Violins

[Youthser]

Hey all,
I'm a guitar player, but lately I've been considering getting a violin, I searched around on eBay and some of them are very affordable. I also have a friend that's played for a long while and she said she'd sell me hers, she asked me how much the ones on eBay were going for and I guess she must not be very familiar as they range from dirt cheap: $20, &25 to "moderate": $50, $60 to really expensive... you can figure those out.
I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet, and I don't know how old is her violin, in what condition she has it, and if she'd sell everything (carrying case, whatever accesories) so I was wondering if I could get any opinions from any violin players on the board as to what to look for. I'm not looking for an extremely beginner's model, but at the same time I doubt I'll be delighting crowds anytime soon. I want to get an acoustic one, that'll last me a while even if it is used. I noticed there's many sizes, which one is standard? what type of body should I look for? shapes? bows? thanks in advance:)
Also, it shouldn't interfere with guitar playing right? I would be doing both at once.. as in playing both instruments everyday.

[TheMadViolin]

With a violin, the older a violin becomes, the richer and more full the sounds becomes. I would try to stay away from violins that are under $100 if you intend to keep it for a period of time that is long at all. These violins more than likely will have a very harsh tone and will just become a frustration. I'd definitely attempt to buy from your friend before you resorted to ebay.

Regardless, you are going to end up with a medium to lower violin with the budget you want to spend. Don't feel bad about it, as you would have to invest a tremendous amount of money for a higher quality one (at least a couple thousand). What you should invest in is quality strings. They can make a huge difference in the tone. As to sizes, I'm not sure your age or how tall you are, but I'm guessing you would use a full size violin. I switched to a full size violin around the time I hit 5 feet tall, so a full size is the safe bet. As for what o look for shape-wise, I would go with what you traditionally know as a violin. I'm not very familiar with other shapes of violins and I would be very hesitant to trust the quality of them.

As for the guitar playing, it shouldn't interfere with guitar playing other than just being a weird transition. For me, trying to go to violin to guitar, I had a lot of difficulty with the huge spaces between frets. For the other way around, you might have trouble with the very close spacing and the fact that it is a fretless instrument. I'm not sure if I answered all of your questions, but feel free to spit out more if I haven't. Good luck and try not to get frustrated early!

[tbrown4]

Hey,

I'm a school orchestra director and I'll help you however I can.

Sizes range from 1/16 to 4/4, with 4/4 being a full size violin. Adults should play on a full size.

Scherl & Roth (sp?) make some decent mid range violins.

Most violins that you buy will come with a case and a bow. I recommend purchasing a good quality wood bow if you can afford it, as opposed to a plastic or composite bow. Also the bow hair is made of horse hair, get the real deal if you can.

You will also need a block of violin bow rosin to apply to the bow so it can grip the stings.

A shoulder/chin rest is ideal as well.

Good luck!

[Youthser]

Hey guys thanks for the prompt replies. I'm 5'7'' so I'm going to look for a full size, I hope my friend doesn't jack up the price too much, she's moving in with her boyfriend so I know she needs money and will probably settle at something fair. I'm gonna have to look into the other recommendations though for sure, and I'll have to hit you guys up for tips... any good places online to get free lessons from? or any books good for beginners?

[TheMadViolin]

I'm not aware of free lessons online, but www.fiddleforum.com is a great forum to get information about all different styles and types of violin playing. As for books, I'd recommend going with the Suzuki series. It will slowly build you through classical music pieces.

[JoelB2222]

As a fellow violin player I can give one piece of advice that is invaluable to any beginner. GET TAPES ON YOUR STRINGS. By this I mean get a tape where the first finger goes, a tape where the second is....and so on. In essence this is like "fretting" your violin. This should prove to be very helpful to you since you started out as a guitar player. Doing the actual taping yourself could be hard, and I would recommend having someone who knows what they are doing do it. Also, unlike guitar, your fingers go on the tape, not slightly before or in between them.

Like the MadViolin said, the Suzuki series is great and will really help you progress. Im not sure how far you are as a musician theory wise or in ear training, but Im going to assume that your ear is pretty well trained and you can read sheet music. The Suzuki series starts out as easy as it gets, but it will surely challenge your playing.

The best tip I can give as to playing is to not get frustrated. The violins the sort of instrument you just sorta wanna bang against the wall sometimes. Well, any unfretted string instrument is that way. Take it slow, make sure your playing the right notes, and keep at it. Its really not that hard to sound good once you get the basics down.

Good luck, and as a final but of info, on regards to the chin rest, since they can be around 20 bucks and up, I believe, and that might be out of your range Im not sure, you can substitute a rubber band and a soft sponge in place of the shoulder rest. Hope this helps.

Joel

[Youthser]

I'll ask the girl about all of these things... she says she's been playing since 2nd grade so maybe her violin is already 'taped' and all that other stuff...
I'm going to take a music theory class this fall (starts in september) and I can read music a little bit, I don't know how well trained my ear is yet.

[JoelB2222]

Im sure your ears fine enough, long as you can tell what notes sound "off" or not. Itll be tough at first but itll develope quickly. Im pretty sure, if shes been playing since second grade, that her violin isnt taped anymore. Theres a good chance it was back in elementary school as its a common technique with young players (I myself started out this way). But once a player has developed to a certain point, what I would call the intermediate stage, he/she usually takes off the tapes. I remember being embarassed in 6 grade when I went to our string jamboree and still had my tapes for my 3 and 4 fingers. Dont ask me why, it was just embarassing though.

Joel

[Youthser]

Yeah well she decided she was too attached to her violin to sell it to me, but she helped me find one on ebay and I got this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38108&item=7325783941 she said it was decent and a pretty good deal for the money, besides, it's new.. I told her about the tapes and she said she'd help me put those on, and also tune the violin and get the bow ready. I'll keep you guys updated, and thanks a lot.

[JoelB2222]

That looks very decent indeed, especially for 24 bucks. I just hope its not a rip off or something, I never trust online buying. Anyways, very good that you got it with the fine tuners on all 4 strings, my first violin only had the fine tuner on the e string, forcing me to try and tune the rest of my strings by ear and with the big tuners as a beginner, very frustrating. You should of bought the metallic purple violin though, that thing looks sick haha. Anyways, the only thing Id worry about is the bow, its a good idea to test them out before buying, but since thats not an option for you, youll just have to try for the best. The guy describing it made it seem good at least. Congrats.

Joel

[Youthser]

Yeah and he has very positive feedback (100% positive) and those are done by the buyers... we'll see how it turns out, and I'm not a fan of purple, so I figured I'd go for something more traditional.