Help me learn the fiddle!
September 26, 2009 6:46 AM   Subscribe

I want to learn the fiddle: how difficult is this going to be?

I'm seriously considering taking up the fiddle, and I'm hoping for some advice. I'm 25 and have a music background (I've played the piano since I was six, the oboe since I was ten, and have played the saxophone, clarinet, english horn, etc. -- no string instruments, though). I'm interested in country/bluegrass/Irish music rather than classical violin.

I've looked through the archives and have found old questions that touch on amature fiddling, but want to ask specifically: is there a specific brand of violin/fiddle you recommend for beginning fiddlers? Are private lessons the best way to start? And (knowing my mileage will vary) in your experience, how difficult is this going to be?
posted by katopotato to Media & Arts (15 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
My kids play violin, viola, and cello. If they can play them with as little as they practice, it can't be that hard. :) My 13 year old daughter decided she liked the cello enough that she bought one with her own money. With your musical background, you definitely have an advantage.

I recommend taking a few private lessons. You should be able to lease or borrow an inexpensive violin through him/her. Try asking at your local music shop, too. They may have consignments or inexpensive used instruments - people are always selling violins that their kids no longer want or need. The music shop can also recommend what to get at first, and can also assist you with finding an instructor.

I don't know enough to recommend a brand to you, but my approach to this, or any other avocation, is to start inexpensively, and find you how much you like what you are doing. You will also gain some experience as to what it is you like or need in an instrument, and can make a better choice based on what you prefer.
posted by Xoebe at 6:56 AM on September 26, 2009


Hey, this was going to be my next Ask question! I suggest asking your friends if any of them played the violin in middle school or high school and if they happen to have that violin hanging around, gathering dust. It's a long shot, but I borrowed one using this method and made arrangements to return it in 6 months -- by then, I'll either buy my own, rent one from a local music shop, or I'll have discovered that it's just not the hobby for me.
posted by k8lin at 7:50 AM on September 26, 2009


I would definitely recommend lessons. I've been an active fiddle player (Irish music) for 10 years, switched in my early 20s from double bass (I have a conservatory degree in bass, but never touched violin before 22).

I would say fiddle is more difficult than other instruments, quite a bit so. Guitar has frets, pianos have keys. Fiddles have nothing but hair to vibrate strings. It's a very difficult instrument to play well. So I would examine what your goals are. If you want to become a great fiddle player, it's a ton of work. If you are looking to goof around and have fun, well then, no biggy. Just realize that no one will want to listen to you, because the violin played badly sounds bad.

I would recomend some classical lessons to start. Yes, there is a difference in violin and fiddle technique BUT a good classical teacher will help you to get a decent technique. It's taken me a long time to feel this way but I feel it strongly now.

I have a Snow 200 violin I got from Johnson String Instruments for about $800. It's a really great violin for the money. The Eastman 305 is also very popular and very good. I would tend to avoid cheaper violins...if you are going to do this, having a useable instrument is going to make it a lot more pleasurable.

Honestly if I'd known how hard this was going to be when I started, I might have tried something else. But I've also made a lot (most of my) friends through music. Lack of good teaching initially made me develop bad habits, so I really do recommend finding a good teacher and practicing a lot.

Good luck!
posted by sully75 at 7:51 AM on September 26, 2009


Do it! I started 3 years ago at age 40, and yes, it is hard, but it is also without question one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Go to fiddlehangout.com and get hooked up with one of their independent sellers. There are several who frequent that web site and they will listen carefully to your budget and needs and set you up with an ideal fiddle. You can also visit sharmusic.com--they have a lot of beginniner "kits." I don't want to overstate my case, but playing the fiddle is something I wish I had been doing my whole life. It is endlessly challenging, can be solitary or social, and just about the best thing ever.
posted by fiery.hogue at 8:18 AM on September 26, 2009


I also took it up around mid-twenties (after a decade of playing other instruments). I would say yes for lessons, only because it is the most damnably challenging instrument I have ever tried to play. There is a lot to keep track of: speed of bow across strings, pressure of bow, fingering positions, vibrato and a dozen other things. I gave it up after a while, never having become more than indifferent. (I suspect I lack the requisite talent for multi-tasking, which is also why I am a mediocre drummer). I have a lot of respect for a good fiddler.

