Instruments that are considerably easy for violinists to learn.
It's been a goal of mine to become a worship leader or teach music to young children (singing, not instrumental), and one thing has stood in my way in much the same way that a large scaly fire-breathing dragon might block your car door when you're trying to rush your wife to the hospital to have a baby-- Violin is not an instrument for leading a group with, it's a melody instrument.
Because piano seems like a larger dragon than the guitar, I decided last night to teach myself how to play the guitar. Within a couple hours, I was playing chords from memory and trying some sevenths and stuff like that, and doing some pretty cool rhythms.
My dad was surprised for a few reasons-- 1) He expected me to stop due to the pain of not having calloused-enough fingers for the thicker strings than the violin, 2) He expected me to have the same problem my brother did (a trumpeter/hornist/pianist who had troubles keeping the left/fingering, right/rhythm pattern straight), and 3) I practiced for several hours before going to bed only due to the lateness of the night.
So apparantly, being a violinist before teaching yourself guitar has its advantages-- especially over people who learn a wind instrument first and never get to experience the left fingering/right rhythm pattern.
Has anyone else had experience learning an instrument that is surprisingly easy for violinists to learn? (besides the Guitar Hero game-- that's not really an instrument and doesn't count!)
Replies (16)
Guitar is actually difficult to learn. Yes, at first you think it is simple, but alternate picking and string skipping needs to be practiced a lot. However, as most violinists ignore their right hands anyways, they don't realize this, which is why every violinist/guitarist I know has a severe imbalance between fret and picking hand.
That and the fact that violin type vibrato really doesn't speak on a guitar unless you're using nylon strings.
Guitar is hard and easy both. Easy, because most ears are fine with something like strumming chords with a beginner sound. You can go far with that. On the other hand, classical guitar is at least as hard as classical violin.
A regular mandolin is tuned exactly the same as a violin. Just need to master the pick!
I think that the first stringed instrument is very difficult, but each addition after that is a little easier, at least the beginner and intermediate stages, due to bits that transfer well. Your experience doesn't sound that strange to me; by applying what you already know, expanding on and extrapolating from it, you basically skipped the beginner phase. Were you lucky in an instrument with a small fingerboard or light or nylon strings? so that you hand and fingers didn't scream too soon? Sue
I have the opposite experience. When I was quite young I took piano lessons for a while. Then I played guitar. I played run of the mill acoustic and electric guitar stuff for quite some time, eventually getting bored with it and walking away from music altogether. Then I heard Segovia play a beautiful piece from Albeniz, Leyenda. My heart was awoken and I began my journey with the classical guitar. However, after a spell an overuse injury put an end to this stage of my life. Then I heard Bach's Chaconne for the first time on the violin, and once again I was in love. I turned to the violin and have never looked back. The violin has been by far the easiest instrument for me thus far, and I am not sure why, however I cannot help but think that my prior life with the guitar has lent something of substance to my learning experience. One thing I do love about the violin is that I can at last play in perfect tune. Neither the guitar nor the piano allow this, and it used to always drive me nuts! No, I do not have perfect pitch, but I can tell when something is not in tune and to play an instrument always a bit out of tune is something I was never able to get used to. I love it that the violin lacks frets and so allows me to finger the note dead on. But, what I love most of all about the violin, dearly love, is the degree of expression, the way in which it can so closely and cleverly mimic the human voice. I have never had a voice of my own, so the violin has become my voice.
The mandolin, I hear is easy to play after learning the violin. It has the same strings.
Chris...
What do you mean when you say overuse of the classical guitar ended that part of your life quickly? Did you wear your hands down?
I know this is way out there, but I found the tuba really easy to learn after the violin (and piano). I'm not sure if that has anything to do with knowing the violin though.
Hello:
I play prima domra II (lute) in a folk orchestra. I have taken lessons from a Russina conservatory trained player. My prima domra is tuned like my violin, but has freths like a guitar. So, I'd say it's between those two insturmetns. Unlike a mandonline it isn't double stringed. American's tend to play four stringed domras because so many of us come with violin skills, the Russian folks play three strings. Picking and chromatics have their own strategies. The strings are steel, nasty, blister causing guys. It's important to have hardened finger tips, which, FYI, doesn't interefer with my violin, my true love. It is easy to understand, but still requires appropriate technique. Purchasing one isn't easy.
Rob,
I suffered an injury to the basal joint of my left wrist, an injury that never healed properly because I did not take notice of the problem early enough and assume proper treatment. Apparently cellists may suffer the same fate if they are not careful. Thankfully, it has not affected my playing of the violin. I did, however, have a different injury come about shortly after having begun the violin. This time I got on it right away, worked with my orthopedic surgeon and am now virtually pain-free.
Chris
Rob,
One thing about the violin that has so stuck me as compared to the guitar, especially a nylon-string classical guitar, is the power and projection of the violin. Acoustically, the violin is an amazing device. Any luthier building classical guitars would kill to have just a portion of the power and projection even the average violin is capable of producing. Some more modern classical guitar designs (lattice bracing, etc.) are being put into use, but in gaining volume (and not a lot of volume, really) they give up some of the beauty of the sound that is a classical guitar. With violins, however, some of the most powerful violins are also the most beautiful sounding of violins.
Anyway, I appreciate being able to play an instrument that can shout when I want it to, yet whisper when that is my wish as well. An unamplified guitar can only ever speak or whisper, it can never shout.
Take care and have fun with the guitar.
Chris
Mandolins have the same tuning and range as violins, and are double strung. While the notes are in the same places, plectrum technique is not simplistic. Just as in the vioin, the notes come from the left hand, and the art from the right. A well-set-up mandolin will toughen your fingertips, but should not casue much problem after the first month or so of regular playing.
There are differing types of mandolins. The ones most folks in the US will find are of the Gibson type, favored for bluegrass and old-time music. The scale length is about 14 inches, an inch longer than the violin. The Italian bowlbacks, which are generally favored by classical mandolinists, have the shorter 13" scale. The sound is quite different from the Gibsons, and they are much more lightly strung.
So, I was watching some videos on YouTube, and I stumbled across this Paganini 24 on the Guitar.. wow...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=98y0Q7nLGWk&mode=related&search=
it's insane....
I picked up several instruments after I started taking violin lessons, the first of which was flute. The fingering is absolutely backwards compared to a violin (more fingers = lower instead of higher notes), but the ability to move all fingers independently of each other meant that I picked it up quite quickly.
As for an instrment that didn't work--
Trombone.
This had little to do with being because I played violin, though, it was more to do with the fact that I couldn't read the bass clef. Cello probably would have been an easier move, and then trombone after learning the bass clef on the cello. Or even simply playing violin off the bass clef, 15ma.
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August 22, 2007 at 04:08 AM · I learned to play the domra (a nifty little Russian mandolin-type thing) in fifteen minutes at some Russian cultural fair last year. Again, it's tuned the same as a violin, and now I can truthfully say I am a moderately competent domra player. (Not that I've ever played one since, mind you...) :-D