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(3 votes) 
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End of the 3rd week playing the violin. I haven't been able to play as much as I liked, since my living situation wont allow it. Just an hour per day or so. (Mostly half an hour.) And I can't play in the weekend. The first two and a half week went mostly for finger studies and keeping the bow straight. First time I watched the video I was surprised over how bad my left hand were. lol. It looks totally different then it feels. And I totally forgot to take of the bow rail. Sorry about that.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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half an hour is perfect IMO- as long as its focused on what you want to improve. really intensive focused practice, make a list and work on it each day, great job keep it up!
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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I guess it is. I really wish I had more time to practice, and not so inflexible time. Hopefully thats changing within x-mas. Till then I'm stuck with it and can't do so much about it.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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If the sound keeps you from playing in your living situation, you might want to get an electric violin with a headphone amplifier. Or maybe a mute.
You can learn things without playing.
https://fiddlerman.com/fiddle-.....tion-game/
http://tonometric.com/adaptivepitch/
https://fiddlerman.com/fiddle-.....ring-game/
I would get an electronic tuner/tone generator and start paying attention to pitch pretty soon. http://fiddlershop.com/accesso.....ric-tuners
Are you able to hold the instrument with no hands? Your left hand should be working on the strings, not having to hold up the fiddle. So you may need to add or change a chinrest or shoulder rest.
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I think that's 1/2 my problem as well but ya on the electric idea not plumed in my bad playing wont bother a baby sleeping. But plug in and add distortion and graveyard grass starts to rumble
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No, I'm not able to hold the violin without my left hand. The chinrest is fine, the problem are the sholderrest. Its very slippery and dosent stay in place at all. At the moment I have a FOM sholderrest. A electric violin is too expencive at the moment. It's just few months till its changing. I have a mute, but its not just the soune, he gets mad even ifcI just picking up the violin. So its difficult and I don't think a electric violin will help.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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What kind of mute do you have HatefulPain. The thick steel mutes are the most effective.
http://fiddlershop.com/gold-pl.....-mute.html
There is a shoulder-rest which is extremely inexpensive and is very popular called Everest Easy Shoulder Rest. It's both light and strong.
http://fiddlershop.com/everest.....-rest.html
I don't use shoulder-rests but I have a high chin-rest that suits me great. The fact that it is called a chin-rest is very misleading since you really should be using your jawbone.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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HatefulPain said
No, I'm not able to hold the violin without my left hand. The chinrest is fine, the problem are the sholderrest. Its very slippery and dosent stay in place at all. At the moment I have a FOM sholderrest.
If you put something rubbery around the pad of the shoulder rest, it will grip better against your clothing. You can use rubber bands for that. It could also be that your clothing is slipping against YOU. I had that problem until I put a piece of rubberized mat (called non-skid carpet pad) under my shirt. See my post from September 15 called "Stop that fiddle from slipping" under "Playing the violin".
You may have to experiment with some different things to be able to hold it well. There is interaction between shoulder rest and chin rest. You have to suit them to each other and to you. That is the way I think of it anyway.
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It does not sound like a happy time for you. But maybe there is nothing keeping you from studying music theory now. Pitch, semitone, interval, scale, key signature, mode. Wikipedia has great information, but it requires some work to understand.
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heres a suggestion and something i do often, work on your fingerings playing pizzicato. I often watch TV and play through some exercises during commercial pizzicato. Good way to sneak in some quiet practice time.
the more agile and at ease your left hand becomes, the more you can focus on bowing
Doing good for week 3 !!
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
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Fiddlerman said
What kind of mute do you have HatefulPain. The thick steel mutes are the most effective.
http://fiddlershop.com/gold-pl.....-mute.html
There is a shoulder-rest which is extremely inexpensive and is very popular called Everest Easy Shoulder Rest. It's both light and strong.
http://fiddlershop.com/everest.....-rest.html
I don't use shoulder-rests but I have a high chin-rest that suits me great. The fact that it is called a chin-rest is very misleading since you really should be using your jawbone.
I have a rubber mute. I think I will check out the local music store, see if it's possible to try on some of the shoulder-rests there. I don't really want to use so much money on rests if I don't know if they will fit me or not.
