Select Page

First Notes you Learn on the Violin as a Beginner

Start playing the violin with these easy finger patterns to play your first notes and scales

(sheet music and finger chart included)

On every instrument, certain scales are easier to play than others. This is because some scales involve more complicated finger patterns. For violinists these finger patterns are called hand frames, meaning where the fingers are in relation to each other (in other words, whether there is a whole step or a half step between each finger). When starting violin, it is easiest to learn your first notes in the context of scales, because then you learn to understand the patterns and not just random facts. Beginner violinists start by learning three one-octave scales that all have the same hand frame: A major, D major, and G major (see below). Most beginner violin pieces, including all of Suzuki Book 1, are in one of these keys. Practicing them will prepare you to play dozens of different songs!

What Hand Frame are we Using?

If you have tapes on your violin fingerboard, they’re probably set to the notes required for these three scales. Violinists start by learning high 2 first, meaning second finger touches third finger. Later on you will also learn low 2, which touches first finger.
In case you are not sure which finger number is which, index finger is first, middle finger is second, ring finger is third, and pinky is fourth. You do not have to use the fourth finger for these three scales. In first position, 4th fingers are the same as the next highest open string (i.e. fourth finger D is an A) so you can just use open strings.

One-octave A major, D major, and G major all use the exact same pattern, but on different strings. A major uses A and E, D major uses D an A, and G major uses G and D.

First scales you learn on the violin in sheet music

Here’s how to play these first scales on the violin

and how they sound, so you can play along

First notes on the violin in sheet music

The one octave major scales above have the same finger pattern. Here’s a summary of the first notes you learn per violin string:

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!

Hi! I'm Zlata

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

READ MORE

Finger chart for the first notes on the violin

Now that you know which strings and notes to use, you can work out the finger placements from this chart:

This is just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to scales. Check out my free book Sensational Scales for lots more scales, arpeggios, and exercises for beginner through advanced players.

Shifting vs Glissando vs Portamento on the Violin: What’s the difference?

Learn four different ways of changing positions on the violin

So, you started your violin journey a while ago now. You’ve learned several pieces, scales, and you are comfortable with different positions (at least first and third). Perhaps you’ve even started working on vibrato. Now that you have these basics down, why not spice things up a bit? For example, why not learn how to add various kinds of expression to your shifts? In this article we will discuss the best way to execute regular shifts, but also ways to add juicy stylistic flair, also known as glissando and portamento.

Regular Shifts

Regular shifting is the most basic form of changing positions on the violin. When shifting, the “old finger” lifts off the string slightly but not completely. By sliding lightly along the string the old finger guides the hand to the new position. Lifting the finger just enough so that it does not make a sound disguises the shift. Many students disregard guide fingers, which makes their shifting insecure and inconsistent.

A good example of clean shifting with guide fingers is found in the opening of the Mendelssohn concerto. In the second measure of the solo part, Hilary Hahn shifts from second to fourth position by keeping first finger on the string during the shift. You may want to watch in slow motion to catch this!

Jump Shifts

If you have a big shift of five positions or more, there is not always time to slide on the guide finger, especially if there is a string crossing involved. Any time all the fingers leave the string (intentionally!) during the shift, it is called a jump shift. Jump shifts should be practiced very slowly and methodically because it is challenging to land in the same spot every time. Additionally, you can use visual/physical landmarks such as where your left hand is in relation to the edge of the violin to remember what position you’re going to.

Beethoven’s beautiful Romance No. 2 in F Major has some examples of jump shifts. At one point, the melody goes from an open G straight to a high F in 5th position on the E string—a jump of three octaves! In this recording, Capuçon is already in third position on the D string (in order to vibrate open G) then he lifts all his fingers, changes to E string and only has to go up two positions. Again, watch in slow motion to really see the shift.

Click here to watch the video example.

Glissando vs. Portamento

The stylistic components of violin playing have changed greatly over the years. A hundred years ago, sliding audibly between shifts was popular because it sounded sweet and emotional. This heart-on-your-sleeve technique gave every violinist a unique sound. Today, playing cleanly is more encouraged, but it is important to know how to use slides tastefully. There are two main types which often get confused: glissandi and portamenti. Both words describe sliding between two notes, but in different ways.

