Or y'all could record yourselves and show each other your, ahem, stuff privately on youtube, which has that capability. It's a great way to trade videos back and forth with the rest of the world being none the wiser.
What you choose to show each other as mature, consenting adults from the privacy of your own homes is your business . . .
But kidding aside, recording yourself and watching/listening to the results is a great learning tool, albeit an often uncomfortable one - have you ever recorded your voice and thought, "Wow, I sound a LOT better than I thought!"? Smiles - me either. But if you can get past the initial feeling of wanting to sell all your instruments and hide in the closet in a fetal position, you can learn a wealth of things from the experience.
The main thing is not to get discouraged, and realize you have time and that you're learning, and that the process itself can be as fun as you want to make it.
Thanks for your advice and ideas.
The thing is- I've been using my pinky too much!
when I said reserving my pinky, I'm trying to use my index and ring fingers for most octaves- the meat of the tune, especially on the low end then hammering on with the pinky when I want to make the tune squeal/scream or whatever best describes it. So the pinky is left sticking out much like we english drink tea- well not sticking right out cus fingers need to be close to buttons but kind out suspended till the right moment when the hand splays and it comes in like a killer sting. I've noticed Big Nick and Jim Pettijohn doing this if I'm not mistaken. Jim does it to brilliant effect in that waltz he posted on the vintage german box he restored.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