As for what kind of fiddle to look for, I cannot help you there.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:47 AM on September 26, 2009


PS There are some very great Irish musicians in Baltimore (some of the world's best) and also a fair amount in Washington DC. Not sure exactly where they hang out but I've heard them play. If you are looking for a teacher, I'd get in touch with this guy and ask him who he recommends.
posted by sully75 at 8:49 AM on September 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Also I'd like to nth my own suggestion about Johnson Strings. Their instruments are set up REALLY well and that's huge. A lot of chinese violins are crap, and they sell only good stuff.
posted by sully75 at 8:50 AM on September 26, 2009


I too had a musical background (mostly woodwinds) but had never played a stringed instrument, save for a little guitar noodling. About six years ago I bought a good "entry-level" violin and it has served me well. I am only now starting to think seriously about getting a "real" fiddle, or maybe even just upgrading my bow. I like k8lin's idea of asking around to see if anyone has an old violin from school laying around just to start. Bring it to the music shop; have them check it out and throw some new strings on, and if it's in decent condition you'll be good to go. I would advise against laying out significant cash for a fiddle at this point, since it's only after playing for a while that you'll even know what *you* personally want in a fiddle.

When I first started, at times I felt frustrated that I was getting such a late start when so many other fiddlers and violinists learned to play as kids. But I stuck with it; the first big hurdle was intonation, and your music background will definitely help with that. I recommend classes to start, if there are any in your area. You can complement the classes with occasional private lessons, lots of practice, and above all LISTENING. Many local libraries have good collections of old time, bluegrass and Americana music. Looks like you are in DC? I was there last weekend for a small fiddle festival in Arlington. You are perfectly situated to get involved in a very rich community of old time and bluegrass players. Start going to old time jams now - check out the calendar at the DC-based Friends of Old Time Banjo website (it's fiddle-centric, too, despite the name.) You'll start to get a sense for the tunes you like and can get hooked in with teachers, workshops, etc.

Now that I am at a point where I sound pretty decent and can enjoy playing fiddle as both a social and musical outlet, I take great pleasure in knowing that throughout my life I will only continue improving, learning new kinds of music and tunes, meeting new people and having new experiences through music. It's truly one of the great joys of my life. Good luck!
posted by messica at 9:05 AM on September 26, 2009


When I was a kid, before we got serious enough/big enough to buy violins, we rented them from a local music store. They had them up to full size, so I would look into that option before buying.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:15 AM on September 26, 2009


I make my living playing fiddle, and yes, it takes work to get good but that is all in the head, not the fingers and bow arm. If you love the music, you will become competant get "good" over time. As you learn to play, you will learn to listen to the special qualities of tone, phrasing, and technique when listening to fiddle music and evenually produce them in your playing. If you want to play modern bluegrass or Irish, then a bit of classical lessons will definately help you with intonation and string positions, but eventually you should be playing by ear and developing styles based on seeing and hearing other fiddlers.

Remember: we call the begining level of the fiddle "woodshedding" because it won't sound very good, but as you accustom yourself to the instrument you will get great pleasure from overcoming hurdles and finding that those difficult bits will eventually come naturally. I've known lots of fiddlers who have gone from zero to capable in a year of playing - I wouldn't be able to say the same for trumpeters or clarinet players.

A decent fiddle helps, but you don't need to spend a lot - better to spend it on a decent set of strings. Most of the rural fiddlers I know play on really beat, cheap fiddles set up for maximum volume levels - but then, I live in east Europe where people still play fiddle for outdoor dancing.
posted by zaelic at 9:20 AM on September 26, 2009 [3 favorites]


Violin is a pretty hard instrument to play well. I currently play viola in highschool, and it takes a while to sound decent. My little brother started learning the violin a few years ago, and it didn't sound good at all for the year that he was playing it. You might be better, but it's a hard instrument and it might be discouraging.

Having a violin teacher is pretty much a necessity. There's a lot of complexity involved with bowing and fingering, it's not really an instrument that you can learn easily for yourself.

I also recommend renting an instrument before buying it. I rented a viola from a shop for 8 years and it came out to around 1,000 dollars. That's not super expensive on its own, but the shop let us use the money we paid towards renting as "credit" when I bought a viola, so we basically got all of that money back. You should check to see if any of your local music stores also have this policy.
posted by kylej at 10:05 AM on September 26, 2009


I would recommend renting a violin for a bit to start, just to see if it's something that is right for you after all. That way, if it turns out not to be what you expected, you can return the instrument, no harm done. Once you get better and more able to tell the differences between instruments and have a better idea of the sound you are looking for (or, better yet, have a teacher who can help you pick something out), you can step up to a nicer instrument.

