Casey Driessen (born 1978) is the fiddler who made the chop a language. He plays a five-string fiddle and has spent more than 25 years turning the percussive bow stroke into grooves, loops, and a written notation system. He earned a Grammy nomination in 2007 for his version of Jerusalem Ridge, toured with Béla Fleck, Steve Earle, and Tim O’Brien, and co-wrote the Chop Notation Project in 2019.
Why Driessen matters
Bluegrass fiddlers used to rest during the vocal or play long backup notes. The chop gave them a way to keep time like a mandolin. Driessen took that idea further than anyone. He stacks chops into full drum patterns, plays melody and rhythm at once, and loops the results live on stage. His free notation guide means a string teacher in any country can now write a chop groove on a page.
Life and career
Driessen was born on December 6, 1978, in Owatonna, Minnesota, and went to high school in Flossmoor, Illinois. He studied at Berklee College of Music in the strings program under Matt Glaser.
After Berklee he worked as a sideman across the acoustic scene. He played with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Steve Earle, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Lee Ann Womack, and Chris Thile. In November 2006 he toured China and Tibet with the Sparrow Quartet, the group with Fleck, Washburn, and cellist Ben Sollee. He also played on the Walk the Line soundtrack.
His first solo album, 3D, came out on Sugar Hill in 2006. His track Jerusalem Ridge earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 2007. Oog followed on Red Shoe Records in 2009, and The Singularity, a one-man live looping record, came out in 2013. Homespun released Chops and Grooves, an instructional DVD he made with Darol Anger and cellist Rushad Eggleston.
In 2015 Driessen moved to Spain to direct the master’s program in contemporary performance at Berklee’s Valencia campus, a job he held until 2019. In August 2019 he and Spanish violinist Oriol Saña published the Chop Notation Project, a free 40-page guide. In 2020 he traveled through Spain, Ireland, Scotland, India, Japan, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, and Czechia recording with local fiddlers for Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration, a video series and album. Otherlands:ONE came out on Red Shoe Records on April 23, 2021. He returned to Asheville, North Carolina, and launched the Blue Ridge Fiddle Camp at Brevard Music Center in fall 2024.
Playing style
Driessen plays five-string fiddles, acoustic and electric, with a low C string below the standard G. The extra string lets him play viola-range harmony and bass lines under his own melody. His signature is the chop, a percussive stroke where the bow lands on the strings near the frog with a snap and no sustained pitch. He plays single, double, and triple chops.
On stage he builds tunes with a loop pedal. He records a chop groove, layers a bass line on the low string, adds a harmony, and then plays the melody on top. The result sounds like a string band from one player. In a traditional band setting he uses the same chops as backup, the way a mandolin player does. His melody playing keeps a bluegrass edge, with clean double stops and a strong downbeat.
Influences and legacy
The chop’s history runs from Richard Greene, who pioneered it, through Darol Anger, who expanded it in the Turtle Island String Quartet, to Driessen. The Chop Notation Project includes first-hand accounts from all three generations. Matt Glaser at Berklee shaped his approach to improvising.
His notation guide, free in three clefs and two languages, gives string teachers a way to write the technique down. Players like Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge work the same seam between contest and bluegrass fiddling and rhythmic string band music.
Signature tunes and songs
Jerusalem Ridge Kouon Frouva/Orpolasten Polska Aye Nagari.
Essential recordings
3D (Sugar Hill, 2006) Oog (Red Shoe Records, 2009) The Singularity (2013) Otherlands:ONE (Red Shoe Records, 2021)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, Best Country Instrumental Performance, Jerusalem Ridge (2007)
Watch and listen
Driessen demonstrates his triple chop in slow motion. Watch where the bow lands and how the wrist snaps.
Driessen teaches the basic chop in the first of his techniques and skills videos.
What to learn from Driessen
Learn the single chop first, from his free notation guide and the video above. Land the bow near the frog with a quick drop, let it bounce, and mute the string with your left hand so there is no pitch. Practice it on beats two and four under a jam tune until it locks with the mandolin. The technique to steal is chopping through a whole song as backup. Most fiddlers stop chopping when the banjo takes a break. Keep going. The band will feel the extra drive.
Sources
Casey Driessen, Wikipedia Casey Driessen official site The Chop Notation Project, caseydriessen.com Casey Driessen, Berklee Valencia faculty Casey Driessen, Grammy Awards The Chop Notation Project from Casey Driessen, Bluegrass Today Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration from Casey Driessen, Bluegrass Today Casey Driessen to Berklee’s Valencia Campus, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more players who stretch the instrument. Darol Anger is the chop’s second generation and Driessen’s DVD partner. Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge bring the same rhythmic approach to string bands. For the bluegrass fiddle tradition he builds on, start with Kenny Baker.