In sheet music, a glissando is marked by a straight line between two notes. In solo music adding a glissando is often a stylistic choice and may not be marked at all. Glissandi are found in both solo and orchestral music. Below is a recording of Sensemaya by Ravueltas, a dramatic modern piece based on a poem about killing a snake. At the climax, watch how the first violins are sliding up and down the G string, adding color, texture, and energy to the orchestra.

Portamento means “to carry”, and is shorter and more subtle than a glissando. 20th-century violinists added portamenti to their shifts all the time. There are two basic ways to do portamenti. In the first, you slide on the old finger and place the new finger only after reaching the new position. In the second way, you change fingers half-way through the slide. For example, say you are sliding on the A string from 1st finger B (first position) to second finger E (third position). Start the slide on the first finger, then put second finger down and complete the slide into the E. It will help if you use the flat part of the fingers instead of trying to balance on the tip.

FREE Violin Scale Book

Sensational Scales is a 85 page violin scale book that goes from simple beginner scales with finger charts all the way to all three octave scales and arpeggios

Download!

Hi! I'm Zlata

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

READ MORE

Going back to Hilary Hahn’s Mendelssohn, she uses this second type of portamento in the opening of the second movement. At the end of the solo part’s first measure she shifts from B to A, putting the third finger down half-way through the slide.

The differences between glissandi and portamenti can be subtle, but a skilled player knows what is tasteful and appropriate. Do you have a favorite violin shifting technique? What about a favorite early 20th-century violinist? Please share any thoughts and tips below!

How to Play Trills on the Violin

In this guide to violin trills you’ll learn how to trill, on or above the notes and the types of trills there are on the violin:

When young students first embark on their violin journey and notice their teachers doing some mysterious technique, they often excitedly want to try it right away themselves. For example, watching an advanced violinist execute a clean, sharp trill always prompts students to ask, “How did you do that?” Unfortunately, if they try it on their own they quickly become frustrated, because they do not yet know how to really make trill sound good.
Although it is important to have a teacher’s feedback on this, I hope this article will shed some light on what trills are for and how to practice them.

What are Trills?

A trill in music is when you oscillate (rapidly go back and forth) between two notes that are either a whole step or a half step apart. The different types of trills are also called ornamentations.

Ornamentations were an incredibly important part of Baroque performance practice. Baroque musicians typically embellished while they played, so they need to be fluent in all the types of trills and what would be tasteful. The rules of Baroque ornamentation were incredibly complex, and some of them are not even used anymore. Baroque composers such as Bach made entire tables of what all their ornamentation markings meant, but to go through them all would be more confusing than helpful. Sometimes when a particular type of trill is called for, editors will show a little example beneath the music. For example, many editions of Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas have demonstrations in the margins for particular trills.

Types of Trills

Pictured above is an example of Bach’s table. For our purposes, we are interested in the first four examples. (1) is the standard trill marking still used today. If you simply see tr written in the music, that means the same thing. You will also sometimes see (2), which indicates a simpler one-note turn called a mordent. Bach’s example has a vertical slash through it, meaning it is a lower mordent. A short squiggle without the slash would indicate an upper mordant (in this example, moving from C up to D). (4) is also very common. The other markings are more obscure today and relevant mostly if you are specializing in Baroque music.

It is important to mention that Bach’s system is only one of many, and other Baroque composers would give very different examples for each symbol. In case of doubt, follow any explicit markings in the music, the expertise of your teacher or ensemble leader, and your own sense of musical taste.

Half Step or Whole Step?

This is the most important question to ask when learning a piece with trills. Playing a half step instead of a whole step would change the entire feel of the melody. As a general rule, trill within the key signature. What does this mean? Say you are playing a piece in C major, no sharps or flats. You come to a B-natural with a trill marking over it. You should trill to C-natural, because C-sharp is not in the key signature. If the composer ever has a different intention, there will usually be a little flat or sharp sign above the note. Don’t hesitate to listen to good recordings if you are still unsure!

Trilling On or Above the Note?!?

