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needing help getting more serious with practice
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RockingLR33
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July 23, 2017 - 2:55 pm
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hey fiddle folk,

So I've been playing violin a while....a very slow but progressive journey for me... I'm learning new fiddle songs and I'm learning to play sharps normal notes that I didn't learn before from the regular finger pattern and I'm feeling like I'm really missing a huge chunk of training.  I'm having a very hard time transitioning between say on the A string- C to D and then over to G# on the d string. The notes that aren't the "default" position.

I'm finally getting it down for the song greensleeves but how do you all progress from playing around with songs to practicing more or harder finger patterns? I'm still getting used to reading sheet music but do you have exercises you use to help make those patterns more easy or do you just do your own thing? I'm really interesting in learning to shift as well. I guess i'm asking how do you create more structured practices without relying on just learning new songs to play and being self taught?  (I've looked for teachers near me who take adults but they are over an hour away:( bah humbug)  

I'm finding with my new violin it's easier to play with no shoulder rest and while I'm also in the learning curve of playing with no shoulder rest I'm finding its easier to play  which you would think would be opposite but I seem to really relax more with my upper body like that with this violin. I think thats also what seems to have brought the "missing pieces" part of my practice to the for front. I want to do this violin justice and I feel i'm failing at it right now and that I'm "behind schedule" which I know is silly since we all learn at different rates.  hahahah.

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

             ~General George S. Patton

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damfino
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July 23, 2017 - 3:03 pm
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Have you worked on etudes? If not, I would suggest diving into the Wohlfahrt etude book. That has been a huge help for me as far as getting used to different finger patterns. You don't have to go in order, you can choose one that has the pattern/key you are working on. I think it helps me more than scales. As much as I hate some of them with a passion, I do have to admit they have helped, lol.

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RockingLR33
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July 23, 2017 - 3:18 pm
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Are you talking about the wohlfhart etude here on the website or a different one? That looks challenging but very interesting to work through! and will probably help my sight reading immensely too if I sit down and actually do it hahah. 

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

             ~General George S. Patton

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damfino
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July 23, 2017 - 3:27 pm
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I don't see it on the fiddlershop site, but this is the book: 

Some can be pretty challenging, but some are pretty fun. I've always looked at them like brain puzzle games, which I always like to play, lol.

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RockingLR33
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July 23, 2017 - 4:01 pm
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Oh sweet! It's the same one i think that fiddlerman has on here https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....1_1-30.pdf

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

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Jim Dunleavy
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July 24, 2017 - 3:27 am
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Just looked at that firsts study and got strange sense of deja-vu. Then I realised it was the same one as a study at the back of my second tutor book from last year. lol

If the others are similar I'm going to have a look at those. :)

@RockingLR33 - I use a practice schedule (updated every so often as I progress) to make sure I cover all the essential techniques I've learned so far (bowing, vibrato, staccato, scales etc). I find that useful.

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RockingLR33
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July 24, 2017 - 10:49 am
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@Jim Dunleavy  do you have an instructor or did you start picking up those bowing and fingering patterns up on your own?

Looking through a lot of FM pages of sheet music he's got tones of resources so I'm just trying to find ones I can do now and progress through! :D  

I just started diving into the above wohlfahrt book. Good thing youtube has some videos of people playing it or i'd never know where to start. My sight reading isn't quite the best yet! lol. soo many things to learn! hahahaha Somedays I feel a bit overwhelmed but then I pick a bar or two to learn and chip away at it! 

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

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Jim Dunleavy
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July 24, 2017 - 10:56 am
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My instructor is called youtube. :)

Actually though, when I was about 10 or 11 my dad taught me how to bow on the open strings, and would have taken me further, but I got discouraged by the horrible sound I made as soon as I started using my left hand.

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RockingLR33
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July 24, 2017 - 6:09 pm
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hahahaha same here! hahaha. It's how I found this site. Thank goodness for modern technology that lets us learn though such an easy method! :D  

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

             ~General George S. Patton

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RockingLR33
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July 25, 2017 - 12:14 am
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Well I started Wohlfahrt and realized that it's still probably a little too advanced and then I found this little gem under fiddlermans (conveniently labeled) beginner to intermediate sheet music. It's Sevcik-Violin school for Beginners band 1 . I seriously wished I would have started with this right from the beginning.

This started off right where I've been struggling with the whole time  (and really became apparent in learning Greensleeves) and BAM it's literally the first finger exercises in the book. While it's dull, boring and possibly a little more then frustrating at times I feel more relaxed already after playing it for about 15 minutes.

This simple exercise (pictured below) is royally kicking my butt because for once I'm slowing down focusing on not squeezing with my left hand and ensuring I hit the note on the left side of my finger every time, hitting the right note....and of course working on the natural notes (lets not forget bowing straight either). Notes like C to D on the A string and F to G on the D string and are the bane of my existence. My hand does not want to stretch like that or that far playing with the second finger down. man on man do I have a lot of work ahead of me but I'm happy to kind of have a more "set" path. For some reason the elements books really bored me to tears. This feels more 'adult' in it's path maybe. Maybe being in several languages just makes it feel more important. I dunno but I HIGHLY recommend this to all beginners....and I'm always open to more suggestions if ya'll have anymore.Screen-Shot-2017-07-24-at-9.01.49-PM.pngImage Enlarger

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

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damfino
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July 25, 2017 - 8:49 am
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Doing all these etudes I have felt my hand has gotten more flexible, but my teacher always says it's ok to not always keep all your fingers down if you need to raise one slightly to make it easier to reach.

Wohlfahrt has some rough etudes in there, some kick my butt, others are more fun. Some just outright hurt my hands and I don't play them as much (the last one I was doing wasn't hard, but for some reason my hand would ache after barely playing it). Unless it's an etude that was designed as a bowing exercise, my teacher usually has me skip their bowing suggestions until I learn the fingering, then add the bowing in... just something to keep in mind that might help you at all if you decide to look at it again :)  

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Fiddlerman
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July 25, 2017 - 1:26 pm
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rockinglr33 - Etudes will help but scales are perfect for getting your finger patterns in order for the various keys. Music is more or less comprised of scales, patterns based on those scales, up and down, arpeggios... etc.
If you are not playing scales, perhaps devote 10 minutes to scales at the beginning of your sessions to see if it helps. Especially in the key of the pieces that you are trying to learn. :)

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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RockingLR33
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July 25, 2017 - 8:29 pm
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Thanks fiddlerman. Thats actually why i went to the Sevcik series because it started off with slow scales. 

 

Does anyone else notice that they are practicing to hard and it's screwing them up? By that I mean so concentrated on hitting the correct notes you somehow inadvertently tense and mess with your ability to hit the notes? 

 

The A string and I are not friends at the moment for some reason so I've been really zeroing in on it but after getting frustrated 2 days in a row I decided to relax and just play around on the strings. I happened to keep my tuner going and guess what I was hitting every note just playing around. I am becoming my own biggest enemy! lol. now if i can just learn to be that relaxed learning something new I'll be golden! :D  maybe it's a few minuets scales to warm up..play around a bit, work a few minuets on a piece and then play around some more?....*sigh* oh well i'll get it. 

Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!

             ~General George S. Patton

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Mark
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July 25, 2017 - 8:39 pm
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Rocklinglr33,

Many people don't like to use drones, as I did at one time, however I have found they are great in developing your ear to hear intonation. For scales playing and working on songs and etudes. I personally found it to be the catalyst to get over some issues I was having in progressing on the violin. Fiddlerman has fixed the drones on the sight and they work quite well. 

Mark

Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.

Albert Sammons

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