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Hi!
First of all, this site is absolutely the friendliest, most supportive place on the internet. I'm amazed! Well done all for creating such a welcoming community!
I went into a huge music area of Seoul and bought my first violin today. Unfortunately, one of the tuning pegs turned out to be not so good, so it's getting replaced on Monday. Though it was a small issue that the store are more than happy to fix, it left me feeling so despondent. I'm a guitar player and singer, and so it was strange feeling so lost and ignorant T_T.
With that said, I'd like your input on two things if you could be so kind!
(1) ways you guys have managed to buoy yourselves up when learning feels insurmountable and,
(2) pitfalls an absolute beginner can avoid
Please help this lost, Irish aspiring fiddle player!
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welcome @weemaggie !
Glad you are joining this community. it really is an awesome place for beginners and advanced players alike. everyone here is really helpful! and also congrats on buying your first violin. I've only been playing for about 5 months so trust me i know exactly how it feels to be a beginner and overwhelmed. so i shall try to answer your questions the best i can.
(1) what helped buoy myself when everything felt so overwhelming was actually this site! feel free to post all the question and look through the older posts. so many of the things i was confused and overwhelmed with have been answered on this fourm in the past. knowing i wasn't the only one really helped. And if you can't find the answer or question that fulfills what your looking for post it on the form it best belongs to. there are so many people here that can help out! no question is a dumb question because we have probably all had it alt least once. And i find just diving head first into the music helped to. once you start actually getting good sound out of the violin consistently it makes it so much fun! it goes from daunting to exciting 
(2) as far as pitfalls...id say not asking questions and falling into bad habits that are hard to fix later on. Post a critique video on even the most simple of things if your having problems. its so much help to have other people help out and point out parts that can help/ be fixed before it becomes a problem. everyone here is super supportive so don't worry if you have alot of mistakes or you don't sound so good. lord knows i have tons of mistakes in the few videos i have posted.
Good luck and i hope you have as much fun with violin as the rest of us do here!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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Hey weemaggie,
Welcome to the forum.
(1) When learning feels impossible you should focus on foundation, baby steps, choose one thing that you can improve. Don't focus too much on the finished product when you are feeling that way. Just compare your learning process to building a house from scratch. Before you can even start digging for the foundation you need a plan. 
(2) pitfalls an absolute beginner can avoid? There are surely many but one which many don't think about would be not to concern yourself with what others think about your playing. Don't be shy and afraid to expose yourself as that is one good way to learn. Also, practicing can be a hinder if you are concerned about others reactions and so forth.
Look forward to your posts.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Guys- this is brilliant. Many many thanks!
This may not answer your questions directly, but this guy is a master, and worth listening too. And welcome to the Forum!
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(1) ways you guys have managed to buoy yourselves up when learning feels insurmountable and,
Part of why its taken me so long to get this far is that learning alone is very lonely and leaves alot of questions unanswered. Thankful for this fiddlerman community who has always been supportive and encouraging of me. It makes it very easy to stay motivated and on track with improveing.
(2) pitfalls an absolute beginner can avoid
A beginner needs to take as much time as it takes to get the basics down to the "it happens automatically" level. And then revisit the basics at least once a month so they don't slide. Too many times people are in a rush to play songs that they gloss over the basics and then a year from now you realize you have to go back and make those skills more solid. Do it the first time around, you Will need them later!
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
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Play it > it will happen.
Hi, Weemaggie, welcome to the forum!
1) First of all, never think that something is insurmountable! XD If i find something is hard to do i split the task apart and slow it down. Working slowly and separately on those parts. Combine them together when ready and then put it into the whole thing =)
2) Here i can second PickleFish. Try not to get bad habits - not to automatize wrong skills. =)
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Hey Weemaggie!
First of all, congrats for starting on violin!
I am by no means a great violin player, but I have gone through some struggles for sure to get to the point I'm at now. My best advice, other than practice a lot and consistently, is when things get really frustrating, put that stuff away for a day or evan a week and work on other things, and by the time you come back to the original problem it might be more manageable. For example, if your stuck on a song in your book, forget about it for a while and learn a pop song you like or work on scales or other drills. Hopefully you'll build some technique up so when you go back to the book you'll be way better. Also, realize at first it's really hard to make progress because you have to focus on so many things at once (bowing, left hand technique, intonation) but once some of those things start becoming automatic, it gets a lot easier.
Good luck on your journey!
Zach Evnas
Dark Horse violin cover (Pitbull feat Kesha): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96mqja3m84
Summer violin cover (Calvin Harris): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aAhoxGLgjU
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I think it funny how when I am working on something that is difficult for me like some of the numbers in Handel's Messiah, I will work on it over and over with it still seeming difficult. When I come back to a couple of days later, it doesn't seem quite as difficult.
Duane
"Violin is one of the joys of my life."
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The nicest place on the interwebs! Thanks everyone x
Like others have said, don't let yourself fall into bad habits. How?? take your time, if you are unsure of something (correct bowing, for example) ask someone. You can always post a short video here and just ask.... how's my bowing look... any suggestions.
Best of luck to you!
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Thanks for the advice all.
I'm new here and just trying to learn to play the violin. I inherited a 140 year old violin when my Dad died. It was given to him in Europe during WWII. He shipped it home and for the next several years it sat in storage. Once he got it out of storage it sat in a closet until 2000 when it was given to me. It didn't have strings and the finger board was off. I took it to a local Luther and he got it back to playing condition for me.
I also purchased an electric violin, just to keep the noise down when I try to practice.
Now I'm ready to dig in. It looks like this site will be a great resource for me. I'm 62 years old and my fingers don't work as good as they used to so I don't think I'll be playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia" any time soon, more like Amazing Grace or such.
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Glad to hear that you are ready to "dig in". 62 is a great age to get started and we have plenty of fellow adult learners here as well.
Welcome to the forum. Look forward to hearing about your progress.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Hick said
I'm 62 years old and my fingers don't work as good as they used to so I don't think I'll be playing "Devil Went Down To Georgia" any time soon, more like Amazing Grace or such.
I've only been playing for two weeks and I think I can play "Devil Went Down To Georgia" because when I pull the bow across the strings it makes an evil hiss.
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