Hello Everyone!

I'm completely new here. About a week and a half ago I didn't even imagine I'd ever be playing a violin, it kinda happened by accident. 

An online music shop I often frequent had some major discounts for 4 hours so I was looking at all their products and trying to figure out if there's anything interesting there.. I stumbled across some really cheap violins and figured why not give it a shot since I was always curious what it's like to play on a fretless instrument...  Oh by the way I do sing and play some guitar / ukulele to accompany that (so pretty much only chords) and I also got a digital piano in January and been learning that ever since (also accompaniment), so we can probably say I have some slight musical background.. 

So I ordered a Stagg acoustic violin.. sunburst color.. looked fine on the picture... there's a video on youtube by Stagg of a guy playing on it (supposedly...) and it seemed okay. 

Now usually what I do is whenever I order something 'special' for myself I kinda psych myself up and try to learn as much as I can about it before it arrives (who needs manuals anyway...). So I went on youtube and checked out all the violin channels, watched videos of how they're built.. tutorial videos.. etc.. 

By the time my violin arrived I already knew two things.. 1: that I bought a toy and not a musical instrument... 2: that I really like violins and would probably enjoy learning it. 

Needless to say the violin IS horrible indeed, plastic tuning pegs that either slip or stick, nylon hair on the bow, bridge curve slightly flat at the top so when you barely get up to the G note on the D string all G D and A strings are flat in one plane making it almost impossible to hit that string separately unless you're bowing way back at the bridge and a rosin that sticks more to the solid steel strings than the nylon hair bow. 

This made me want to order a new violin straight up so I was looking at the Stentor Conservatoire and I did place the order, but it turns out my dad also likes violins so he called me saying that he contacted some people and got me a deal for a handmade master violin which in turn made me cancel my order.. However when he said 'master violin' I didn't realize that what he meant was actually a violin made by a master maker who has his separate workshop at the instrument factory so it will take up to 2 months for it to be made.. which means in order to have something decent to practice with till that's ready I'm going to attempt to bring this Stagg to life with some new strings, new bow.. rosin.. etc once they arrive 

Along my journey I also ended up on Fiddlerman's channel and needless to say I really liked what I saw there so after an extensive comment exchange on his Eleanor Rigby tutorial video.. I'm here  

You're probably waiting for that video already so...  here's me accidentally playing the beginning part of the American anthem (I played 3 random notes and it reminded me of this so I figured out the rest by ear, hence the 'accidentally' part ) and I actually uploaded it just to tease an American friend from the gaming community I'm helping them to manage (he always forgets to send me the reports, but last night he did so it was kinda funny thanking him like that). 

Disclaimer: I know it's bad, but keep in mind that on the video I'm only 2 days into learning the violin so I'm assuming it will get better and the instrument is still with the factory setup since my new strings and bow didn't arrive yet so I'm struggling to compensate for its shortcomings Also I instantly noticed the sawing motion and tried to fix it, but it turns out it was 'automatic' because I'm sitting down and trying to avoid hitting my leg with the bow.. as soon as I stood up and played in front of the mirror it went away.. Oh and also the rubber bands are there, because I used them to mount a fancy dishwashing sponge as a shoulder rest, which helped a lot (it has a fluffy fabric outside so it grips well on my tshirt) 

Thanks for reading and here's the video: