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How Long does it take to Learn to Play Violin?

You don’t need to play the most technically demanding classical pieces, but just want to play fun tunes and sound decent. How much time does that cost?

You probably heard all the stories about the violin being the most difficult instrument to master, starting at the age of four and practicing five hours a day

Learning the violin you just want to have fun, express yourself and play some nice sounding tunes to your friends. Is that really that hard?

Do you know Tim Ferriss Accelerated Learning System? It can teach you about any skill in 1/4 of the time. He applies the Pareto principle: learn the 20% that gets you 80% of the results. He applied it to dancing, cooking and also playing the guitar.

What if you could learn the 20% on the violin that gets you to play 80% of the pieces?

However inspiring the article by Tim Ferriss about learning guitar quickly, this is not a way to learn faster, but to learn exactly those things that will allow you to play songs very quickly and those are two different things.

As the guitar is a chord instrument with frets, it’s very easy to learn the four chords most used in popular music (and yes, a lot of popular music is very similar), so you can learn loads of songs with very little technique. In this way you don’t learn faster, but you learn the 20% of the technique (or even much less) that allows you to do lots of things. In classical guitar music you would still be a complete beginner using this method.

The difference between the violin and the guitar, ukelele or piano is that for the last instruments it’s possible to impress people by playing a lot of pop songs decently with just very little technique.

To make the violin sound even decent, you need quite some technique and also quite some time to really master it. Getting to a point on the violin that you sound good just takes more work.

When playing and teaching over the last decades I’ve used any resources I got to make my own progress on the violin faster and that of my students. I use myself as a guinea pig in that and pour all my knowledge in my lessons. And yes, often my students progress four times as fast or learn stuff on which they get stuck at other teachers.

With my program Bow like a Pro, I’ve made things like creating a professional sound, vibrato and bowing learnable skills, while a lot of teachers think you need to ‘have it or not’.

But still: learning violin requires more time and practice than learning to play four chords on a guitar and being able to play 80% of the pop songs using a capo.

How Long does it take to Learn to Play Violin? #learnviolin #violinist #violin Share on X

Ok, but how long does it take to get a decent sound out of the violin, enjoy yourself and get the minimum profiency to play some pop songs and movie tunes?

How much time do you need to invest daily and how many years does it take?

What 20% do you need to focus on to get 80% of the results? Is it bowing, scales or something else?

Yes, there certainly is a 20% in violin playing that gets you 80% of the results!

It’s not a specific technique, but more the right portion of every technique. For example there are 24 scales, but if you study the 5 scales that are used in perhaps 80% of the music, that’s in a way efficient. There are 24 bowing techniques, but if you do as little as 3 of them really well, you can play over 80% of the pieces.

We require advanced techniques for the big classical repertoire, but with around 10% of that technique you can already play almost all pop tunes, easy concertino’s like these (click here) and loads of different styles of music.

But… know that learning the violin, as it’s hard to get to it to sound decent, will cost you a lot of time and effort anyway. It’s not an instrument to learn quickly or to pick up once in a while. It really requires dedication and for me that’s also the beauty of it. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time with the violin, why do you want to play it anyway?

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To get to a professional level takes at least 10.000 hours. Let’s say you find the 5% to play most pieces: that’s still 500 hours…

500 Hours is 30 minutes of daily practice for 3 years. Sounds doable?

After this you sound decent, can play simple concertino’s, movie tunes and pop songs.

Double this to a thousand hours and you’ll have more music to choose from and a better sound quality. In the eyes of a classical violinist you’ll still be a beginner and your technique is limited, but is that important?

A ‘minimum proficiency’ is hard to define. What you now see as a minimum, will certainly change over the years. Yes, you can already play some tunes after a year, but would you be satisfied with the sound quality?

It’s always hard to put down specific numbers, because it also depends on the quality of your practice and your teacher. I hope this is helpful anyway and gives you a realistic idea about playing the violin.

Music is not just about filling hours and getting results as fast as possible

If you’re looking for the most efficient way to enjoy music, learning violin would be a VERY bad choice

The easiest way to enjoy music is to relax on the couch and listen to your favorite composer or artist.