If you rent from a legitimate music store that specializes in string instruments, you'll be able to try out a basic instrument of acceptable quality that will work well enough for your purposes, and you won't be out a whole bunch of money. Most places require a credit card or a deposit to secure your instrument, and a minimum term of 6 months or so- but charge as little as $20-$30/month for a student model, and possibly even less for a used instrument. As a bonus, if something goes wrong with the rental instrument the music store can usually deal with minor issues quickly for you.

Private lessons are more or less a must with string instruments, at least for the first year or so. It's very hard to teach yourself technique from a book, and if you try you'll probably end up with bad posture/position habits that will hamper your playing down the road and will be very, very difficult to fix at that point. It is so much simpler to just start out the right way than it is to do remediation once there's already an ingrained problem with your technique. I really feel like this goes for classical AND bluegrass/fiddling, even though I know some fiddlers might disagree with me. Good technique just removes the barriers that separate you from playing well in whatever style you choose, and it is much easier to develop good technique with the help of a private teacher.

I'm a strings teacher, and adults usually have a harder time with it than my public school 6th graders. It's a lot easier to play and make mistakes when you are less aware of how awful you sound- and everybody sounds awful when they start. Once you get over that, you should be fine. :) If you have played other instruments before, though, you'll be ahead of the game with the note-reading end of it, which is what really gums it up for most people. I think you should be fine, but be prepared for less of the instant push-a-button-and-it-more-or-less-plays-okay gratification than you may have gotten with woodwinds.
posted by charmedimsure at 4:01 PM on September 26, 2009


To answer your second question first, a teacher is indispensable. And that leads to your first question -- a good teacher can hook you up with a suitable first instrument. A teacher probably knows someone who has a second hand one to sell, or can tell you which brands available in your area are best and which shops are able to set them up properly (new instruments generally need a little adjustment to sound their best).

Violin is among the harder instruments, because it takes time to sound even tolerably like a violin -- compare with piano, where you strike a key and presto! piano sound. As a wind player, you've probably learned that you need to "lean" on some notes to get correct intonation -- with violin you're taking the next step, which is doing that all the time with every stopped note.

Speaking as a classically trained person who now plays mostly folky styles, folk music doesn't place nearly the same demands on your technique. Eg, being good enough for the rear desks of your local amateur orchestra string section is still several years' work away. But if all you want to do is bust out some reels and polkas and jigs at a ceilidh it won't take you that long to get to a competent level. Of course to be able to improvise and ornament appropriately, and play with the correct feeling for the style still takes time, but you know that from playing other instruments already.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:59 PM on September 26, 2009


I started fiddle lessons after having been self taught on a half-dozen mostly string instruments. I was a good beginner player after nine months, and I wasn't totally religious about practicing. (I got more interested in other instruments and have mostly set the fiddle aside, for now.) I think, especially if you're already a musician, zaelic is right about having the music in your head. And I recommend getting a teacher, and I never had a teacher to learn any of the instruments I play. But be selective, and make sure the teacher understands your experience and what kind of music you want to play.

It will probably help if you listen to lots of different kinds of fiddle playing - if you want to sound like Mark O'Connor right out of the gate that's probably gonna bum you out, especially if you have enough experience to tell that you DON'T sound like him. There's a lot of amazing fiddle in old time music (albeit not necessarily well intonated) - if you're looking for current examples, Old Crow Medicine Show's first three albums are excellent inspiration for the enthusiastic beginner. MeMail me if you want a long boring list of old time fiddle music.
posted by smartyboots at 12:52 AM on September 27, 2009


I'll add to the previous recommendations about instruments and teachers, the idea that fiddle music isn't like classical music, on the very basic level of how you approach it. Your teacher will be showing you haw to play a fiddle/violin, which at the introductory level is the same thing. You'll probably be working from sheet music, since you've played before and can read it. My best advice to you is to listen to a lot lot lot of recordings of whatever kind of music you're aiming towards. Fiddle music is an aural tradition, so the notes on the page are not *exactly* what you're trying to play, rather a reminder of what the tune sounds like. Like a poetry reading, the sounds involved are more than what's on the piece of paper. So listen. Learn from the teacher how to make the violin go, learn from listening what you want the violin to do, and practice to make the two things meet up.
posted by aimedwander at 8:43 AM on September 27, 2009


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