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Hello everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. MY name is Nicklas I am 20 years old, I come from Copenhagen, Denmark and I have played for almost three weeks now. My violin is a Primavera Loreato. I took it to a luthier to fix the bridge (it was misplaced due to a rough travel. He told me it was a descent violin, that would sound very nice if I changed the bridge and the strings, which I will do soon.
I really enjoy the violin so far, and I have taken the time to practice an average of 40 min a day, even with a full time job, my wife and a little baby taking a lot of my time. I have read basicly the entire forum hehe? I would appreciate if any of you have a good guideline to how a good practice session could be. So far I practice to bow straight on the open strings, then move on to practice twinkle twinkle and a few other songs i have learned, but I would like to perfect my technique more before just playing songs, I have a very easy time memorizing so actually learning songs isnt to hard. I also just found out I can do hand vibrato (not just lifting and pressing on the string), but read a few topics that I should just not even think about vibrato befpre I got the basics perfected. I placed tapes on the 1. And 3. Finger, but I actualle dont look at them anymore, but I feel my boggest problem is bowing straight and even to avoid bad sound.
Woah what a long post about nothing hehe, anyway hope to speak to many of you and be a part of this community
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Welcome to the forum and violin, Nicklas @mrjaeger 
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World's Okayest Fiddler
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You're from Kierkegaard's birthplace.
That's awesome.
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Hello and so very happy to meet you.
Good luck with your progress. Thanks for the introduction.
Toni from California..4-5 year student of the Fiddlerman site.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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MrJaeger said
Hello everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. MY name is Nicklas I am 20 years old, I come from Copenhagen, Denmark and I have played for almost three weeks now. My violin is a Primavera Loreato. I took it to a luthier to fix the bridge (it was misplaced due to a rough travel. He told me it was a descent violin, that would sound very nice if I changed the bridge and the strings, which I will do soon.
You will surely notice a difference when you do that.
I really enjoy the violin so far, and I have taken the time to practice an average of 40 min a day, even with a full time job, my wife and a little baby taking a lot of my time.
Very impressive. I tried to take on a few hobbies when our kids were young. Didn't work out too well.
I have read basicly the entire forum hehe?
How long did that take you?
I would appreciate if any of you have a good guideline to how a good practice session could be. So far I practice to bow straight on the open strings, then move on to practice twinkle twinkle and a few other songs i have learned, but I would like to perfect my technique more before just playing songs,
Well, look at this as a comparison to building a house from start to finish. 3 weeks is very little though it's a great amount of time to evaluate whether or not you want to keep going. Sounds to me as though you want to.
I have a very easy time memorizing so actually learning songs isnt to hard. I also just found out I can do hand vibrato (not just lifting and pressing on the string), but read a few topics that I should just not even think about vibrato befpre I got the basics perfected. I placed tapes on the 1. And 3. Finger, but I actualle dont look at them anymore, but I feel my boggest problem is bowing straight and even to avoid bad sound.
Woah what a long post about nothing hehe, anyway hope to speak to many of you and be a part of this community
Not at all a long post about nothing. Great introduction!
Look forward to reading more.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Hia Niklas @mrjaeger - welcome ! I think everything meaningful has been said already - and from the clearly MANY hours you must have spent browsing the entire forum ( heck, I've been here 2 and 1/2 years and there's STILL stuff to find ! ) I suspect you will be addicted to both the fiddle and the forum!
All I can add is - make sure all your fiddle/violin playing is fun and enjoyable, enjoy the journey, and never give up - even better still - keep us advised of your progress, and never be reluctant to ask questions!
It WILL be worth the effort. Trust me !
Bill ( just across the water from you, in Scotland ! ) 
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
Thanks for all the replies ? im still practicing every day. A funny thing happened a few days ago. I was able to guess where to play, I had a song in my head and was able to play it without ever seeing the sheet music, it was lile my brain knew where to place my fingers. Very cool. My bow control had improved alot I think, and my sound got better after i cleaned my strings. Enjoying everything alot so far.
Does anyone have any suggestion on a cheap electric violin that can be bought in Europe? I hate that I cant practice at night, I even bought a heavy mute but its not enough, so I would lile to buy a cheap e violin, but I can only find the stagger, which Fiddlerman reviewed as a very bad violin.
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Hi @mrjaeger - I got myself a "Harley Benton" electric from Thomann in Germany. It's not expensive ( OK, I mean it is cheap ) - but it's fine really. I play it a lot.
It did have one little annoyance - there was a "rattle" noise at times - it was intermittent - and usually when playing forte... I tracked it down to an unused and loose pin on the 1/4" output jack socket. A touch of epoxy-resin - fixed !
