This is something I myself learned wrong at first and after that learned to do it well.

There are three ways to place your fingers on the string:

One way is to place your finger on the string as softly as possible and to use very little tension. The downside of this way is that the finger placement becomes very insecure, vage and you don’t hear a good articulation coming from your lef hand.

You need to use some force to hit the string to the fingerboard. That leads us to the second way: People use a lot of tension and force to squeeze the string onto the fingerboard. You get a more clean sound, but your left hand will cramp after a while. That’s also not the way to do it.

The third and (in my opinion) best way is to hit your fingers on the fingerboard. In this way your intonation will also improve.

You need to hold your violin or viola in a relaxed way. You need to keep your left arm under the violin or viola in a relaxed way.

Your left hand fingers however need to be very strong and sporty. Without the bow you need to be able to hear your finger tips hitting the string, which hits the fingerboard. The strings should slap on the fingerboard a little, as if you are hitting a fly with your finger tip.

In this way your left hand will be relaxed, your finger tips won’t hurt and your intonation (playing in tune) will be more accurate. 

Perhaps you can analyze for yourself what way you are placing your fingers and if you can make some improvements with the tips from this video.

Is this video helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments below! If you like it, share it with your friends!

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Love,

Zlata

PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin & Viola TV episode to answering your question!