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These violin lessons can help you learn how to play violin using a Fretless Finger Guide. Our 4/4 Finger Guide for Full Size Violin will show you the location of whole notes, sharps and flats for first position (7 intervals). Our 1/2 Finger Guide for Half Size Violin will show you the location of whole notes, sharps and flats for the first five intervals. It is important, if you are just beginning, to start with simple and easy to play songs. The color coding and note names on the Guide are a powerful tool for learning how to read and play music. Try color coding your own sheet music. You’ll need seven colored markers that correspond with the colors of the Fretless Finger Guide. Color the notes on your music with the corresponding colors on your guide.

Easy to use. Between the whole notes there is a square box with two colors. These are sharps and flats. The up pointing “triangle” is a sharp when you are ascending a scale (going up in tone). The down pointing “triangle” is a flat when you are descending a scale (going down in tone). The color of the triangle corresponds with the color of the whole note.

The picture below shows how the beginning student should "number" the fingers on their left hand.

Numbered Hand

The following illustration shows the first position whole note names and their locations on the music staff. These color coded notes correspond with the color coded notes on the Fretless Finger Guide. Notice the number below each note name. That number corresponds with a finger on the left hand (see picture above). One (1) is the index finger, two (2) is the middle finger, three (3) is the ring finger and four (4) is the little finger. In the example below the number zero (0) represents the open string. The first G, on the fourth string (thickest) is played open. The A is played with the index (1) finger. The B is played with the middle (2) finger. The C is played with the ring (3) finger. The D is played with the little (4) finger. Move up a string and follow the diagram for the 3rd string notes, Etc. Use the color coding and note names on the Guide to help you.

How to play the violin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of tips on how to play the violin.

When holding the neck of your violin, ensure your wrist is curved and your posture is perfect in order to create a rich tone.
Make sure your left wrist does not "collapse". You should support your violin with your neck and shoulder. Your left hand must be free to move.
Keep your fingernails trimmed short. You should depress the strings with the tips of your fingers on your left hand, and you can't do that with long nails.
Your bow should move perpendicular to the strings. Lead your bow with your right wrist. The stick of the bow should be slightly tilted toward the fingerboard (away from your face).
Your bow should move between the fingerboard and the bridge. When closer to the bridge, it will be louder. Play closer to the fingerboard to play more quietly. (for the beginner: the fingerboard is the long, black piece running down the center of the instrument)
When playing quiet sections of music, keep using all the bow but press down lighter.
Practice! Practice! Practice! (As a guide, college majors are recommended to practice roughly 2 to 4 hours per day. At least an hour a day should be expected as a bare minimum for serious practitioners.)

A few more things:

The violin is tuned ( from low to high ) G D A E.
There are several positions for your left hand depending how close to your face on the fingerboard your hand is. The 1st position is when your 1st finger on the A string plays B, the 2nd position is when it plays C, 3rd when it plays D. When a change of position is required a number is printed above or below the score to indicate which finger is used to play that particular note.
Before playing the bow should be rubbed with rosin. You can buy some at any musical instrument store. Keep rosin in your left hand and rub the bow against it in the same way you play. Do not over do this, since it will result in the violin sounding harsh.

Some additional tips on Bowing:

The faster you move the bow, the more rich the sound coming from the string will be. But make sure you get all the notes and beats in before running out of space.
As you get better, pay more attention to how you move the bow. Changing directions (up to down, etc) is pretty much equivalent to taking a breath while singing.
Sheet music will generally include bowing notations intermittently. Feel free to pencil in your own, but make sure you don't contradict the printed ones. The "up bow" mark looks like a V and the "down bow mark" like a square missing its bottom side. Up means start at the tip, down means start at the frog which is down where your right hand is.

Remember that the idea is to have fun making music and enjoy the accomplishment of doing so. We wish you the best of luck on your musical journey.

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