Although the previous question was the most important, this is the most controversial! To this day, scholars argue about how trills from different eras should be played. Treatises from the mid-seventeen hundreds give many examples of starting a trill above or below the note, but rarely on the note. There were a few exceptions, such as when the main note of the trill began the melody. This convention must have changed over time however, because in 1830 Thomas Lindsay wrote, “Theorists are not agreed whether [the trill] should begin with the main or upper note; it is, therefore, as often performed one way as the other.” In 1828, pianist J. N. Hummel first suggested playing the main note first because it is the most important. Violinist Louis Spohr adopted this rule as well.

How to trill also depends on which “school” of violin playing you are using. The French school emphasizes trilling above the notes, while the Russians prefer a strong start on the main note.

How to Practice Trills

Practicing trills regularly will improve your left hand balance and set-up. There are several exercises to help with this. Start with first and second finger and alternate between the two. For this exercise, lift the first finger when you play the second (even though you would never do this during an actual trill!) Blend the two notes into one sound.
When actually playing trills, keep your lower fingers down. This means that if you are trilling between third and fourth finger, first and second fingers should be on the string as well. Also, when lifting fingers lift them in the same shape you put them down in, rather than going up to the ceiling or straightening. Trill with light left hand fingers but a strong sound in the bow.

Lastly, lift your trill finger as quickly as you put it down. This will create a very crisp and precise sound.

Practicing Trills, with a Metronome

You knew the metronome was going to come up eventually didn’t you? Once you have the feel of trills, this is a great way to get them up to speed. Set the metronome around 60 bpm. Trill once at the beginning of each click, remembering to lift the finger quickly. Then do two trills, three trills, etc. In pieces, most trills are very fast (think tremolo speed) but may be a little more moderate depending on context.

Trills in Famous Violin Pieces

Trills add sparks of excitement to many beautiful violin pieces at all levels. The most famous example is Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” Sonata. The difficult trill passages come in the final movement. In the score Tartini wrote, “Trillo del diavolo al pie del letto”— The trill of the devil at the foot of the bed.

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor features extended trills at the beginning of the third movement. The trills build expectation and transition into the frolicking rondo theme.

FREE Violin Scale Book

Sensational Scales is a 85 page violin scale book that goes from simple beginner scales with finger charts all the way to all three octave scales and arpeggios

Download!

Hi! I'm Zlata

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

READ MORE

A less intimidating but still beautiful example is the second movement of Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto in C Major. The soloist, after a long chromatic passage, crescendos into ethereal trills that weave their way back to the main theme to close the piece.

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the history and execution of trills! Comment what your favorite piece with trills is, or any tips you have for practicing them!

What are Violin Arpeggios? (and why should you practice them)

Scales and arpeggios are great to improve your violin technique

Whether you just started playing or you are practicing violin arpeggios for years already, in this article you’ll learn how arpeggios are structured and why it’s so important to practice them.

Introducing Violin Arpeggios

If you have taken a serious interest in violin, whether on your own or with a teacher, you have probably heard many times by now, “You have to practice scales!” This is true: scales lay the groundwork for all your future pieces and help you understand where all the notes are on the fingerboard. If you practice them consistently and in different patterns, your playing will become more fluent and confident.

Here’s the catch though: only doing scales is not enough. Arpeggios also form a major part of violin repertoire.

What does that mean exactly? Arpeggios are broken chords that use the chord tones in a scale. In other words, imagine a C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Say you want to play a C major arpeggio. The C major triad is C, E, G, so a one-octave C major arpeggio would be C, E, G, C. (In exercises arpeggios usually end on the tonic, but remember in music there will often be incomplete arpeggios as well.)

On the violin, arpeggios can go for one, two, three, or sometimes four octaves.

Like scales, you should use arpeggios for practicing multiple things, including bow technique. We will go into this more in a moment when we talk about how to practice arpeggios.

Why should you practice arpeggios on the violin?

Perhaps you feel you already have enough to practice. Maybe just playing scales is so helpful you don’t see a reason to add arpeggios. I guarantee that doing both will give you the fastest improvement. Arpeggios teach you finger patterns that scales don’t because in arpeggios you have to skip notes. Arpeggios also help with jump shifts and silently finding the right notes. You will most definitely encounter arpeggios in any level of repertoire you are learning, so why not begin working on them now?

Examples of arpeggios is violin music

For example here are three excerpts from the Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, and Kabalevsky concertos. All the arpeggios here are very fast and performed best when they are practiced out of context first.

