Members Noise... Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 I play guitar, bass, piano, and drums now. However...I just watched some videos of violin on Youtube and it got me thinking. How hard is it to learn violin? Is it something I'd have to work for years on? Or, because I already play various other instruments would it be easy to adjust? Electric Violin + a pedalboard would be quite fun.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike.sartori Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Maybe easier than for a complete newb, but it's a lot harder than learning a fretted instrument. Not only is it a guess on the fingerboard, but the bow is hard to use! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Noise... Posted March 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Maybe easier than for a complete newb, but it's a lot harder than learning a fretted instrument. Not only is it a guess on the fingerboard, but the bow is hard to use!I can play fretless bass as well. The scale would be completely different though...And yes, the bow seems like it would be tricky to get the hang of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thezeng Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 violin was my first instrument i ever learnt. once you learn violin it will kinda screw up the way you hold a guitar. learning guitar screwed up the way i played violin. the neck of the violin is way thinner and smaller, which you have to get used to. you need to have a really good ear, because it is easy to be out of tune. most of all, have fun! its great to play with people you know, not so much by yourself. (IMO) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike.sartori Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 I can play fretless bass as well. The scale would be completely different though...And yes, the bow seems like it would be tricky to get the hang of. Yeah I screwed around with one for a week, it's tough to make decent sounding notes going both ways with the bow. That's the real pain. another thing to consider is how good do simple/beginner type things sound on a violin? You can play some really simple things on a piano that will sound great without a whole lot of practice, but usually when I hear people play the violin without some expertise, it sounds really bad. (That's mostly little kids though.)You might like screwing around with it; most of the time I find that messing around with new instruments just makes me go back to the guitar with a greater vigor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Collapse Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Bowing right is the hardest part. I really didn't think it was very hard to "fret" the right notes, but I have pretty good pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whitepapagold Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 About as hard as it is to play trumpet... I want to start cello! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crxsh Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 FWIW: You can't play a violin like a guitar. Trust me. I've tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NITEFLY182 Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Look at it this way - The Suzuki Method starts children, usually asian, at age 2. It takes them many years before their instructors think theyre worth a {censored}. That said, it cant hurt to try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LSDis4me Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Much easier to play the violin setting on a Roland Guitar Synth. You can even use your wah pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thezeng Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 anyone wanna try running effects through an electric violin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Collapse Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 anyone wanna try running effects through an electric violin vUO6kYLb6As But then again. . .R_1hS5LeBm0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willburford Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 I played for about 5 months, and I didn't think it was that bad. My teacher said I was really good compared to her other, 10 year old violin students who have played since they could stand. I DEFINITELY think that guitar helps a lot.But I gave it up, because I just never really played it very much. I think it was because there weren't any chords that you could play that weren't 2 notes, and I love playing pretty chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thezeng Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 i played violin for 8 years. i was alright, but being a teenager i of course left it to do guitar. still kinda funny when i see someone play violin, and i go "i played that for 8 years" and they give me the violin.. and i cant do anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeremy Skrenes Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 try mandolin. strung the same as a violin but plays more like a guitar. you can get electric versions too and they're fun with pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members olejason Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 It's the hardest instrument I've ever messed with. Just holding the thing properly can take months to get right. I'll go ahead and say I think it's impossible for the average person to learn the violin without formal teaching of some sort. You'll never see some kid learning to play violin from "tabs" To give some perspective I majored in music on upright bass and have played the oud for a number of years so I have no problem dealing with fretless instruments or the bow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members K2000 Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Violin is very hard to play. The beginner stage is pretty excruciating, too. Guitar is hard because you have to fret multiple strings. But it's harder to bow than it is to use a pick. It also depends on what you wanna do. If you just wanna play old-timey simple fiddle stuff, that can be somewhat easier than playing classical, obviously. How hard is it to play guitar... well, do you want to play folk songs, or be a shredder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jorhay1 Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 at college it was rated (whatever that means) as one of the harder instruments to learn (english horn was higher and guitar relatively easy) that being said, if you are passionate about it, you can do it go for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vulcaniza P Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 don't do it. i've heard it was made to imitate the sound of a woman's voice.... thats why it's all screechy and annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sardocasm Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 Not soothing like a nice, big, man's voice, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vulcaniza P Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 barry white chef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zoidberg Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 i played violin for 8 years. i was alright, but being a teenager i of course left it to do guitar. still kinda funny when i see someone play violin, and i go "i played that for 8 years" and they give me the violin.. and i cant do anything! Haha.. I'm somewhat in the same boat. I don't remember how many years I played violin for, but it must have been 3.. or 4? when I was a kid. must have been from around 8 to 12 years of age. According to my violin-teacher I was supposedly one of her more talented students. But every time I was in the city centre with my mom, I'd stop at the same shop-window with an electric guitar on the inside, and stare at it hopefully.. Eventually my mom gave in, and I started playing the electric. And I've done that for 8 years now I haven't played violin since, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't play anything worth {censored} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slight-return Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 hey antiwww.fiddleforum.com is an electric (arco) strings forum...or, at least caters heavily to the electric sideRockviolin here on HC is an effects using e-violinistthat might be of interest to yaI guess it matters what part of the sound you likeFor a guitarist, there is the option of (viola da) gamba -- the viol family is the predecessor to the violin family -- they are 4ths tuned (with the 3rd "hitch" as in guitar) is fretted usually up to about the 7th or 8th now, with 6, often 7, strings the bowing arc can be a bit close (a lot of the trad gamba pieces were heavy on arpeggiated chord forms so there was a lot of string-crossing anyway) but it is another option to consider if it's basically arco that you dig.trad gamba bowing a little different - it's underhand (somewhat similar to a German bass bow) and you "ride the hair" with your finger so as to modulate the tension in the bow -- that being said, an e-gamaba responds just fine to a modern french 'cello bowarco is a whole different word though -- seems like the better the player, the more I see em willing to just sit there and bow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pan760 Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 i played violin for 8 years. i was alright, but being a teenager i of course left it to do guitar. still kinda funny when i see someone play violin, and i go "i played that for 8 years" and they give me the violin.. and i cant do anything! +1 I started violin in Kindergarten and my parents forced me to keep it up until 8th grade when I quit to play guitar. The worst part is that when I was in 3rd or 4th grade I wanted to play guitar but my parents wouldn't let me quit violin. I could be so much better than I am now had I had the few year head start. Oh yeah, and IMO the violin sounds like crap unless your perfect with your fingering. Its so easy to make it sound stiff, choppy, and bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members olejason Posted March 10, 2008 Members Share Posted March 10, 2008 For a guitarist, there is the option of (viola da) gamba -- the viol family is the predecessor to the violin family -- they are 4ths tuned (with the 3rd "hitch" as in guitar) is fretted usually up to about the 7th or 8th I had a bass teacher in college who was a great gamba player. I always thought they would make a great 'starter' bowed instrument for guitarists. I've never seen one worth playing for less than about 4 thousand dollars though hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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