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Can anyone please give me a simple explanation or a link to help me out.....I'm trying to learn to read music. Enough said right?
I know the notes. The problem is: let's say the first note of a piece is A (second space using the F.A.C.E). Now where the heck do you place your finger on the violin for that particular A & how do you figure this out??? Is it the A on the G string or the A on the E string? Or am I completely wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is just driving me nuts!!
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Hi Patricia,
Welcome to the Forum--you might be the only active Forum member in Lousiana. If the A in question is shown on the second space of the "FACE" lines, as you indicate, then that's the open-string A (second string down from the high E string), and being an open string, no finger is used, just bow that open string. The A on the bottom G string would be written below the "FACE" lines; the A on the top E string would be written above the "FACE" lines.
It can certainly be confusing at first! Keep at it and it will all make sense pretty soon!
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Welcome. I taught myself how to read music when I started the violin. Heres some links that might help you out. Everything is from this site so dont forget to browse around, theres plenty of info around here.
Notes on the G String: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....string.pdf
"" D string: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....string.pdf
"" A String: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....string.pdf
"" E String: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont.....string.pdf
Finger Board Chart: https://fiddlerman.com/wp-cont....._chart.pdf. For the most part you'll start off with the fingering of CM (C Major Key) and DM (D Major Key).
That should get you started and dont be afraid to ask if you have any questions, everyone around here is pretty helpful.
A hoopy frood always knows where his towel is!
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Oh Steve...bless you! That explains it exactly! 
All of the info I've found shows you what the notes are, but none have made the connection as to where they are on the fingerboard & why. I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but for now it's all good! Now I just need to get the brain in gear to memorize so I'll be able to do it by sight.
Peanutgallery...thanks for the links. I'll be checking them out in depth shortly!
Thanks much ya'll...I've been wrestling with this for awhile & this is a big help!
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Hi again Patricia. Matthew (Peanut_Gallery) posted a lik with the finger board in it. Keep that close by when you practice. It's a great tool to learn where each note it is. The top left of each finger board in the image is what scale is the predominant fingering for that particular scale. The top left one is GM. That is the G major scale. As you play through them, you should play them each many times and play them slowly with as much precision as you can. Fiddlerman has a note "drone" if you do not have anything to let you know if you are in tune. play the drone at whatever note you are playing and adjust your fingering until you can hit the note. Once you figure each one out, and practice it, you will gain the muscle memory and it will be second nature.
Here are a huge list of basic instruction if you are going solo with noi or little formal instruction. Most of us live on these pages.
https://fiddlerman.com/tutoria.....tutorials/
"I find your lack of Fiddle, disturbing" - Darth Vader
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This is a neat little note practice game that helped me a lot, even before my own violin arrived:
http://www.emusictheory.com/pr.....Notes.html
There's also a similar game on this site, but this one's a little easier to use, in my opinion.
~ Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be true. ~
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Thank you all...I appreciate the help & will be looking into each & every link!
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I found this chart useful for learning.
http://www.fretlessfingerguide....._chart.png
*edit: Open the link in a new window, its suppose to have a white background. It'll show the lines going up the notes on the staff.
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Learning to read traditional music notation is a rewarding endeavor, however, there is a type of notation much easier to use that dates back at least hundreds of years - tablature - which I use to play my fret-less banjo; although I already read traditional music notation (poorly) when playing violin or flute, I think I'm gonna give the violin tabs a try. Having fun with songs is more important than slaving over notation, especially if one is not going to play for the philharmonic.
check this out:
99 % of the people I meet are self absorbed human waste sphincters.
1 % play fiddle
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There are many sites that publish songs (royalty/copyright free) in tab. I have a whole directory of music written in tab. Once in a while I play something from it. Tablature is much easier to play and you don't need to be able to read music, of course, but you will have to add your own touch to stop the music from sounding extremely basic.
"I find your lack of Fiddle, disturbing" - Darth Vader
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Thanks Annon & Tyberius...I actually learned to play using tab (what I know 
), but I need to learn to read so I can access more of the types of music I'm interested in playing. Unless any of you have Led Zepplin in tab
I could stop this brain torture of learning to read!!
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