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Hello everyone!
I've "recently" started playing the violin and I must say, it's slowly but surely becoming a big part in my life now. I just love to practice and to play this instrument and i hope I'll become a good violinist one day.
This is my first thread here in this forum and I'm hoping I'll get some professional advice, since I've been learning to play the violin all by myself and with the help of some youtube videos. Let's hope I didn't develop any major bad habits...
I'd like you guys to guess how long I've been playing the violin judging by this video...(This will be a big hit for my ego, but please be honest anyway!)
By the way, ignore the third hand part, I haven't practiced that at all so yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?.....Uvht0TUvZ0
Thanks in advance and have a nice day!
- xTaicho

Advanced member
I don't really have an idea about the rate "most" people progress on the violin, and it's all SO individual with so many factors playing a part in it. So how long you've been at it shouldn't matter at all in my opinion. You seem to be doing well though, especially since you're on your own. Left wrist staying straight. Bow is a bit crooked but it'll even out, do lots of open strings infront of a mirror, it helps a lot . The mirror is your friend! And video I suppose, which I would never do myself as I can't stand watching myself.
Your left hand seem very tense too and a bit low. I highly suggest that you get a much higher chinrest. ( shoulderrest too possibly, but everyone argue about this so you just have to decide for yourself what you feel most comfortable with.) You have a really long neck and right now you're bending your head down to hold the violin way too much and it can cause injuries on top of restricting your left hand. I too have a very long neck. I just got a 35mm SAS chinrest, also using a shoulderrest. This still is just a tad too low for me as I don't want to raise the shoulderrest any more as that just hurts my left shoulder, but it helped a lot with relaxing my left hand more as the violing feels more secure when holding it.
Although you don't go up to the frog much so we can see what your pinkie is doing, you do at the beginning and this is based on that. Your pinkie look like it's pretty much locked out straight, it should be curved. In the beginning the pinkie isn't strong enough to counter the weight of the bow. What helped me wih this is doing an exercise with just a pen, whenever I wasn't doing much else. Like infront of the tv or sometimes at work. Hold a pen like you would the bow, and then pull your fingers up, then down again and repeat. There are plenty of videos on exercises to strenghten your hands and fingers, I suggest you search youtube for them. I think Fiddlerman has a short video too on finger flexibility.
The violin is a very addictive instrument to learn. Even on days when I don't really feel like practicing, but still do, at the end of the session when I have to stop I usually want to continue.
Keep it up! Looking forward to seeing you progress.
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