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I Want to Learn to Play the Violin. Any Suggestions on How to Buy a Violin and How to Teach Yourself Violin?
miss m asked:
I’d like to learn to play the violin as a hobby- I don’t want to pay someone to teach me yet, but I want to start studying it on my own. I wondered if I could get some advice on good self teaching books/ programs, and also get some advice on how to choose the right violin to buy. Any suggestions??? Thanks for any guidence you can give!
I’d like to learn to play the violin as a hobby- I don’t want to pay someone to teach me yet, but I want to start studying it on my own. I wondered if I could get some advice on good self teaching books/ programs, and also get some advice on how to choose the right violin to buy. Any suggestions??? Thanks for any guidence you can give!
Tags: Books Programs, How To Buy A Violin, Teaching Books, Learn Violin, Advice, Guidence
I used to play the violin, and trust me, it’s wayyyy better to have an instructor. Doing it yourself will pick up bad habits, and confuse you. If you really can’t get an instructor, i suggest getting a video, rather than a book to teach yourself. Good luck!
i’ve been playing the violin for 2 years, and believe me, it’s much harder than a recorder (which i brought about a month ago:)). you’ll need to be smarter than a genius to teach yourself how to play!!
if you want to play the violin just “as a hobby”, without anyone to teach you, here’s a list of reasons why you might want to consider a recorder:
-a violin, even the cheapest ones, cost hundreds, often thousands, of dollars
-you’ll need to practice almost everyday
-you NEED a teacher to teach you how to hold a violin properly and the basics
-you’ll need a teacher even if you just want to learn to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
-it’ll be months before you’ll learn to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” without squeaking
-it’ll be years before you’ll be able to do the vibrato (even with a teacher)
-lessons usually cost around $20/half hour
believe me, it’s HARD!!!
I agree with Kezia
I hate to tell you this, but it’s a deep and profound waste of time to try to teach yourself.
I’ve been playing the violin since I was four years old, and trust me, you need an instructor. There are all sorts of bad habits you can pick up, like not holding the bow right. For years I held my fingering hand the wrong way, and that’s only recently been remedied. And when you’re just starting out, most likely you’ll need to have stickers put on your violin so you know where to put your fingers to play in tune. You’ll need to have someone do that for you. And what about tuning your violin? I only learned how to do that last year, before that someone needed to do it for me.
If you’re bent on teaching yourself, though, then you can probably find a self-help book in your local library or music store. As for choosing the right violin, pretty much any violin store you go to should advise you in that matter.
Sorry I’m not more helpful but it’s kind of hard, as I don’t know where you live, so I can’t tell you any good stores or anything. I wish you luck, I love the playing the violin and I hope you will too.
I picked up the violin a few years ago, and as everyone has told you – you really do need a teacher. Even if it’s only a for a few lessons at the beginning – your intonation, fingering, and bow hold will be crucial to your success, and you don’t want to pick up bad habits if you ever want to play with a group. Get a teacher!
As for getting a violin, I strongly suggest renting one from a local shop for a few months first. Would you go buy a car if you had never driven one before? Of course not. You wouldn’t know what a good car sounds like, handles like, should drive like. Same with a violin – before you make the investment in a decent instrument, you want to know what you’re looking for.
Expect to pay upwards of $300 for a decent student instrument. Don’t skimp on it – a cheap instrument will often be poorly constructed out of cheap materials, go out of tune early and often, and have cheap steel strings. This will only hamper your progress and serve to frustrate you instead of inspire you. Get an instrument that won’t hold you back. Don’t buy one unless you can play it first, or, better yet, have someone who plays well play it for you so you know how good it can get. If there are no local stores, there are several online string shops that give you a free trial period with the instruments, and even rent. Here’s a good one – I got my violin from them, and I’m very happy with it.
Good luck!
I agree with everyone else. Get a teacher. You can even find a good high school player who will cost less. Make sure you get references. Call some local high school or college orchestra teachers for a list of possibilities. I have been playing for 18 years and play professionally. I still take lessons. every week. I have taught privately for 13 years and the most common complaint i have from older students is that learning violin is one of the most difficult things they have ever done. Practice regularly. Do everything your teacher says no matter how mundane, silly or irrelevant it seems. Don’t cut corners. trust me in the long run it will save you time and frustration.
You probably don’t want to spend a lot on an instrument right now but you don’t want to go super cheap either. I have found some surprisingly good instruments for under $300 at. Check them out. they have a try out policy so check into that before you order to get the details. They also offer trade in policies. Wherever you go make sure you are allowed to try out the instrument (or have someone else check it out) before you buy and find out how long you have to return it in case you’re unhappy. If they won’t let you do this don’t buy from them! I tell my students that buying an instrument is just like buying a car. So apply the same rules!
Good Luck!