If you want to enjoy playing an instrument as quickly and easily as possible, learn the four most using chords on the guitar in pop music. That’s about 10% of learning to sound decent on the violin.

Learning to play the violin is simply very time consuming no matter how efficiently you practice

I love the vibrations on my chest and the beautiful sound of my old German violin.

I love playing an hour of scales every day as it brings so much piece to my mind.

I love discovering new music and finding out how it sounds better… and better… and better.

I love finding creative solutions to technical problems and the fulfillment that brings when it works after hard work.

I love striving for perfection knowing nobody will ever achieve it.

I love this master who challenges me every day to become a better, more patient and more loving version of myself.

I love reaching for sky and getting a climpse of heaven in the small moments that everything comes together in just a couple of notes on this beautiful instrument.

And yes, that all costs a lot time.

If you love the violin, go for it!

You can start to play at any age. If you decide in favour of the violin, check out my free beginner course.

Learn Nicola Benedetti’s Vibrato on the Violin

Get inspired by these violin vibrato practice tips from concert violinist Nicola Benedetti and improve your sound quality

I love it when world soloists invest in teaching the next generation of violin players

In her first video on vibrato Nicola shares the basic exercises she also recommends to more advanced players looking to improve their vibrato.

She compares the vibrato of various violin soloists and at 10:19 you’ll see an eight years old Nicola playing the Bruch concerto (!) to demonstrate how her vibrato developed throughout the years:

Foundational vibrato exercises

The foundation to learn vibrato is a relaxed left hand. Nicola demonstrates making large movements over the whole fingerboard with your finger gently placed on the string (not pressing down). You can make this movement smaller and smaller, but make sure it’s still a fluent and natural motion.

Arm vs wrist vs hand vs finger vibrato

I LOVE this quote from the above video and it’s exactly the process that I guide my Free your Vibrato students in:

‘Ideally, as we’ve mentioned at the beginning, you should have the options of doing a fantastical, magical combination of all the above! If we get the fundamentals right, your ears and your hands should guide you in the right direction. Your vibrato will be unique to you.’
Sometimes violin players can get so stuck trying to figure out theoretical concepts of vibrato while it’s a very organic process of finding YOUR vibrato and adjusting it to the music you make.

First joint flexibilty

Just to be clear: this is not finger vibrato, but a necessary movement that your first finger joints make in vibrato. These joints should move along, whether you’re doing arm, wrist or hand vibrato. Eventually vibrato is about the movement of your fingertip on the string: that’s what makes the sound.

Benedetti explains practicing rocking motions with your finger in third position. Put your finger down, pull it down and move it back up. It’s best to see it in the video above. Start with the third finger, after that second, first and fourth.

Adding the bow

It’s important to first do vibrato exercises without the bow and add the bow later. In the beginning you’ll create an ambulance sound. Now it’s important to add rhythm to it. Start slowly with duplets, move to triplets, quarter notes, eight notes and sixteenth notes.

Continuous vibrato

We want to be able to have a vibrato that goes ‘through the notes’. A REAL continuous vibrato is vibrato myth nr 1, but we can create the ilusion of a continuous vibrato. You can practice it by trying to keep vibrating in the rhythm while changing fingers in the above exercise.

Practice slowly

You probably heard me saying it a thousand times, but Nicola emphasizes it in her video:

“Slow practice isn’t a holiday for the mind.
It’s when it should be working hardest.
Spend most time in the slow exercises.
Set a timer and be absolutely focussed.”

Yup, I know it’s hard and I know you want to skip to an actual vibrato right away. However, the slow basic exercises will give you the best resulsts no matter your level of violin playing.

Learn Nicola Benedetti's #Vibrato on the #Violin with these tips: #concertviolinist @nickybenedetti Share on X

Learn a Beautiful Vibrato on the Violin

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Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

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Advanced violin vibrato tips

In her second video on vibrato, Benedetti gives some very valuable tips on applying vibrato in music:

Start vibrating before note starts

In this way you have a beautiful vibrato right at the start of the note. It’s a bad habit to start vibrato after the note started.

Ears guide and hands follow

Don’t obsess about doing vibrato according to the book, but use it as a tool of expression. Of course you must do the exercises consistently and practice a lot. Once you got vibrato in your toolbox, let it follow the music and search for the sound you want to create.