How to Practice Violin Arpeggios

Practicing violin arpeggios to improve intonation (playing in tune)

As mentioned previously, you can practice arpeggios many different ways. Initially, just play each note separately to get the intonation and shifting if there is any. To practice the jump shifts in arpeggios, always shift keeping the old finger down. Slide the finger along the string audibly from the lower pitch to the higher pitch to make sure you are hitting it correctly before trying to do it silently. Even in silent shifts, the finger still stays on the string but with less pressure so a sound is not produced. If you take your finger completely off the string while shifting, there is no guarantee you will correctly hit the next note. Another common pitfall is breaking the contact of the bow and the string while shifting. People do this as a way to “hide” the shift, but it actually just lessens the tone quality of the arpeggio. Similarly, it is important to use more pressure at the tip so your arpeggio does not fade away at the top.

Practicing violin arpeggios in martelé bow strokes

Practicing in martelé is a good way develop strong tone quality in every part of the bow. Practice with three, six, and nine martele per bow. Similarly, practicing in rhythms helps coordinate left hand speed, bow action, and shifting. The rhythm combinations you can choose are almost endless, but the most common are short-long and long-short. Make sure on the short notes your bow catches the string with a little bit of a bite so you are always getting the best sound.

Practicing violin arpeggios for bowing technique

Arpeggios also help us learn a wide variety of bowing techniques. If you are new to arpeggios, start with just separate bows in martelé and detaché first. Then slur together three, six, nine, etc. Some teachers ask their students to get to up and down twice in one bow. The more notes you have per slur, the faster your left hand has to be and the slower your bow speed should be.
When you can execute slurred legato arpeggios with good intonation and solid tone, consider trying some of the following: slurred rhythms, upbow staccato, little detaché’s at the frog (great for flexibility of the right hand fingers), and collé.

The left hand can get pretty complicated during arpeggios (all those shifts and string crossings!) which can distract from getting a focused sound with the bow. It is always better to play arpeggios slowly with a strong, beautiful tone before trying to go faster.

How Violin Arpeggios are Structured

As we discussed previously, all arpeggios are simply broken chords.

In a chord the notes are placed above each other in the sheet music and they are played at the same time. In an arpeggio the notes are played one by one starting on the lowest note. Sometimes in sheet music arpeggios are written like chords, but with a vertical wave next to them or with a tremolo notation like in the picture.

This means that no matter what scale you are playing, if you don’t have arpeggio sheet music you can always figure out what the arpeggio should be if you know the chord. Most arpeggios are based on the major or minor scales, but advanced books will also include diminished arpeggios and seventh chords, which helps with learning different finger placements.

A triad is a three-note chord built on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of its parent scale. For example, the easiest scale to play on violin is A Major: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A. What are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale degrees? A, C#, E. The full arpeggio would add the high A at the top. This way of structuring arpeggios is the same no matter how many octaves you are playing.

A Side Note on Minor Arpeggios

If you have already been playing scales for a while, you may know that there are three types of minor scale: natural, harmonic, and melodic. You might be wondering, “how does this affect the arpeggios? Do I need to learn three different kinds?” No, actually, you don’t! Harmonic and melodic minor alter the sixth and seventh scale degrees. Since arpeggios use scale degrees 1, 3, and 5, the minor arpeggio will be the same for every type of minor scale.

Most common arpeggios to practice on the violin

The most common arpeggios on the violin go with the most common scales: G, A, D, and C. G Major is the easiest to start with because it starts on the lowest open string. For advanced violinists, there is a whole cycle of arpeggios for each given key. This is demonstrated in the Carl Flesh scale system. The cycle of arpeggios for G Major is: G Minor, G Major, E Minor, C Major, C Minor, G diminished, and G dominant seventh. Why do this whole cycle instead of just G Major? Because it moves through multiple related finger patterns and develops left hand flexibility faster. The E Minor, C Major, and C Minor arpeggios are inverted to fit better with G Major. Inverting a chord means putting a note other than the root, such as the third or fifth, on the bottom of the chord. Here’s an overview of how the G major arpeggios are structured:

Books for Learning Scales and Arpeggios

I’ve linked up the most popular violin scale books below, so you can easily buy the book of your choice and start practicing violin arpeggios.

