If you've wanted to learn to play the violin, I have quizzed a friend of mine who teaches the violin and have included suggestions and tips for playing the violin. Whether you decide to rent or buy a violin, most music shops and even places like Ebay you should be able to pick up a decent violin. They can vary in sizes ranging from an eighth, quarter, half, three-quarters, and full size. The larger you buy the more expensive they tend to get.

Holding the Violin and Bow

The Bow, generally made from horse hair and a light wood, is more commonly than not held in the right hand with the thumb bent underneath the handle/base to support it with the other fingers loosely gripping the wood at the base of the bow. The violin is held with the left hand, with the chin on the chin rest and the fingers loosely coiled around the neck of the violin. The thumb of the left hand should be relaxed but strong. Standing correctly when playing the violin is important not only for presentation but also your back. The left elbow should be curved under the violin and the violin should be roughly horizontal and the right arm held higher than the left. There are 2 methods of playing the violin, bowed (legato) and pizzicato (short, crisp, light plucks).

Bowed

Correct technique of bowing is to draw the bow smoothly across the strings approximately halfway between the fingerboard (neck) and the bridge (the elevated piece of wood on the body that holds the strings). Strong pulses or beats are generally played with a downward motion of the bow pulling across the string from left to right. Upward motion of the bow goes right to left across the string and is used on weaker beats and upbeats. Slurs in music tell the player that all the notes in the slur are to be played in the same bow movement. "Arco" is the term used to indicate bowed music. To play loudly, you press the bow harder on the string or use a quicker motion and to play quieter you use less pressure or draw the bow across the string slower.

Pizzicato

Pizzicato, or often written as pizz., is light, short, crisp playing. The index finger of the right hand is used to pull the string quickly upwards and across. For faster passages, the bow can be held while playing pizzicato, still using the index finger. Sometimes, a small cross above the music shows where the fingers of the left hand pluck the strings.

Playing notes

On a full size violin, the tones are roughly two centimeters apart. There are no frets on violins so good quality practice is needed to help create and learn tuning. It is highly recommended to have piano/keyboard when practicing.

The strings are notes G, A, D and E and when fingers press down hard on the open string it is shortened thus creating a higher pitch. The standard intervals taught to beginners are tone, tone, semitone, tone (G-A-B-C-D D-E-F#-G-A A-B-C#-D-E E-F#-G#-A-B).

The First Position is where the first finger plays up to a tone above the open string. The next position usually is third position, where the first finger plays the note a perfect fourth above the open string. (A perfect fourth is 4 complete tones so tone D on string A. All positions from first up to anywhere around tenth can be played on a string. Most sizes of violins allow the player to play 2 octaves per string.