When you start playing the violin, you need a good beginner book to teach you the basics, reading notes and your first tunes

Yup, I know you want to jump in and start on your favourite violin music right away, but the fastest way to get there is to build up your basic technique in a good way right from the start.

What does such a book teach you as a beginner violinist?

Most books begin on open strings, so you can practice your violin hold, bow hold and basic bowing technique. After that they start you on the first finger or second finger.

The tunes in the book are written, so you build up the technique step by step. Once you’ve learned something, you go to the next thing to learn.

When you would start on playing tunes right away, you would have to learn a lot of techniques at the same time and your playing will get sloppy. It’s really hard to correct from here.

Keep learning and developing when you already play pieces

A lot of beginner books have several volumes giving you a good foundation on the violin. Of course you play separate pieces and tunes you like by that time, but on the side you keep building your technique allowing you to play more music better.

1) Sassmanshaus – Early start on the violin

I’ve used all four volumes of this book in my offline violin studio for many years and for students of all ages. The special thing is that it starts with the second finger, allowing you to play thirds and building a good left hand technique.

It may look childish if you’re an adult beginner violinist, but this book is well written and gives you a great foundation on the violin.

The four volumes go up to position play, beautiful classical music, duets and three octave scales. When you went through this curriculum, you’re ready to proceed with some beautiful violin repertoire.

The book is very complete, the sequence of learning things is very good and the introduction of new techniques goes a logical pace. A great way to learn the violin!

Buy the Sassmanshaus book here!

2) Stepping Stones for Violin

I loved combining Sassmanshaus with the Stepping Stones book series, that also has four volumes. This is not a complete method book, but a collection of tunes starting with basic easy techniques and getting more difficult throughout the books.

The book is available with a piano score or CD, so you can play together. The advantage of the CD is that a simple song can sound very good with accompaniment. Also you learn to play together and your intonation is easier to check when you play together.

With the two books you’ll have more tunes to learn the same technique, giving you more variation and fun in your practice session.

Buy the Stepping Stones book here!

3) Suzuki Violin School

The book series has ten volumes taking you from the very beginning to playing Mozart violin concerto’s and everything in between, mainly based on the classical repertoire.

In my violin studio I’ve used a lot of the pieces included in the Suzuki books, but I never used them as method books. What I miss are exercises that prepare you to playing the pieces. New techniques are sometimes introduced very quickly and sometimes the books don’t really build on to them. I would recommend combining the Suzuki books with another method book, etude books and other repertoire.

The Suzuki method is a distinct teaching philosophy that is not so popular in Europe, but very popular (almost standard) in the United States. It goes from learning music as you would learn a language: by ear and initially without sheet music.

Lots of great violinist have learned to play with the Suzuki method!

But remember it’s a teaching philosophy that requires years of training for a teacher after the conservatory and is much more than the book series.

This is why the method books aren’t very complete: you should learn the Suzuki method by ear from a teacher with special training in this method, who will probably give you tailer made assignments. Otherwise it doesn’t really make sense to get these books except if you want a structured sequence of repertoire to combine with other books.

Buy the Suzuki Violin School volume 1 here!