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I always like to manage expectations & set attainable (maybe not easily) goals; so last week I asked my teacher how long it took before he was able to play in pitch with great consistency,,,,, and the jackass (and I say that with the utmost respect, lol, no seriously), said "not very long at all because he has perfect pitch". My reply was, "okay jackass, for those of us who aren't so blessed, what can I expect" [and I honestly do have great respect for him, we just have that kind of friendship now].
His response was, "it varies so greatly, but it would be reasonable to play with a 95%+ accuracy at about a year, and then you just keep improving that number the longer you play".
So, for those of you experienced violists/fiddlers, how long did it take you to get to at least 95%? Because you look at pros, like FM, who is an incredibly talented guy in my opinion, and how long did it take him (Pierre, I'm asking YOU, lol).
And there are quite a few of you who have been playing for several years and are good....... how long might it take us newbies (of course assuming we're practicing and working at it regularly) to achieve a high level of accurate pitch???
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I have been told that I shouldn't expect to much for the first seven years.
I have been playing five years now, and started with no inherent talent.
I am satisfied with my progress, but I am easily satisfied. 
Looks like I'm on track for the seven year "Your not to bad status"
Believe its time for an equipment upgrade.
Have noticed the longer you play the larger the strides in improvement you will make.
So, I think it all depends on how much time you have to devote to it
, how much talent you were born with,
how much you can spend on equipment , and
How much time you can spend on FIDDLERMAN .COM
No matter where you go, there you are!
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VERY nice Erich,,, all of it. But JC,,, I gotta get good NOW, lmao! 
Good thing I decided not to quit my career and support myself and my family on my violin playing!!!
This is turning into what I knew was going to be a wonderfully fulfilling experience, and I'm just dying to get really competent. And I'm not saying that I am not feeling better about my play, every day; but seriously,,, I've been playing/practicing/learning & loving it now for 8 months,,, this is the longest it's ever taken me to get proficient at anything (recognizing that after proficiency and more time comes an increasingly higher degree of competence).
Still wanting to hear more insight like Erich's; it's very helpful to hear candid info like this.
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Hey Fred watcha expect for free. Besides you are just playing for yourself, right.
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Um.....95% pitch accuracy? I don't think I'm there yet.
Well ok, if playing in first position counts, I'm probably there.
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BTW Fred I'll let U know if I ever get good.
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haaaaaa, yeah Tony, but "I" want to hear something good when I play too
Sarah, I'm sure you're 95+, remember, we've all heard you play, lol... so how long before you were there???
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Its a trick question. Good as defined by whom? Yes, im thinking too much sorry, Devils advocate. I think it will take the rest of my life at this rate.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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Seven years.... what? SEVEN what? I am 46 years old. I have a date to play in Italy and jump in a fountain in just a little over three years...
Hope they like Twinkle in Rome..
Keep on chugging Fred. I started out like I was on fire.... 3-5 "baby" songs fast... then I got caught up on ..too much rosin...no rosin...when to have vibrato... how to hold the bow... and a lot of other things.. don't look at your fingers... and well then I got to thinking I had bitten off more than I can chew.
Also wanting it NOW ... I skipped some of the basics because I just wanted to play songs... now I am back to basics...and seeing there "is" a reason... and it is working out for me...better...
Still after all the practice and songs.. I am offended at myself when a shrill hits or I touch the other strings...
good luck...looking to hear all the expert advice flow in.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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I think it IS a trick question... Since I started in Feb officially, I'm hardly in a position to answer as an authority but I have seen many things here.
It seems that when you start to learn to play, (all of these examples are considering that you practice the same number of hours in the 2 months also) you can learn something like 6-8 tunes in 2 months 50% decent sounding.
or...
3-4 tunes in the same amount of time 75% decent sounding
or...
maybe 1 or 2 tunes really well. In that catagory of: "Sounds pretty good".
Also I've notice myself that as I concentrate more and more on a particular piece, I learn the notes first, then I memorise the sequence of those notes I heard (meaning I don't need to play along with a sound track of that piece or try to read along with the sheet music.) Then... I find that I'm only half way there! 
The last 10-20% of learning the piece is spent learning how to control the bow to get the volume highs and lows, the beginnings and endings to runs and strings of slurs.
