Fiddle GAS?

[knockwood]

So out of the blue I receive this catalog: "The String Centre."

 

Violins and Violas and Cellos - Oh, my!

 

And I catch myself browsing, thinkin' the price of a beginner violin isn't so terribly steep...

 

I need some new form of left-field GAS like a hole in the head... Then again, I could use a good hole in the head.

[brahmz118]

I wanted to try violin, so a friend of mine offered to keep his in my office. As I tried to play it I discovered that I'm right-necked. That is, I feel more comfortable holding something between the right side of my face / chin and my right shoulder. On the left side it feels awkward and painful. So my fiddle GAS went away.

 

That's my current excuse, at least. (Cello's another story -- what a beautiful instrument.)

[kwakatak]

My dad was a fiddle player but after he died my mom sold his violin. She's kicking herself over that now and I suppose I'd like to try it out someday, but I'm happy with the guitar.

 

Besides, back when I was a kid taking lessons there was another kid in the next booth learning to play the fiddle. The noises those things can make when you don't know what you're doing can be horrendous. I guess I'm saying I just don't see the allure.

[Cripes]

Always liked that instrument. Got my kid started on lessons some years back and now he can play pretty well. Got him a mando (same tuning) and he just started picking out melodies as if it was old hat. Of course, he sight reads standard notation so there wasn't much brain involved.

 

As a kid I implored my Mom to let me take lessons but she just laughed. Guess she thought I'd try and take it apart or something.

[VengefulTikiGod]

Hey Knockwood,

 

Expect to get nowhere fast on the fiddle without investing in lessons, that's a guarantee... I've been trying to learn it on my own, and I'm doing a pretty poor job of it. There's just so many variables involved between posture, bowing, intonation, vibrato, articulation, etc, that you really need a teacher to help keep it all straight and teach you good technical habits, even if you already have experience playing guitar like I did. Violin strings don't behave anywhere as well as guitar strings!

 

So be sure to factor lessons into your GAS budget!

[Pascal]

Hey Knockwood, Expect to get nowhere fast on the fiddle without investing in lessons, that's a guarantee... I've been trying to learn it on my own, and I'm doing a pretty poor job of it. There's just so many variables involved between posture, bowing, intonation, vibrato, articulation, etc, that you really need a teacher to help keep it all straight and teach you good technical habits, even if you already have experience playing guitar like I did. Violin strings don't behave anywhere as well as guitar strings!

 

+1

 

[Queequeg]

When I was in my 20s I bought an old fiddle and I took lessons from a retired member of the Cleveland Orchestra.

He never killed me, although I'm sure he wanted to.

I hung a For Sale sign on the fiddle a few years later.

[whit townsend]

Beware the cheapest Chinese Fiddle Shaped Objects. Get something beyond the cheapest on eBay that comes set up well and get a decent bow(expect to pay as much for the bow as the fiddle).

Then, get a teacher. Best if he plays the style you wanna learn, classical, bluegrass, old time, celtic, etc. If not a classical teacher can get you started off at least w/bow hold and proper posture, basic scales, etc.

The hard part is not the lack of frets. Anybody w/a decent ear can get used to the neck pretty quickly, altho you gotta play regularly to keep you intonation up.

The hard part is mastering the bow.

[knockwood]

 

Hey Knockwood, Expect to get nowhere fast on the fiddle without investing in lessons, that's a guarantee... I've been trying to learn it on my own, and I'm doing a pretty poor job of it. There's just so many variables involved between posture, bowing, intonation, vibrato, articulation, etc, that you really need a teacher to help keep it all straight and teach you good technical habits, even if you already have experience playing guitar like I did. Violin strings don't behave anywhere as well as guitar strings! So be sure to factor lessons into your GAS budget!

 

 

 

Good point. I've heard violin is perhaps the toughest instrument to learn. I don't really see myself sticking with lessons for violin only (if I take it up at all), but if I can locate a renaissance man - or woman - who can work guitar/mando/violin lessons into a revolving curriculum, that might be fun... if slow...

[guitarist21]

I was in orchestras all through elementary, middle, and high school. By the end of high school I was lucky enough to have my orchestra teacher trust me enough to try out all the other instruments and I ended up playing them in various orchestra recitals my senior year.

 

The hardest to learn was viola. I started on the bass so that was pretty easy. Violin was okay because I learned it after I learned mandolin (same tuning) but viola and cello were hard to adjust to. Cello was by far the most fun to learn. And it wasn't long before I was a decent cellist because I had the bow hold down after playing the bass for so long.

 

Bass, though, has been the most useful. I don't own an upright but I get asked to do studio stuff on upright bass more than anything else. (I usually borrow my friend's upright. She's real good about my using it.) Not a lot of upright bass players around I guess.

 

And you think you have GAS for a beginner violin! I was lucky enough to play the first chair violinist's beautiful handmade and ridiculously expensive violin. It was amazing! I'm an amatuer violinist at best but I could feel the difference. It played beautifully and resonated fully. Violinists are really serious about their violins and the different woods and stuff. They're worse than we are.

 

Ellen

[iteleu]

I love the fiddle.I can play some mandolin..I just need some help with this bow stuff...I have my grandpa's fiddle which is like the Ark in my family....So,You gotta do What you gotta Do!!!