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Fiddlerman said
You'll look back at this in the future and laugh. We can easily help you with a video to start with. Do you have Skype?
Okay, I do not have skype but I have good news. I called this music shop about a town over (15min away) and they said they will tune my violin for free and give me some help with tuning it myself. I will go there tomorrow and get my violin tuned. So relieving! I barely moved the pegs and the strings went way out of tune.
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AmandaKulp said
Your post is a little confusing to me. Tuning a string can change one of my other strings? How is that if they aren't touching?
When you're tuning (especially on newer strings) as one string puts tension on the bridge, etc, it changes how in tune some of the strings around it are, makes them a little looser, just the natural movement of the wood and the strings (at least I'm guessing that's what makes them do it, haha, all I know is they do it and it drives me batty sometimes, haha). It sounds weird, but it will do that. So when you put on new strings, you'll get the A in tune, move on the D, get that in tune, but then the A will be out of tune a little. Move on the G and then it puts the others a little flat again, the E seems to have the most effect on the strings (at least that's the one I notice the most). It can get a little annoying as you go back and forth tweaking each string bit by bit until they are all in tune, lol.
Glad your local shop is going to give you some help 
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damfino said
When you're tuning (especially on newer strings) as one string puts tension on the bridge, etc, it changes how in tune some of the strings around it are, makes them a little looser, just the natural movement of the wood and the strings (at least I'm guessing that's what makes them do it, haha, all I know is they do it and it drives me batty sometimes, haha). It sounds weird, but it will do that. So when you put on new strings, you'll get the A in tune, move on the D, get that in tune, but then the A will be out of tune a little. Move on the G and then it puts the others a little flat again, the E seems to have the most effect on the strings (at least that's the one I notice the most). It can get a little annoying as you go back and forth tweaking each string bit by bit until they are all in tune, lol.
Glad your local shop is going to give you some help
How long did it take for your to get used to tuning your own violin? Did you ever completely mess your strings up like I did, to the point of them registering as a different note in general, lol? I sure hope the next time I do not mess up as much. I barely moved the pegs and the strings went way out of tune. I am not even sure how I could turn it any less. Thank you very much for responding and helping me. I do appreciate it.
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When you say that you barely moved the pegs and the strings went way out of tune it might be that they slipped. If you move the pegs without sufficient inward pressure, they slip. The pegs are conical shaped and need to be pressed in as you turn to stay in tune.
In any case, it's great news that they will give you a quick lesson/tuning.
Soak it in.....
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
When you say that you barely moved the pegs and the strings went way out of tune it might be that they slipped. If you move the pegs without sufficient inward pressure, they slip. The pegs are conical shaped and need to be pressed in as you turn to stay in tune.
In any case, it's great news that they will give you a quick lesson/tuning.
Soak it in.....
Yes, I thought I was pushing inward as I turned the pegs but I must not have been pushing enough. Since it was my first time, I was really nervous and being a little timid with the process afraid of snapping something lol. The shop also said they do lessons. $20 per half hour class. Does that sound about right?
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$20 per half hour is the average rate here for lessons.
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That sounds good, here it is about $30 half hour.
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AmandaKulp said
How long did it take for your to get used to tuning your own violin? Did you ever completely mess your strings up like I did, to the point of them registering as a different note in general, lol? I sure hope the next time I do not mess up as much. I barely moved the pegs and the strings went way out of tune. I am not even sure how I could turn it any less. Thank you very much for responding and helping me. I do appreciate it.
It didn't take me long to get used to tuning it up. It gets easier faster than you expect
And I have messed up the strings just like that, especially when the air dries out here in the winter. A peg or two might slip, and as I work to getting them back in tune the pegs don't want to hold. My little German fiddle was good for that at first, especially its E string peg, the peg slipping out when you think you finally have it finished, haha, but now it holds pretty well. My concert fiddle, if it gets dry the G string peg likes to slip, my Ming it's always been the A that likes to slip in dry air.
Once you get it where it needs to be, and get used to pushing the pegs in as you tune it, you'll find you just have to tweak the fine tuners a little before practice, unless a big humidity or temperature change happens that causes the peg to slip again.
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@AmandaKulp : one thing you should be aware of that is related to tuning. The bridge has a tendency to creep forward (top of bridge angles toward the scroll). This happens gradually over time with just 'regular' tuning, but if your strings slip or you are putting on new strings, you may need to nudge the top of the bridge back (toward tail piece)
This can be a bit tricky because you don't wont the bridge to fall, or fall hard if you are doing the adjustment with full string pressure. If you slacken off the strings to make it easier to move the top of bridge, it will likely just drag the bridge forward again when you tune the strings back to pitch.
correct bridge angle is important. I don't like to take pressure off the strings, because I don't want the bridge 'feet' to move.
I have my own method of straightening the bridge with strings tuned to pitch. but perhaps @Fiddlerman or someone else could advise you further.
....if you haven't already been back from the music store, have them take a look at the bridge angle....they probably would anyways....at least they should be looking at the bridge angle after a bunch of tuning.
damfino said
If a string was out of tune enough, tuning it back up will change the tuning slightly of at least one of the others.
this is precisely what happens, and sometimes the string doesn't hafta be that much out of tune to affect other strings. it's the increase and decrease in tension that does it.
my barcus berry violin is bad for that. if one string goes out, I can pretty much count on re-tuning the other 3
....and yes, it also drives me nuts!
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AmandaKulp said
......The shop also said they do lessons. $20 per half hour class. Does that sound about right?
It sounds way reasonable. You should at least take a few to get started and on the right track. I fear that at that price the teacher "might" not be competent, but I hope that he or she is. Different costs for different areas are to be expected.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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