Over time ( with string changes etc ) the bridge had angled slightly, and the G was dead sounding (when amped up - under the ear it sounded as fine as you would expect). Loosened the strings slightly, reset the bridge on the piezo pickup - fine again. But that only happened because of my own lack of attention to detail when I changed strings.... LOL
Thomann do have quite a wide range of EVs. My Harley is definitely at the low-cost end of the range - but honestly, it's fine. Apart from silent use, once (or if) you do amp it up and put it through an effects box ( I use the BOSS ME80 guitar FX box ), it's awesome !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
@BillyG
Thanks for the quick answer. Ill probably buy that one, but isnt it possible to get a cheaper amp? I have never bought such thing so I have no clue on what to look after, but the cheaper the better, as its just an extra practice violin
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Hi @mrjaeger - the effects box I referred to is just an FX box- no amp - I take the output of the ME80 into a 100W Peavy amp ( hahaha, I never turn it up THAT loud ! )- but, sure, you can get much cheaper effects boxes.
I'll tell you though, even without the FX (and usually I'm just using reverb and echo) just connecting up your EV directly to your home stereo or surround-sound etc is a lot of fun ! Or even to a pair of "active" speakers you used to use with desktop PCs sounds reasonable.
But that's just if you DO want to amp-it-up. If it really is only for silent practice, you don't need any FX or amplifier - there are a pair of mini-headphones that come with the EV and you just plug them in to the fiddle itself.... You'll only want additional kit if you want to play the EV like Lindsey Stirling.....
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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@mrjaeger
Hello ...I bought a cheap chinese electric. Not the bottom of the line by any means.. but I think about 189 USD. Kinglos Art Violin.
I actually corresponded with the US representative and the company before buying due to a problem with a "fake" that I had bought of EBAY.
Anyway...they were a pleasure to deal with... NOTHING as Good as Pierre and Mike at the Fiddleshop. But still a pleasure.
I don't play it often but I bought with a view to practice quietly. I love it.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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http://www.malmomusikaffar.com
in Malmö is run by a bunch of great guys. Can highly recommend them and I believe they will have a bunch of used amps for you to check out.
Not sure if you live close to Copenhagen but the train is super quick and practical.
However, I'm sure you have a bunch of great places in Köpenhamn.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Thanks for the response
I actually live in Copenhagen ? I will definetly take a look at their site Fiddlerman. Youre right, the train is just 20 minutes or so to sweden. I will buy an ev around christmas and an amp in January probably. Would be fun to add some effects like stirling haha.
Practice going descent. Have alot of trouble with bow bouncing in the top half. Tried to tighten bow, loose it up, clean the strings, less rosin, mpre rosin... Perhaps its just a matter of using the right amount of preasure, but I feel like I have to "press" pretty hard for it not to bounce, but then its impossible not to play very very loud.
Any tips?
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Perhaps do the opposite of pressing hard. Relax your hand, use the side of the hair a bit to act as a shock absorber and practice using different sections of the bow. Bottom half, middle and tip.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Will try to relax more Fiddlerman im using the tips already and using the side of the hair, sometimes i turn the bow a little to the left, sometimes to the right, what is more correct; using the bow hair closest to you body (feels natural) or using the hair away from myself, bending the wrist more?
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The hairs towards your body.
Turning clockwise. The way that feels more natural as you said.
Something that I didn't mention is that you sometimes need to reliev the weight of the bow with your right hand pinky but I imagine that you are doing that.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
I bought this yesterday, https://m.thomann.de/dk/harley.....violin.htm cant wait to try it, also bought new strings for both violins, will be interesting to try and replace the old ones.
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Cool. It's not the same, but pretty-similar to mine.
It's "nothing much to write home about" - but - it IS an EV and I have had endless hours of pleasure from mine ( with the small "fix" I mentioned somewhere above about an unused, loose, and "rattling" pin on the 1/4£ output jack socket )
And yes - on the EV the strings are MUCH less important that on an actual acoustic, because there is no "sound-box" and anything that's picked up, is picked up by the piezo-electric transducer directly under the bridge ( on that violin ) - BUT - yes - the strings that came with my Harley were like cheesewire - and the E "whistled back at me" regardless of what note, or where on the E-string I tried to play - but - that COULD have been just me.... LOL ( it often is ! )
Enjoy your new instrument - and changing strings - especially on an EV like that with a "fixed" bridge position is not a difficult operation - if you have any questions at all, or are in any way uncertain about fitting them, just post in the forum....
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
MrJaeger: Hi and welcome. It sounds like you are getting well set. There will come a time when you start questioning your bow, so I will now put it in your head that the Fiddlerman bow should be high on your list. Having that bow has taken away any concerns that may have entered my mind if I had any other bow.
For electrics, I have a $3 cherub clip on (ebay) that has a 10 foot cable and 1/4" plug, then a $40 15w amp to which I connected a couple of extra speakers cabinets and also 2 effects pedals. It was fun to play around with, but I haven't touched it in 6 months.
To play quietly, I have a $30 plywood violin that when played over the fingerboard cannot be heard in the next room, but even if it could, I could cut holes in the back or just take off the back to quiet things down even more. BTW, that violin is the most precious violin I own and has twice brought tears to my eyes because of the beauty of its tone(but only twice, when the humidity level was just right). Two days ago, I filed the front of the scroll flat, so that I could glue a tuner there.
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MrYikes said
..... Two days ago, I filed the front of the scroll flat, so that I could glue a tuner there.
I like your style ! 
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh -
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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color, but some are really hard on my eyes. Surprised I like the Brown/cream, too!
