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Hi fellow musicians! My name is Syke. Im 25 yrs old living in Israel. Im playing guitar since 2009. I enjoy playing fingerstyle guitar and I make cover of whichever song I find beautiful to my ears. Most of them pop songs because they are catchy and easy to play.
Lately, I fell inlove with the violin. On feb 1,2015 I bought Valencia V400 violin from a local shop. I started researching about it. When i tried to tune the violin right from the box. I snapped the G string. I felt frustrated right away to the point of rage quitting. I went back immediately to the store to buy set of strings. The cheap ones were out of stock so i bought daddario helicores which are quite expensive.Now that i invested some cash on it, i gave it a chance. Long story short, i started playing the suzuki books everyday, like everyday for 1-2 hrs. Started learning vibrato immediately from the vibrato video of Doree Hunuven from youtube.
At this moment, Im at suzuki book 2: theme from witches dance. I did an ambitious attempt of playing by ear on violin and im very very happy with my progress and it motivates me a lot. I would like to share my 1st violin video. If you would like to follow my progress, i will upload them on youtube please subscribe 
Since i dont have a teacher, please give me some inputs and correct me if im doing something wrong . Here is vid
thanks
Syke
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Hello Skye!
I just wanted to say welcome. I think your playing is lovely.
Toni
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
Regulars
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welcome aboard !!
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
Honorary advisor
Regulars
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Hi Syke, welcome to the forum! Hope you have a good time here!
You're doing great, I really like your vibrato. Keep up the good work
Regulars
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Syke - Welcome to the forum. Your playing is great, especially for someone who has been playing less than five months. One of the forums I read mentioned that it typically takes motivated adults 6-8 months to get through Suzuki book 1 when working with a teacher, and you are clearly way ahead of that!
I started (actually, restarted after about 20 years) playing around the same time you did, and I'm also working through Suzuki. I stayed at Twinkle for a while, playing along with my young son. It wasn't until March that I really determined to start working ahead of him, and right now I am only just starting Perpetual Motion.
You mentioned the Doree Hunuven videos on vibrato; are you using any particular Youtube videos or other videos to help with the Suzuki material? I have a teacher for a few lessons this summer but will then need to go back to learning on my own, and I think I need to try what you are doing!
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Fidelestre said
Syke - Welcome to the forum. Your playing is great, especially for someone who has been playing less than five months. One of the forums I read mentioned that it typically takes motivated adults 6-8 months to get through Suzuki book 1 when working with a teacher, and you are clearly way ahead of that!I started (actually, restarted after about 20 years) playing around the same time you did, and I'm also working through Suzuki. I stayed at Twinkle for a while, playing along with my young son. It wasn't until March that I really determined to start working ahead of him, and right now I am only just starting Perpetual Motion.
You mentioned the Doree Hunuven videos on vibrato; are you using any particular Youtube videos or other videos to help with the Suzuki material? I have a teacher for a few lessons this summer but will then need to go back to learning on my own, and I think I need to try what you are doing!
First of all thank you all of you for the warm welcome!
Hi Fidelestre! Doree Hunuven has talk through on her every video. Aside from Doree, I also watch AllysonsViolinStudio she also has talk through videos which help a lot. As for the perfomances of the suzuki pieces I watch Jennifer Jeon and Jenny Yun.
I can share to you my practice regimen
1.straight bowing open strings
2. Tonalization - i look for the sweet spot where to put my fingerings. Example: index finger 1st postion on g string will make the A string vibrate. I memorize those spots.
3. Vibrato- i practice slow wide,slow narrow,fast narrow,fast wide
4. Scales with metronome 60bpm. Quarter notes,eights, sixteenths.
5. Suzuki piece. Which i practice really really slow.
6. Lastly, i improvise! Even if they dont sound musical haha.
Hope that helps
Regulars
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Welcome to the forum Syke. 
You're doing amazingly well for just 4 months - nice going! To get such easy vibrato and reasonable intonation so soon shows the hard work you've been putting in. Using sympathetic vibrations in other strings is a good way to help your intonation - sometimes you can even see the other string vibrating.
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Hi Jim , thanks for the encouraging words. I love hitting those ringy notes. After I got accuracy on those spots, I immediately removed my first and third stickers.
Im excited to explore the 2nd & 3rd position but right now im still at suzuki book 2: theme from witches dance and i dont know when it will be introduced in the series. So yeah, every single change makes me so happy. I'll be posting soon my next vid. I love recording myself . Its like documentation and evaluation for me.. Take care
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Welcome to the Fiddlerman forum, Syke! Sounding good! I'm impressed that you can do vibrato so soon.
I've been playing for almost 3 1/2 years and still can't do it. 
When the work's all done and the sun's settin' low,
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow.
Regulars
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Thanks for the tips, Syke. I've also found AllysonsViolinStudio on Youtube to be helpful and will look up the other videos.
Regulars
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Nice job!!
Violinist start date - May 2013
Fiddler start date - May 2014
FIDDLE- Gift from a dear friend. A 1930-40 german copy, of a french copy of a Stradivarius. BOW - $50 carbon fiber. Strings - Dominants with E Pirastro Gold string.
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