Here all the time I thought just being able to read the notes was good enough... now I'm far enough down the road of learning that I now have learned I'm only half way to the middle.
"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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I think of good as a relative term, only having meaning in relation to some goal.
"Good" would be in a phrase like "Good enough for _____".
Like if you want to play in some sort of a group, put a recording out, play at some sort of event you have in mind, that sort of thing.
Good enough that people you know say you're good? You'll just figure they're being kind, or decide they are sweet folks but no judge of musical goodness.
Good enough that other players, even at the professional levels respect you? Well, some never will. Fragile egos sometimes feel like it will take away from their own accomplishments to acknowledge or support others. But the ones with enough sense to be supportive and encouraging to others, you wouldn't listen to them either. LOL
Good enough for your teacher? Well, you probably always are doing well enough that they'd be proud of you, and probably never get so far ahead of them that they won't have a trick or two to make lessons worth going to. But you'd decide they are biased, too.
Good enough for Fred? Probably never.
But if it is going good enough that you keep playing, then you are likely to see all of the "stages" mentioned above.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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I just read the last few comments and am literally laughing my ass off!!!!!!!!!!
You guys are thinking WAY too much! My question wasn't really ambiguous nor subjective.
Although the title of this thread was "How long did it take you [to] get good",,, the question I posed in the body of the first entry really was,,, "how long before you can play at least 95% in correct pitch",,, regardless of how long you practice any particular song,,, how long before you can play 95% of the notes you want to play, in correct pitch, every time your finger hits the board. I'd like an idea of when to expect (with regular and serious practice) that I should be playing accurately in pitch (regardless of song or how many times I practice that particular song).
Btw, Sara, yeah, playing just in first position counts.
I hope that makes more sense,,,, I ADMIT my thread title was inaccurate in relation to the question I was really asking.
So NOW what do you think????????
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I'm learning more than a year... No 95% accuracy 
LOL! I'll tell You, how much does it take, when i'll be there, Fred =) (if i'll be there )
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That's a great tip Barry (writing notes on exactly what needs to be improved; great idea). And you know, I've run across such a spectrum of people's practice times; like from 3 hrs/wk, 20 mins/day, 2 hrs/day, and even as much as 6 hrs/day. In a normal week I do everything I can to get in 1 hr/day.
Naska,,, yeah, PLEASE let us know when you get there! Haaaaaaaaa! I know you've been playing for just over a year and you really sound pretty good to me!
I guess I started thinking about this more as a result of the "fretted violin" thread; seems like it'll get ya there much quicker,,,,,, but is it cheating. 
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Fred,
I'm afraid the only real answer that I can come up with us....
A nice cup of tea!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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Barry said
When I first started I had a couple good fiddlers tell me it would take around 5 years to start sounding decent but a lifetime to improve.
Hmmm..."lifetime" certainly means something quite different to those of us who started in our 40s or 50s than it does to those who started in grade school. Better get a move on!
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
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VERY insightful Terry! btw, you know your little guy there is going commando right,,,, lmao
I'm right there with ya Diane (not in age [I'm much older], but in comment, lol),,, I don't know if I my lifetime will even get me to the 5 yr mark, haaaaaaa.
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Part of what will help you accelerate your progress is to have real focused and concentrated practice.
The harder you work and the more time you invest into learning, the faster you will get "good". <---- Tough word to label in this case.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Just out of curiosity about the 95% thing, Fred.. What is your current % of accuracy and how are you evaluating that to get a %?
I mean, do you have somebody standing there with a clipboard and listening..
"Ooops, that quarter note in bar 20 was off by over 5 centimes.. Bad dog! No Biscuit!"
...or something like that?
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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picklefish said
Its a trick question. Good as defined by whom? Yes, im thinking too much sorry, Devils advocate. I think it will take the rest of my life at this rate.
I think pickle is right on this one..
Wow man, you're good.. You're gettin good.... You are good... you're really good... that's good enough... I'm good, right ?.... just how good are you ?....can you play that song good ?.... I'm good enough to play on radio.... i'm not good enough to play in the orchestra quite yet but someday, I will. And the finale......
Someday I'll play as GOOD as...................Pierre ! 
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