Camp Bluegrass Pride 2026
- Resources
Bow Wrangling
BIll Monroe claimed to have written this (along with many other tunes from his sideplayers) but it’s generally acknowledged to be a Kenny Baker tune. Here’s a YouTube link for Kenny’s solo album recording.
We did a streamlined version in the Bow Wrangling class to avoid getting bogged down in double stops, ornamentation, etc. Here’s my notation of the version I typically teach when folks are studying Texas style fiddling more generally:
Playing in Weird Keys
Remember you can apply this process to any music you want. I gave you these “baby songs” because the point is not to be distracted by trying to remember what the tune even is. Songs with no accidentals (in other words, songs where all the notes are in the regular scale) are especially easy to hear when you’re building proficiency in a target key.
That said, you can absolutely use fiddle tunes or pop songs or whatever else you want. Writing it down in scale degrees, as I’ve done for these simple tunes, might help you build useful associations between what your ear already knows, the music theory terminology that describes the underlying structure, and the feeling of the key in your fretting/fingering hand.
Slow Jam
This is my ongoing project of songs that work well for novice-friendly jams. You will see that it contains many more genres than just bluegrass. I keep it on Google Drive so that anyone I share with has access to any updates I make over time. Feel free to print as many copies as you like.
Do let me know if you find any typos… or have any suggestions for tunes to add! You can reach me anytime at hello at kat bula dot com.
Other Stuff:
Quail Book of Fiddle Tunes
This is the tune book I do most of my private fiddle teaching out of. I also makeit available for free (or pay-what-feels-good) to anyone else who might want it.
Parallel Playtime
Two or three times a week, I host free Zoom parallel playdates for anyone who wants to come.
Practice your instrument, write a song, edit your memoir, whittle a ladle, do some yoga, pull some tarot cards—whatever your practice is that could use some body doubling support.
I give a prompt at the beginning which you can use to focus your practice, or totally ignore if you don’t need it. We’re all muted, and your camera can be on or off. I’m an introverted ADHDer and I designed this keeping in mind that you might be one also!
Kat Bula & the Illusion of Control
My most recent record features art by Grace van’t Hof, vocals by McKain Lakey, performances from other folks who weren’t at camp but whom you might know from other bluegrass things (e.g. Missy Raines, Tristan Scroggins)…
…and lots of other people and sounds that aren’t even a little bit bluegrass.
But then, you don’t get all binary when it comes to bluegrass purism, do you?
You can listen to the whole album right here on this page. You can also click the word “buy” below the cover art if you’d like to add it to your Bandcamp collection. Or if you’ve got the right technology, you can even…