Vibrato in high positions

Feel strength between finger and thumb, like strong anchors and free up your hand.

Vibrato on a very high note

Lock your second knuckle to give it some strength (demonstration in the above video).

Practice vibrato in double stops

Free up left hand movement by practicing vibrato in double stops thirds (major and minor thirds). It’s a heavy exercise for your hand, so be careful! Stop and reasses when you experience discomfort or pain.
Except practicing vibrato in third with your first and third finger and second and fourth finger, also practice vibrato in octaves with your first and fourth finger.
It’s important that you free up your thumb and don’t press it against the neck of the violin too hard.

Experiment with different sorts of vibrato to find your own style

It takes years to find your personal vibrato. Take your time and be creative in applying vibrato to music.

What’s your biggest takeaway from Nicola Benedetti’s violin vibrato lessons?

Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.

5 Best Violin Beginner Books

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!

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Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

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4) Fiddler Time Starters

Great colorful book series with CD’s, so you can practice with accompaniment. As mentioned above this is a big advantage. The sequence of the tunes is build up in a good way to teach you the basic technique of violin playing.

I’d say in general the tunes are a bit more modern than in the books mentioned above, that are clearly directed to the classical repertoire.

There are three volumes and more repertoire (concert pieces), scale and accompaniment books you can order on the side. This makes it a very complete method that you can tailor to each individual student.

Personally I think the learning sequence and pace of Sassmanshaus is a bit more consistent and logical, but the Fiddle Time series has a lot of advantages too, like the CD and additional matching books.

What you pick, depends on the style you like. Yup, the look and feel is a bit childish, but adult beginner violinists can certainly learn a lot from these books.

Buy the Fiddler Time Starters book here!

5) Violin Tutor

Looking for a book series that doesn’t look childish and is very classical?

Lots of great violinist have learned to play with the six volumes of the Violin Tutor books by Sándor, Pál Járdányi and Szervánszky. The learning sequence in these books is very good. There are a lot of preparational exercises and a lot of duets, so you can play together.

Children might like a more colorful book with pictures, but adult beginner violinists might prefer this series.

The series is aimed at the classical repertoire, but you can always combine it with a book like Stepping Stones (see above). The easier pieces are a lot of Hungarian and other European folk melodies, which are well known and logical to your ears.

You can certainly build a solid violin technique using these books.

Buy the Violin Tutor book here!

 

Bonus tip: my free beginner course for the violin

I’ve made a beginner book myself that guides my 10 video free violin beginner course. This covers what you learn on the violin in the first three to four months, but is also good to polish up your basic technique.

As a beginner violinist you need to learn so many things at the same time: a relaxed posture and hold of the violin and bow, bowing straight with a decent sound quality and placing your fingers in the right spots.

In my book I start without reading notes. You can play the exercises and tunes by ear from the instruction videos or you can easily read them from the book where I indicate the strings with colors and the fingers with numbers.

After you’re more comfortable with the basic technique, you can start to add note reading and switch to one of the beginner books mentioned above. This is a great sequence to start playing the violin.

Sign up for my FREE 10 lesson violin beginner course including my book here!

What violin beginner book do YOU like best?

Whether you’re a student or teacher, please leave a comment which beginner book you use!

As a child I start on the Violin Tutor book mentioned above combined with Stepping Stones and some separate sheet music from my teacher. 

As a teacher I usually work with Sassmanshaus combined with Stepping Stones. I like the solid technique you build with Sassmanshaus and it’s logical learning sequence. To give students more variation and the possibility to play with CD or piano accompaniment, I think Stepping Stones is great on the side.

I mostly stop after the first or second volume and switch to Wohlfahrt etudes and easy student concerto’s like these. In this way I can tend more to the individual progress and likes of individual students.

Join my FREE beginner violin course

I take you from scratch step by step to your first violin concerto including 40 videos, sheet music and violin tabs.

Sign up!

What’s the Price of a Good Violin Bow for You?

Get the best bow for your buck 😉

You can get violin bows from $ 6 to $ 600,000 and everything in between

How on earth can you decide for what price you can get a good bow for YOU?

