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Hi, my name is Bryan, living in OK now. Bought a violin about 12yrs ago with asperations of learning. Instead had kids & strange work schedule so never got to it.
Now my kids are pre-teen and in school band. 1 plays clairnet the other trupmpet. Both picked up pennywhistle's for Christmas & were playing in minutes.
Me well not so gifted. Played guitar 20+ yrs ago. Learned the chords, played pretty good I thought.
So now a few basic (stupid) questions:
1) I guess you play the violin 1 string at a time, not like a guitars 6 strings?
2) I don't get the fingerboard chart, why are there 8 pics of basicly the same thing?
3) How do I know if I'm getting rosin on the bow/when is there enough.
4) how tight do you tighten the bow
5) any better tips to learning the names of the notes? All I remember from school is from bottom up is FACE & Every Good Boy Does Fine. It appears I need to learn outside the 9 lines as the violin I guess plays lower & higher notes.
(I warned you there were some stupid questions in there!) 
I guess this is the violin I have:
But bought mine from Byron Berline @ http://doublestop.com/
Bryan
Thanks for any tips.
PS I did download the Android apps for tuning & notes by sight(?) and will pratice with that while at work.
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08hybridOK said
So now a few basic (stupid) questions:
1) I guess you play the violin 1 string at a time, not like a guitars 6 strings?
You can play up to three strings at a time for chords but more common is two for "double stops". Basically you are right. Most often you play one note at a time. It is very easy to play two though and adds a lot.
2) I don't get the fingerboard chart, why are there 8 pics of basicly the same thing?
If you look carefully you will see that some are whole steps and some are half steps. The difference is in the key signature. There are the finger patterns you need to learn for the respective keys.
3) How do I know if I'm getting rosin on the bow/when is there enough.
You should put way too much rosin to start with (you will have to wipe off your strings after practice sessions) until you will understand the feeling of the bow hair gripping the strings properly. After you have discovered that feeling of a properly rosined bow you should apply only a little rosin whenever you notice that you need some. This is when the bow slides across instead of grabs hold of the strings.
4) how tight do you tighten the bow
Depends a lot on the arch of your bow but start with a quarter inch off the middle of the stick but if the hair is loose at this point you may need more.
5) any better tips to learning the names of the notes? All I remember from school is from bottom up is FACE & Every Good Boy Does Fine. It appears I need to learn outside the 9 lines as the violin I guess plays lower & higher notes.
Start with the open strings and memorize them. Begin here. Then take one string at a time. I have one string exercises on my Sheet Music link under BEGINNERS:
- Natural notes on the G-string
- Natural notes on the D-string
- Natural notes on the A-string
- Natural notes on the E-string
By natural notes I mean no sharps or flats = Key of C
(I warned you there were some stupid questions in there!)
I didn't see any stupid questions. All good as far as I'm concerned.
Good Luck,
PS I did download the Android apps for tuning & notes by sight(?) and will pratice with that while at work.
Check out my LEARNING TOOLS menu above very carefully. You might find some useful tools there like the tuner and fingering game.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
1) This is basically true for now you play one string at a time later own you can learn to play two at a time.
2) The 8 pictures are of different Key signitures. At the start of the music is the G cleff then sometimes you will see what looks like a puund sign# or a flat which looks like a b. An example would be if you see 2 # signs then this id the Key of D which means all F and C are sharp or half step farther down the neck. In this Key your second finger on the D and A string is placed right next to your third finger.
3)Your know you are getting rosin on the bow when you can feel it grip a little bit and not just slide over the rosin. If the rosin and the bow are new try to scratch the rosin a little to get rid of the shine and then it takes about ten minutes for the first time. Too much rosin just means you have that much more to clean off the violin.
4) If when the bow is loose the hairs touch the stick tighten the bow so the hairs are about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch from the stick. If the hairs do not touch the bow when loose bring the hairs until straight and then add 1/4 to 3/8 inch. This is a starting point. If the bow bouces it may be too tight.
5) I you know face and egbdf then it's easy. The top line is F so the next space is G then the next line is A and the next line is B going up and on the bottom if the bottom line is E then the space before it is D and the line before that is C and the space befor that is B and the line before that is A and the space before that is G the lowest string on the violin.
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