There are SO many systems out there for learning arpeggios, especially at the beginner level. If you use a system like Suzuki and Sassmanshaus, you will learn scales in a very particular order connected to the pieces you learn. This is better than trying to learn them all at once, which can be overwhelming and mess up your intonation if you attempt them all before solidifying a few.

For advancing beginners and intermediate players, Hrimaly, Fischer, and Sevcik are good choices. Excellent new-comers are Serrano scales and Barber. A free option is my book Sensational Scales which you can download right here.

The two major scale systems used by advanced violinists are Flesch and Galamian. These are very extensive systems that incorporate scales, arpeggio patterns, chromatic scales, thirds, sixths, octaves, harmonics, and everything in between.

Do you practice violin arpeggios?

Let me know what book you’re using in the comments!

FREE Violin Scale Book

Sensational Scales is a 85 page violin scale book that goes from simple beginner scales with finger charts all the way to all three octave scales and arpeggios

Download!

All Violin Notes in the First Position for Beginners

Find all the notes on the violin as a beginner violinist with this finger chart and sheet music

If you are just getting started on violin, it may seem intimidating to watch videos of great violinists and watch their fingers rapidly move up and down the instrument. You can and will learn how to do this, but for now take comfort in knowing that there are many pieces you can play just in first position. To do that though still requires a firm basis in note reading, accidentals, and changing between hand frames. In this article, we’ll go over all the notes in first position, how to know which finger to use, and clear up some common confusions such as high 2’s vs. low 2’s and how to treat enharmonic pitches.

First Position Violin Finger Chart

To start off, here is a chart of all the notes in first position that we will reference throughout the article:

High Vs. Low

As you can see, there are multiple positions for each finger. We differentiate between the positions by calling them “low”, “normal”, or “high”. If you have finger tapes, your tapes are on normal 1, high 2, normal 3, and normal 4. There is actually no such thing as normal 2, because 2 will either touch 1 or 3. So we just refer to these as low or high 2. Remembering which to use is a big challenge for beginners, so look carefully at the fingering chart.

Fingering Enharmonics

This fingering chart shows low 1, normal 1, low 2, high 2, normal 3, high 3, and four. Are there other combinations? Absolutely. For example, instead of playing D#/Eb with high 3, you could use a low 4. There are all kinds of ways to change things up, but the chart gives everything you need for knowing where every note in first position is.

That being said, it is important to think your fingerings through carefully when dealing with enharmonic pitches. An enharmonic is a note that could be written two different ways in the music, but is technically the same pitch. I say “technically” because on violin it is possible to tune them differently! For example, D# and Eb on a piano are the exact same key. On violin, however, minute adjustments can be made to make the pitch more accurate in its tonal context. There isn’t an easier way to explain this so here goes: Eb should be slightly lower than D#. When choosing fingerings, follow this general rule: Use lowered fingers for flats (such as low 4 in this case) and raised fingers for sharps. There will be situations where this rule will not work, but it’s a good place to start for intonation.

All the First Position Violin Notes

To help with the chart, here are all the notes listed out in order by string, as well as the notes on the staff:

G string violin notes in the first position

G: open G
G#/Ab: low 1
A: normal 1
A#/Bb: low 2
B: high 2
C: normal 3
C#/Db: high 3
D: normal 4

D string violin notes in the first position

D: open D
D#/Eb: low 1
E: normal 1
F: low 2
F#/Gb: high 2
G: normal 3
G#/Ab: high 3
A: normal 4

A string violin notes in the first position

A: open A
A#/Bb: low 1
B: normal 1
C: low 2
C#/Db: high 2
D: normal 3
D#/Eb: high 3
E: normal 4

E string violin notes in the first position

E: open E
F: low 1
F#/Gb: normal 1
G: low 2
G#/Ab: high 2
A: normal 3
A#/Bb: high 3
B: normal 4

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!

Hi! I'm Zlata

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

READ MORE

Sheet Music of All Violin Notes in the First Position

Notice that the sheet music does not include all the enharmonic pitches, but they are provided on the fingerboard chart.

Would you like to start playing the violin?

Take my free beginner course right here!