RosinedUp:
I will try some rubber, see if that's helping. I will definitely use this time to studying most of the music theory, and silent exercises
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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That would really be the best, to test some rests in a store before buying.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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What do you mean by intonation? How do you know if you're getting close to a good intonation? How can I improve mine? I've so many questions, but I don't know how to put it into words. Particularly with my bad English.
When it comes to my bow hold... I've watched so many tutorials, read about it and studied so many pictures. I know how I should hold my bow, I just can't get my right hand to hold the bow that way. With my second frog, I can hold the bow, not great but okay Without it, I feel that the bow slipping through my hand, no matter how hard I'm holding the bow. I've dropped the bow a lot as well, since I get muscle tremors sometimes.
I've tried for hours and hours, just to get in some-sort-of-right position without making any progress at all.
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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Good work on 3rd week, HatefulPain! =)
Maybe i'm wrong, but as i can see from your posture, it seems that You don't use your chin-rest at all? And it looks like the violin is too much infront of You and maybe that could be a reason You can't hold it without hands? Is the left side of your shoulder-rest is ON your shoulder? 
When You were working on the bow hold - did You try to put the thumb on the stick and not on the frog's bottom? I've just tried your bow hold - it's quite hard (for me) to put all of the rest fingers on top of the stick while the thumb is under the frog! And hard to hold the bow. Did You try the "pencil" exercise to improve it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f....._y3645vYM#!
I've tried for hours and hours, just to get in some-sort-of-right position without making any progress at all.
Don't give up! You are making progress! Some things appear slowly, You're on your way!
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BTW!
@RosinedUp: Thank You kindly for the links! Played all games on tonometric.com! Another cool games! WooooHooooo! Almost as cool as FiddlerMan's!! =)
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Mad_Wed said
Good work on 3rd week, HatefulPain! =)Maybe i'm wrong, but as i can see from your posture, it seems that You don't use your chin-rest at all? And it looks like the violin is too much infront of You and maybe that could be a reason You can't hold it without hands? Is the left side of your shoulder-rest is ON your shoulder?
When You were working on the bow hold - did You try to put the thumb on the stick and not on the frog's bottom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f....._y3645vYM#!
I've tried for hours and hours, just to get in some-sort-of-right position without making any progress at all.
Don't give up! You are making progress! Some things appear slowly, You're on your way!
I'm using the chin-rest, it's just that I have a pad thats bigger then the actual chinrest and the chinrest is tiny, so it looks like I don't use it. I think the shoulder-rest is on my shoulder, it normally is, but it dosnt look like it is on the video...
I put the thumb in the C of the frog. No, I've not used the pencil exercise, but I will give it a try.
Thank you 
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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for what it's worth, here's my take on what I saw.
1- Violin appears too far out in front of you, angle it more out to your side, this will allow your shoulder to squeeze it between your jaw bone/chin rest and shoulder rest.
(you need to be able to let go with your left hand and the violin stay in place.)
2- The right hand holding position on the bow. For the first few months try to maintain the conventional grip. As Mad_Wed said, think holding a pencil...the 'frog' is just along for the ride, pay no attention to it when holding. Your thumb should fit comfortably right in front of the frog and actually be gripping the stick itself.
3- Think flexible wrist on the right hand as well. Flexible will allow you to keep the bow running parallel with the bridge, instead of 'grinding it around the strings' in a semi-circle.
4- Think "smooth bow strokes" and use as much as you feel comfortable using. Stretch your arm out to maintain the parallel angle with the bridge, but use a LOT of the bow. Try to hit more than one note in a bow stroke, simply change finger position and keep the bow moving.
5- Turn your whole body more to your right. This will allow you to look down the fingerboard at the music and still keep the violin more to your side and thus improve your holding ability and that will let your left hand properly play the notes on the strings. Place the neck on TOP of the pad of your thumb, don't wrap your thumb around the neck, just let the neck slide back and forth on your thumb print.
You're doing great... stay with it...
you seem to be reading music very well and this will all become second nature about the 3-4 month! 
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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Thank you cdennyb for great advises!
Heh, I dug up my old note reading skills from a dark place. I haven't really touched a instrument in at least 10 years, but played a lot on piano as a kid. I didn't think I would remember it, but I did!
'Armed with theory, practice becomes meaningful. Through practice, theory becomes fulfilled.' - Egon von Neindorff.
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