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Honorary advisor
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If you handed me a beginner or intermediate book I can play the music in there with good speed. After an hour of practice, I can play a tune including double stops with ease. I like to shift to as high as the fifth position should the written music allow it.
Lately I've been contemplating prolonged scales and shifting to perpetuate them - knowing which note to reach for and what I'm currently playing.
My question is concerning this sort of plateau/slow progress I am now making. What should I do to experience continued advancement? Is there something critical I am not aware of I.E (but not including) double and triple stops? What is an arpegio? Is there a stage between intermediate books and legitimate classical pieces? Should I begin to study classical repitoire?
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I haven't been playing even 3 yrs myself yet, so I don't know the answers to all of your questions.
But an arpeggio is a chord with the notes played sequentially instead of simultaneously.
It is normal for progress to seem slower as you progress. At first there is much to learn and so you are aware of learning a lot of things. But then practice becomes more a matter of perfecting those things, and so it seems like slower progress.
I think pretty much every player I know (including myself) goes through times when it feels like you are practising for little or no gains. It can be just a natural effect, or sometimes you can break to another plateau by taking some lessons or classes or trying a different genre for a while.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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I'm not good at organizing but I found a link with fantastic organized etudes with levels and all. I've played from many of these books and can attest to their productivity. If you want to advance steadily, at least some of these books will be invaluable.
Some you can use forever throughout your life, like the Flesch Scale System.
http://www.violinmasterclass.c.....and-etudes
I have nothing against Suzuki books and they are probably most certainly great but I have no personal experience with them. Here is a list of books that I accumulated a while back with most of the well known etude books from the classical school system.
Sassmannshaus, Egon Early Beginner, Books 1 & 2
Schradieck School of Violin Technique, Books 1 - 4
Sevcik School of Bowing Technique, Op. 2
Sevcik School of Violin Technique, Op. 1
Sassmannshaus, Egon Early Beginner, Books 3 & 4
Fischer Basics
Kayser 36 Studies, Op. 20
Sevcik Shifting, Op. 8
Wohlfahrt 60 Studies, Op. 45
Flesch Scale System
Galamian Contemporary Violin Technique
Kreutzer 42 Studies
Sassmannshaus, Kurt Virtuous Moments
Sevcik Double Stops, Op. 9
Sevcik Preparatory Trill Studies, Op. 7
Dont 24 Caprices, Op. 35
Fiorillo 36 Caprices
Gavinies 24 Etudes
Rode 24 Caprices
Paganini 24 Caprices, Op. 1
Wieniawski Ecole Moderne, Op.10
Wieniawski Etudes Caprices, Op. 18
Ernst Six Polyphonic Etudes
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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I went to the library and checked out Sonatas Vol. 1 & 2 (Handel)
what at are your opinions on the works of Handel?
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Can be nice when I'm in the mood for it. 
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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The Handel sonatas are not very fun to play... So I will look for new material tomorrow. Good news is that my scales are getting very good! I will share a video tomorrow in my 'rekindled flame' topic. I'm excited to share these allegro scales.
Honorary advisor
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I'm beginning to study the 6th and then the 7th position. I've played around with my current knowledge of scales with positions 1-5, bit to get sweet sounds I need a few more notes in my repertoire. Goal is to minimize string crossing when finding notes.
thus incrementing and decrementing scales between strings with technical shifts.
such as playing a stopped A on the A string!
as I type this things are coming together in my mind.
EFGA can be played in 5th position on the G string &
1st position on the D string &
4th position on the A string &
7th position on the E string!
@Fiddlerman I really love your phrasing & expression video!!
P.S. The example I use in my head is a scale...
E on the Gstring > F & G on the Dstring > A on the Astring... One can create beautiful music playing scales like this.
Honorary advisor
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So during the completion of my positions book I've came to a realization of error in my previous habit of articulation. Where I used to think fifth position was located is actually the median between sixth and seventh. It's as if after 5th position fingerings become truly right next to each other.
my question:
what position do you begin to articulate WITHOUT gaps between fingerings?
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wouldn't that depend on what "key" you were playing in?
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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It's a continuous reduction of distance between fingers as you get higher. I don't give it much though but definitely by 7th the fingers are beginning to be tight on half steps. You need to use more tips as you get higher. Even using corners of the finger tips as you get real high. Some people have very skinny fingertips making it easier for them. I have thicker fingertips.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
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Thanks for the input everyone.
so here is an update... I've successfully completed octave scales (double stops) this opens a new arena for music where I can now play an octave and increment or decrement from the either note. The octave scale technique should more efficiently color my music than pseudo randomly articulating a scale.
Honorary advisor
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Update:
I am now learning thirds and sixths again. I say again because Ive already completed the introductory scores in the double stop book a few months ago. As of now I'm going to finish the book. Once completed I'd have completed Rubanks 'Developing Double-Stops' & 'Introducing The Positions Vol. 1 & 2' (highly recommend these three books for beginning violinists and fiddlers).
from my perspective, when I am improvising / free styling I can "attack" from many directions on the fingerboard thanks to understanding octaves and having the ear for them. In addition of thirds and soon to be sixths, I can sweep through sections of the fingerboard from any note and go any direction.
Once I finish all of the introductory books I will technically be able to play anything up to triple-stops! I'm ecstatic about how in a matter of a few days I went from freestyling single notes to jaming double stops on a whim while keeping a scale. The challenge I see is to consecutively run two scales at once more or less!
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