. Not finished (the OP’s term), but rather really just beginning with it.

The longer I play, the fewer songs I seem to maintain - don’t know why, perhaps a lack of brainpower.

"Tune Junkie weekend in Tennessee?"

Just learned about it this year from a Michigan fiddler who teaches there (Hannah Harris), but wasn't able to go. I might consider it in future though, as Knoxville has to be warmer than iowa in February right?

Tionól in St Louis is closer to home & coming up in April.

What amazes me is the assumption that tunes are what we're working at.

What I'm missing are songs:. Kick offs, back up as related to the other instruments, the fiddle solo and endings.

To me, these points are crucial in becoming a better fiddler.

Besides, even in tunes, there is so much to know about what to do outside the solo...

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Originally posted by RB-1

What amazes me is the assumption that tunes are what we're working at.

What I'm missing are songs:. Kick offs, back up as related to the other instruments, the fiddle solo and endings.

To me, these points are crucial in becoming a better fiddler.

Besides, even in tunes, there is so much to know about what to do outside the solo...

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Most of the old-time fiddlers I've encountered just play tune melodies--no back up, no song melodies. Not really my thing but everyone's different and a lot of people like it.

It is a continuous playing of the tunes melody, but also a constant varying of the melody by using subtle ornamentation and especially rhythmic variation. It’s quite a lot of fun to play.

Why the assumption I want to play oldtime?

Over at the Banjo Hangout, nobody assumes I'm an oldtime player.

Playing just the melody is a big turn off to me. For example, how much I love Irish music on itself, it's playing practice is utterly boring to me. Oldtime playing, by the above description, sounds very similar to me.

Then, if it is all about oldtime, why isn't this the Oldtime Fiddle Hangout?

I can easily see other styles that deserve separate categories, like jazz, bluegrass, western swing, cajun and probably some more.

Why aren't there pleying advice sections for these more creative players?

Again, coming from the Banjo Hangout and being a beginning fiddler,, the lack of diversity over here is a bit strange, to my genuine amazement.

Speaking of tunes, some of my favorites would be: Gold Rush, Huckleberry Hornpipe, Maiden's Prayer, Road to Columbus, Rose of San Antonio, etc.

FHO has just always been mostly old-time players.

In my area there are OT jams that sometimes have up to 15 fiddlers, but at bluegrass jams you're lucky to have one. I think OT is more attractive to a fiddle player because they can play the whole time, whereas in a bluegrass jam you'll likely go longer stretches playing softer backup or not playing at all.

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Originally posted by RB-1

Why the assumption I want to play oldtime?

Over at the Banjo Hangout, nobody assumes I'm an oldtime player.

Playing just the melody is a big turn off to me. For example, how much I love Irish music on itself, it's playing practice is utterly boring to me. Oldtime playing, by the above description, sounds very similar to me.

Then, if it is all about oldtime, why isn't this the Oldtime Fiddle Hangout?

I can easily see other styles that deserve separate categories, like jazz, bluegrass, western swing, cajun and probably some more.

Why aren't there pleying advice sections for these more creative players?

Again, coming from the Banjo Hangout and being a beginning fiddler,, the lack of diversity over here is a bit strange, to my genuine amazement.

Speaking of tunes, some of my favorites would be: Gold Rush, Huckleberry Hornpipe, Maiden's Prayer, Road to Columbus, Rose of San Antonio, etc.

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It's simply that so many of the members here are into Old Time, so, naturally, that's what they talk about.  Nothing nefarious going on, as far as I know.  Ask the jazz and Cajun players why they aren't here, maybe ... ?  It kinda sounds like you're blaming the members here for talking about what interests them, and not talking about what doesn't particularly interest them .....

People who actually post tunes here are not typically O/T. They tend to play Irish ,Scottish, Cajun, Bluegrass, Breton, Original, Creative,...etc So i dont know why the site is considered to be "Old Time", Ive posted all sorts of stuff on here, from my best efforts at all sorts of genre's, and none of them have had negative responses..... It really is just a fiddle site. Where it gets the "Old Time" label from i don't know.

I've discussed jazz, Irish, Bluegrass, French Canadian, English, Scottish,....And even some "Old Time" stuff on here. All i had to do was ask a pertinent question and "Voila" i got real fiddlers answers.

I'm sure I've posted this a couple of times on this website, but I found myself playing Old Time Fiddle simply because I'd bought a fiddle on a whim and needed somebody to instruct me who was more inspiring than the dull-as-dishwater instructor at the generic music store where I bought the device. To the rescue was an ad by David Bragger in the local alternative newspaper. He didn't live that far away from me, and it didn't take long before I was learning a new OT tune a week from the guy. Still better, I was soon partying with Bragger's fellow OT students and jamming at the various OT sites around L.A. It didn't hurt that by violin standards they were easy to play!

I'm reminded of a y-tube video of a contest in Canada where fiddlers play in a circle, A part once, B part once; and the next fiddler plays but cannot repeat any tunes or change the format. It might come in real handy to know a few extra tunes.