A violin bow can make a big difference in your sound quality and ease of bowing.

The price you should be looking for when buying a violin bow depends on your level of playing and your demands.

This article is meant as a guide to what you can expect at what price point. You might want to read my other article about what to look for when buying a violin bow first. That goes more into what difference a bow makes and about the characteristics to look for when choosing a bow.

Here’s what you can expect in a violin bow for what price

Below $ 100

I would only recommend looking in this price range if you’re a beginner and if you REALLY can’t spend more.

Thanks to carbon fiber it’s possible to get a decent violin bow below a hundred bucks. Read here my in depth article about carbon fiber vs wooden violin bows.

I wouldn’t recommend getting a wooden bow below $ 100, because you simply can’t buy the wood quality for a decent bow at that price.

If you’re looking for a very cheap bow, the $ 29 Yinfante is the one in a million bow for you. However, prepare for some uncontrolled actions and work arounds.

To upgrade the bow that came with a factory violin, the Fiddlerman carbon fiber bows are the way to go! You can do anything with it and it won’t hold a beginner violinist back in his/her progress. In my experience these two offer the best bang for your buck in this price range.

My personal favorite in this price range is the Fiddlerman carbon fiber weave violin bow, just below $ 100 with a slightly higer percentage of carbon than the ‘normal’ Fiddlerman carbon bow.

Around $ 500

Expect a student quality bow with which everything is possible, but there won’t be much magic moments and you have to do everything yourself. This can be a great school!

In wooden bows you can get a basic pernambuco bow for around this price, for example made in Brazil. As wooden bows differ very much, also if they are from the same maker, I recommend trying them out in a violin shop. Here’s how to try out bows.

Generally in this price range you get a better quality bow for you money choosing for carbon fiber.

In carbon bows there’s enough to choose from in this price range. The CodaBow Diamond NX is a very nice option for a decent student bow and it’s below $ 400. If you want the traditional look of a wooden bow, but the advantages of carbon, go for a JonPaul.

My personal favorite in this price range is the Müsing C2. It’s easy to handle, makes a great sound and is light and stiff.

Get the Best Bow for your Buck! What's the Price of a Good Violin Bow for You? #violinbow #violinist #violin Share on X

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Let me help you find a great bow for your violin, so you can improve your bowing technique and sound quality:

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Hi! I'm Zlata

Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

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Around $ 1,000

In wooden bows in this price range there are very bad samples that hardly make a good student bow, but if you’re lucky you can get a professional performance bow for this price. Just take the time to visit several violin shops and try out a lot of bows. You might find a gem there.

I don’t link to wooden bows here, as I don’t think it’s responsible to buy a pernambuco bow of around a thousand dollars online. They differ very much in quality and you’ll really have to go to the shop and try them out for yourself. There’s no point in recommending makers, brands or types here. Here’s how to try out bows.

In carbon fiber bows for this price you can get a performance bow that does more for you and makes the more advanced, subtle and fast bowing techniques a lot easier. You can expect a better resonance, which means a larger and brighter tone from your violin without noise.

Look into a JonPaul Carrera if you want a wooden bow look and feel or a CodaBow Diamond GX, which is a very popular all round performance bow.

My personal favorite in this price range is the Müsing C4 or C5. These Germany made bows are stiff, light and offer a brilliant sound.

Higher price classes

You can freak out on the very special Arcus bows and discover a bow that makes everything even easier and makes you feel like a soloist, like star… with amazing sound quality.

This is where we reach the limits of the ‘article’ format. I would like to tell and show you a lot more about violin bows!

Do you want to see and hear it before you believe it?

I’ve got review videos of all bows I mention here

With concert violinist Giedre I demonstrate and discuss the best, the worst, the cheapest, the most expensive, the most popular, the most obscure violin bows on the market. The result is an extensive guide to buying a violin bow.

Download my guide to buying a violin bow here!

Now I’d love to hear from you!

Share in the comments below what kind of bow you have and why you picked it.

I personally play with a very light and stiff Arcus S9 violin bow that makes a great sound out of my old German violin and makes my bowing technique so much easier. It listens like no other.

What to Look for when Buying a Violin Bow?

What difference does a violin bow make?

