Hello guys,
Just wanted to see if there are people here who can play the violin. I have always been in love with Cellos and Violins in particular, and I recently decided, to boost my relative and current lack of motivation to actually "play" the guitar, to buy a cheap violin (a Stagg... but it's actually not as bad as a Stagg guitar compared to "real" violins, you can have decent starter violins for something like 100 bucks), bought good strings (yeah forgot to mention strings are worth 30 or 40 dollars themselves and you just cannot keep the original strings that don't even resist the normal tension of the E string!!), read a lot and watched many youtube videos, and I am surprised that after a few hours only you can play a few (easy) things without sounding sooo bad. The guitar experience is a major, major help since it already built up my relative hearing to be able to notice when I am out of tune (relatively to the open notes) and correct it, or simply because of the physical memory which surprisingly makes you able to play the notes in the 1st position correctly with no fret, nor needing to look at your hand.
The thing I am struggling to understand though is how to do the different vibratos. These are classical string-instrument vibratos which are different to the electric guitar one, and based on the lateral movement of the finger on the flat fretboard and the string. It's the same as the classical guitar vibrato which I do fine, and on a Cello it's quite okay because it's mainly about pressing the finger towards your body and moving the hand around that point pressing the fretboard which is blocked by your own body anyway, but because in violin you have to hold the instrument with your left hand, you absolutely cannot do a vibrato with the same strength as in the guitar with your thumb, because that makes the body vibrate with your hand and fall from your shoulder, or it makes the strings vibrate against the bow which sounds scratchy and unwanted. I'm still fighting to find the loose feeling and position of those violin vibratos. There are exercises for that but it feels like very forced to actually do the movements they show for an actual vibrato. I know it's something that normally violin teachers show you only after a few years but I just cannot stick to playing flat boring notes and I'm sure it's just a habit to take. Once you can do a clean note with an expressive vibrato, half of the game is done !
Other than that it's actually do-able to play relatively easy melodies eventhough it wouldn't sound flattering right away, I'm sure after months or a few years of training you can memorize all the correct intervals on the fretboard and play many many cool things. The good thing with this instrument is that you mostly play melodies, and with only 4 strings tuned in 5th, it's easier to navigate. The lack of frets sounds more of a problem only in the high notes actually because in the 1st or 2 position the spaces feel kinda natural between your fingers. Like half a step is exactly the space between two of my fingers in most positions. For the moment I often miss a direct note by 1/10 of a step or sometimes more but it's nice to see you can be not too un-acurate after only 2 or 3 hours of random playing. I can play Twinkle Twinkle almost perfectly in terms of tuning sometimes. I also feel that it's a lot about confidence and if you hit the bow firmly and confidently on the strings while being very relax, and move the left hand like you would play some semi-shred guitar parts, it's easier to create the clean note. Of course the difficulty goes exponential with the speed and complexity of a piece but I now get why and how violin players can play those things on a fretless board.
My goal would be to be able to play cool folk songs, be able to find quickly any melody on the fretboard , and why not play some classics like the Albinoni Adagio etc.
So any violin player here to share some thoughts or give advices ? Cool songs to learn, tips, frustration stories ?
Just wanted to see if there are people here who can play the violin. I have always been in love with Cellos and Violins in particular, and I recently decided, to boost my relative and current lack of motivation to actually "play" the guitar, to buy a cheap violin (a Stagg... but it's actually not as bad as a Stagg guitar compared to "real" violins, you can have decent starter violins for something like 100 bucks), bought good strings (yeah forgot to mention strings are worth 30 or 40 dollars themselves and you just cannot keep the original strings that don't even resist the normal tension of the E string!!), read a lot and watched many youtube videos, and I am surprised that after a few hours only you can play a few (easy) things without sounding sooo bad. The guitar experience is a major, major help since it already built up my relative hearing to be able to notice when I am out of tune (relatively to the open notes) and correct it, or simply because of the physical memory which surprisingly makes you able to play the notes in the 1st position correctly with no fret, nor needing to look at your hand.
The thing I am struggling to understand though is how to do the different vibratos. These are classical string-instrument vibratos which are different to the electric guitar one, and based on the lateral movement of the finger on the flat fretboard and the string. It's the same as the classical guitar vibrato which I do fine, and on a Cello it's quite okay because it's mainly about pressing the finger towards your body and moving the hand around that point pressing the fretboard which is blocked by your own body anyway, but because in violin you have to hold the instrument with your left hand, you absolutely cannot do a vibrato with the same strength as in the guitar with your thumb, because that makes the body vibrate with your hand and fall from your shoulder, or it makes the strings vibrate against the bow which sounds scratchy and unwanted. I'm still fighting to find the loose feeling and position of those violin vibratos. There are exercises for that but it feels like very forced to actually do the movements they show for an actual vibrato. I know it's something that normally violin teachers show you only after a few years but I just cannot stick to playing flat boring notes and I'm sure it's just a habit to take. Once you can do a clean note with an expressive vibrato, half of the game is done !
Other than that it's actually do-able to play relatively easy melodies eventhough it wouldn't sound flattering right away, I'm sure after months or a few years of training you can memorize all the correct intervals on the fretboard and play many many cool things. The good thing with this instrument is that you mostly play melodies, and with only 4 strings tuned in 5th, it's easier to navigate. The lack of frets sounds more of a problem only in the high notes actually because in the 1st or 2 position the spaces feel kinda natural between your fingers. Like half a step is exactly the space between two of my fingers in most positions. For the moment I often miss a direct note by 1/10 of a step or sometimes more but it's nice to see you can be not too un-acurate after only 2 or 3 hours of random playing. I can play Twinkle Twinkle almost perfectly in terms of tuning sometimes. I also feel that it's a lot about confidence and if you hit the bow firmly and confidently on the strings while being very relax, and move the left hand like you would play some semi-shred guitar parts, it's easier to create the clean note. Of course the difficulty goes exponential with the speed and complexity of a piece but I now get why and how violin players can play those things on a fretless board.
My goal would be to be able to play cool folk songs, be able to find quickly any melody on the fretboard , and why not play some classics like the Albinoni Adagio etc.
So any violin player here to share some thoughts or give advices ? Cool songs to learn, tips, frustration stories ?
). I'll edit this to a proper reply later, but all I would say is that if there's ever an instrument where a teacher is worth paying for, it's the violin. Having the right technique is critical for long term progress and it's very tricky to get right without someone watching you and identifying problems.
)
