How long does it take to learn how to play violin?
The violin asks patience at first: the first months are of bow and tuning. These are its actual phases and how often they take each.
The violin has a slower start than the piano or guitar. With an almost daily weekly and practice class, get a clear sound on the air ropes takes from one to three months, play simple and tuned pieces, between 6 months and 1 year, and changes of place usually come between 1 and 1 and 3 years and a controlled vibration, between 2 and 4 years.
They are indicative ranges, and they are not obligatory targets. They change with age, frequency of practice, instrument tuning and what you want to do with violin, from playing for pleasure to entering an orchestra.
To sum up
- The first one to three months leave in posture, hold the bow and sound with an air string: it's the base, not lost time.
- Without anything, tuning depends on the ear and memory of the hand and improves gradually during the first few years.
- The first simple and tuned pieces usually come from 6 months to 1 year.
- The changes and vibrates are milestones from second to fourth year and advanced them often create tension.
- A well-adjusted violin and the right size accelerates progress more than it looks.
Fiddle and Orientation Stages
At the violin, his left hand looks for his notes in a smooth diapason with no prints and his right arm makes his sound with his bow. Neither thing's automatic, and so his start's slower than other instruments. The good news: what you build in those months holds up everything that comes after that.
| Etapa | What do you get? | Orientation time with regular practice |
|---|---|---|
| Posture and ropes to air | Hold violin and arch without tension, pass the straight arch and get a sound without squeaking. | 1 to 3 months |
| First fingers | Put fingers 1, 2 and 3 at first place, Re and La mayor scales and short songs. | 2 to 6 months |
| First pieces | Fitted short pieces, basic arch blows as decelpations and legage and reading as a code of sun. | 6 to 12 months |
| First complete position | The four strings with the fourth finger, double simple and dynamic with the arch and play with others. | 1 to 2 years |
| Position changes | The third and clear changes between first and third without losing tuning. | 1 and a half to 3 years |
| Vibrate and intermediate repertoire | Controlled Vibrate, more student positions and concerts as Vivaldi's at least. | 2 to 4 years or more |
Posture and arch: why the first few months seem slow
The arch is the voice of the violin. A good sound depends on three things that the arm has to coordinate: the contact point (how far from the bridge passes the arch), the weight that you give and the velocity. When one of the three fails, the violin shines, whistles or sounds weak. That's why your teacher will have a good time with an air string: it's how to work the sound without the distraction of his left hand.
- Practice the arch grip with a pencil, far from the violin, till the fingers are curved and the thumb bent. We explain it step by step in [how to hold the violin's arch]](/blog/como-sostener-el-arco-del-violin).
- It passes long arcs into an air with a mirror to check that the arch goes parallel to the bridge.
- Check that you do not put up your shoulder or tighten your jaw to hold the violin and a suitable pad or support helps a lot.
- Accept the chirries: they are part of the process and they disappear as the arm learns to dose the weight.
Filling without anything: the ear trains with time
On the guitar, the frast decides the note. On the violin, your finger with an accuracy of millimetres decides. No one lays perfect at first: his ear and his hand are calibrated together for months and years.
Retirement and reference
Many teachers put thin ribbons onto the diapason to mark where their fingers go at first place. They are a temporary help: they withdraw as their hands have found their notes and their ears have been spotted if a note was high or low.
Listen to the MRI
When you touch with your fingers a Sun, a Ree, a The or a well-tuned My, the air string of the same name vibrates with sympathy and the violin sounds more open. Your teacher will teach you how to look for that bell: it's one of the best tools for tuning without looking at anything.
Before practising, sharpen the four strings with the [violin tuner]](/herramientas/afinador/violin)If you still have an opportunity to do so with the clamps and the microtuning, at how to tuning the violin We explain how to do that without forcing the bridge.
Position and vibration changes: second to fourth year milestones
They are the two achievements that every student wants to achieve soon, and also those that are most damaged as they advance.
Position changes
To get to the third place means to move all his hand through the mast and get to the exact point without looking at them. A slow slip with a guiding finger and his thumb with his motion are put up. Before that step we have to have his first place tuning stable and if we do, you just change place with the problem.
Vibrato
Vibrate is a controlled finger oscillation that gives the sound warmth. It requires a relaxed left hand and a loose thumb. When trying too soon a rigid hand that trembles rather than vibrates appears and that habit costs months to correct it. The usual thing is that the teacher will prepare it with arch-free movement exercises and that they will be several months before they sound natural in a piece.
Children and adults: different rhythms
Children can start from small with fractional-sized violins. They advance little by little at every class and their sessions are short, so the first stages usually take them some more time, and with an adult accompanying practice at home they develop a very fine ear.
Adults quickly understand theory and posture, but they tend to have more tension on their shoulders and hands and they have more difficulty tolerating the sound of the first few months. patience and constancy have advanced and we have told you how to face them in [Learning adult violin]](/blog/aprender-violin-de-adulto).
In both cases, the size matters: an too big violin forces to stretch his arm and his fingers and makes it very difficult to tuning. how to choose your first violin and its size We explain how to measure it.
That accelerates or challenges progress in violin
| Acelera | Frena |
|---|---|
| A short and common practice: 15 to 30 minutes most of the day. | To practice only on the eve of class. |
| A teacher that fixes posture and seizes the arch from the beginning. | Learning only with videos: posture errors at the violin are difficult to see on your own. |
| A well-tipped violin: bridge in place, high-height ropes and clamps that turn and hold. | A instrument with very high strings or clamps that get out and that sounds bad even if you play well. |
| Play with others at an assembly or an initiation orchestra. | To study always alone, with no reference to tuning or rhythm. |
| To listen to a lot of violin music, from classical to Andean or popular. | Jumping into very difficult pieces before mastering first place. |
Frequently asked questions
Is violin more difficult than other instruments?
It has a more demanding start, because we have to build a sound with an arch and put an end to it without anything. After that stage, progress looks just like that of other instruments. It's not a matter of special talent but patience with the first few months.
When do they remove the pat tapes?
No date's set. They withdraw as their hand finds first place notes with certainty and you listen if a note's been high or low. Many students have a first year and sometimes have a tape at once.
How long can I play an orchestra?
It depends on the level of the orchestra. Some initiation assemblies get students who have been run at first place and read simple scores, something that usually happens between first and second year. The more demanding youth orchestras demand changes of place and more experience.
Can you learn violin with virtual classes?
Yeah. At [violin classes]](/clases/violin) The teacher checks your posture and your arch by camera and leaves you with targets for the week. Some families prefer home class at first, when posture needs more correction and they move to virtual after.