While a lot of violin players take a lot of care in finding a good instrument and optimizing it with good strings, they sometimes forget that it’s the bow that’s really the voice and mouth of your instrument.

With the bow you color the sound and articulate your musical story.

‘Le violon, c’est l’archet.’

(the violin, it’s the bow) said the famous bow maker François Tourte around 1800. Most bows are still made after the design he developed.

A violin bow greatly influences your sound quality and ease of bowing

Your violin will sound very differently with different bows. When you take the time to try out several violin bows, you’ll notice that they vary greatly in character. Some bows will make things very difficult for you, while with other bows you just have to think it, send the signal to your hand and your bow will follow.

When you start playing, you might not notice the differences and be happy with the bow that ‘came with’ your violin outfit. The more you progress in your violin playing, the more demanding you’ll be to what your bow can or cannot do. You’ll outgrow your current bow and will have to search for a bow that can get your playing to the next level.

How do violin bows differ?

Sound

Your violin, your bow and YOU must be a good match. You don’t only want to know about the sound in general, but you want to know how the response is to accents and dynamics. Play fast and slow pieces,

‘Character’ of the violin bow

How does the bow feel and play? Is it lively? How does it respond to what you think and do in terms of bowing and tone production? This can be a first impression or a general feeling that might be hard to describe, but is very important. Below I talk about the various aspects of the ‘character’.

Carbon fiber vs wood

Bows are made out of wood (brazil or pernambuco) or carbon fiber (carbon composite or carbon fiber). There are also hybrid bows made out of carbon fiber with a pernambuco shell. Read here my in depth article on carbon fiber vs wood.

Weight

You can get a light bow or a heavy bow. The avaverage violin bow is around 60 grams. A bow can actually be heavier in grams, but due to the distribution of the weight it can feel light. The heavier the bow is at the tip, the heavier it will feel.

A heavy bow might feel secure in long bow stroke, but it will be harder to make it jump in spiccato.

A lighter bow can feel very good to play with, but it can also feel nervous.

In wooden bows you often have to choose between ‘heavy and stiff’ and ‘light and slack’. The great thing about good quality high density carbon fiber like Arcus bows, is that it makes it possible to combine stiff and light, making them easy to control and lively at the same time.

Balance

Above I already mentioned weight distribution. A bow that’s heavy at the frog may feel jumpy and nervous, while a bow that’s heavy at the tip might feel secure, but hard to move.

Cheap bows tend to have a balance and it’s very hard to control them. They do stuff without you giving the signal to do it.

Stiff or flexible

A bow that’s too stiff will feel very nervous and is hard to control. A bow that’s too flexible will wobble and when you try to play with a full sound you’ll just push the stick into the hair instead of the hair into the string.

It’s a matter of personal preference and you need to find a good balance that fits the way you play. 

Wow, a violin bow can make a big difference! Here's what to look for when buying one: #violinbow #violinist #violin Share on X

Hi! I'm Zlata

Let me help you find a great bow for your violin, so you can improve your bowing technique and sound quality:

Learn More

Hi! I'm Zlata

Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

READ MORE

How to buy a violin bow?

Check the details

In general you should check the characterics above and the technical details I describe in my 19 checks to buy a violin bow right here. Just read through them on a rainy Sunday afternoon and keep them in the back of your mind when you go and try out bows.

How to try out violin bows

In my article about what to play when buying a violin bow, I’ll tell you exactly how you should select, test and try out bows to find the bow that is the best match for you and your violin.

It’s important to make small selections of bows, play short fragments of music and try out different bowing techniques.

There’s no point in looking at twenty violin bows and playing on each of them for a long time. 

What brands, budget and types to look for?

With concert violinist Giedre I’ve made a video series in which we demonstrate and discuss the best, the worst, the cheapest, the most expensive, the most popular, the most obscure violin bows on the market. The result is an extensive guide to buying a violin bow.

Download my guide to buying a violin bow here!

What was your experience with buying a violin bow and what type of bow did you for?

I personally play with a very light and stiff Arcus S9 violin bow that makes a great sound out of my old German violin and makes my bowing technique so much easier. It listens like no other.

Share in the comments below what kind of bow you have and describe it’s character and why you picked it. Love reading it!