How difficult is it to learn the violin?
- Thread starter Musicular
- Start date
teddy
Duckmeister
This depends on age, fitness, musical ability, teaching (will you have a tutor or be self taught) etc etc. Do you have access to a violin? Can you borrow or hire one to see if you like the instrument.? Do you have any experience in playing any other instrument? Shall I go on? In my opinion it is harder to play than a guitar because there are no frets to guide your finger placement, but that is just my opinion. There are some very good teachers of all sorts of instruments here who can give you better guidance than me.
teddy
teddy
Hi Musicular,
Welcome to the forum :wave:
I would strongly suggest that you not try to learn on your own, especially if you are wanting to play Vivaldi, and/or try to master the instrument.
How long it takes depends on how much effort you are willing to dedicate to learning a new instrument. First thing is to secure a teacher/tutor, find a rental instrument, then practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. And then when you think you are done, practice some more.
It takes many many years to hone fine talent on any instrument ... I've been a professional church organist/recitalist for 52 years and still have to practice every week, so that will give you an idea on how "committed" I am towards my instrument of choice, the classical pipe organ.
Kh ♫
Welcome to the forum :wave:
I would strongly suggest that you not try to learn on your own, especially if you are wanting to play Vivaldi, and/or try to master the instrument.
How long it takes depends on how much effort you are willing to dedicate to learning a new instrument. First thing is to secure a teacher/tutor, find a rental instrument, then practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. And then when you think you are done, practice some more.
It takes many many years to hone fine talent on any instrument ... I've been a professional church organist/recitalist for 52 years and still have to practice every week, so that will give you an idea on how "committed" I am towards my instrument of choice, the classical pipe organ.
Kh ♫
John Watt
Member
Yeah, yeah, say it's harder to play than a guitar because it has no frets.
I can say that. It's harder to play because it has no frets.
Yeah, I was saying that to myself in 1969 after I gave up on violin and bought a guitar.
It was trying to tune it, keep it in tune, fire up the bow and make a nice sound,
keeping it under my chin, even trying my shoulder, and finding the same note twice in a row,
that made me sell my expensive, old violin to my brother.
After he tried he painted it white and hung it on the wall.
You might think trying to find the same note twice on a violin sounds like a fret solving dilemma,
but it's not. There's acoustics involved.
However, if you were a violinist in a past life it should be easy.
That's what Mozart would say.
I say, look at my John Alexander Watt avatar in Facebook, a photo of Nicolo Paganini.
The frustration just keeps getting more symphonic as I grow older.
I can say that. It's harder to play because it has no frets.
Yeah, I was saying that to myself in 1969 after I gave up on violin and bought a guitar.
It was trying to tune it, keep it in tune, fire up the bow and make a nice sound,
keeping it under my chin, even trying my shoulder, and finding the same note twice in a row,
that made me sell my expensive, old violin to my brother.
After he tried he painted it white and hung it on the wall.
You might think trying to find the same note twice on a violin sounds like a fret solving dilemma,
but it's not. There's acoustics involved.
However, if you were a violinist in a past life it should be easy.
That's what Mozart would say.
I say, look at my John Alexander Watt avatar in Facebook, a photo of Nicolo Paganini.
The frustration just keeps getting more symphonic as I grow older.
Last edited:
Katanagatari
New member
It depends on whether or not you've played any other string instruments before. Transitioning from, say, viola to violin is much easier than piano to violin... it's a lot to learn.
imlou
New member
It depends....
It really depends on your previous musical experience, and how much time you stick into it.
The main thing is just to start, and stick with it - if you practice everyday you'll get better and better, you just have to get out there and do it!
There are great resources, and I'd suggest the Suzuki method - taught by many people including this nice lady here - I've checked her out, she's actually really good on the old fiddle.
It really depends on your previous musical experience, and how much time you stick into it.
The main thing is just to start, and stick with it - if you practice everyday you'll get better and better, you just have to get out there and do it!
There are great resources, and I'd suggest the Suzuki method - taught by many people including this nice lady here - I've checked her out, she's actually really good on the old fiddle.