I do recommend the books, personally I have book collection 2. Thank you, I have been playing the violin 1Year and 7 months but have been watching this channel for 4 and a half years
Thank you! Every other video I've found on the internet says you HAVE to use a shoulder rest, even if my teacher says it's okay not to if it feels comfortable and straining; and to hear you say you don't use one for those reasons is very reassuring, and I think very helpful for people who are learning just from the internet.
Thankyou sooo much. I was trying to hold the violin up and yes a death grip. you have just accelerated my learning, and by following your lessons here, I am now able to sustain a clear and somewhat wobble free note, currently doing scales starting on the A going to E first position. xx keep up the amazing work xx
I have been playing violin for 3 years and had to stop lessons due to instructor getting COVID. I have a problem gripping too hard on the neck. I bet I looked at 20 people on line showing how to hold it but yours was the best because I needed to see the gap between my hand and the neck. I'm gonna buy your 30 lessons and start from scratch! Thank you!!
i believe for some beginners, (or at least in my experience) getting the violin to rest comfortably and stably (stable-y?) at the neck-shoulder region takes a while, so until then they hold the violin neck in the V between the thumb and index finger to support the neck; and by the time the neck/shoulder grip is done, it might be too late to change the hand grip around the violin neck
I started learning via Zoom with a borrowed - very old & quite valuable - violin. Took me ages to find a comfortable shoulder rest, and was terrified of dropping the instrument! So I developed that bent wrist habit to hold up the neck, and now - even with my own violin and comfortable shoulder rest - I’m having to work hard on keeping my wrist straight. This video is really helpful in explaining & showing that air gap!
I appropriated your directions on holding the violin with my left hand, and I instantly felt that my 4th finger was stronger and better able to press the strings. This gives me a little more confidence that I will someday be able to complete your 1-30 lessons....because I was losing my confidence right quick! I was becoming stymied on using my 4th finger---it felt so weak. I still haven't found a totally comfortable way to hold the violin on my shoulder, but I will keep pressing on until I find something that works and feels totally comfortable and stable! Thank you so much! I am a raw beginner on this instrument (but I can read music)!
Your camera angles are great- I think the key to the thumb and index placement is the direction of the hold between the two points- compressing the neck on either side of the neck will lock up your hand as opposed to more of an over the fingerboard and below the neck sensation. Your left hand can be in the exact same position on the violin, but the "direction" of the grasp (side to side vs. over and under) can be totally different. Thanks for your video.
Alison thank you. This video has been really useful. The death grip is one of my biggest hurdles. Having listened to what you have said I think my problem is with my shoulder rest / chin rest combination as my violin feels unstable.
Thanks for this lesson. I’m left handed learning to play like a right handed person. It’s taken me a couple of years to realize it, but I think I’m gripping with my left hand as sort of a crutch because I’m afraid of dropping the violent. Your video is helpful.
This comment might not be appropriate because I’ve included a link to one of your competitors but one of my main struggles and something that was brushed off by my violin teacher was skin friction. The pads on my thumbs (and fingertips) are very slick. The only way that I could keep the violin from slipping out of my hand was to use the grip of death. No amount of practice and no technique could allow me to hold the violin the “right way”. It was a mystery to me for many, many years and then I saw a video that explained that violin players have sufficient skin friction. One of your competitors mentions this at 6:40 in this video: ua-cam.com/video/04UHMwCeO9M/v-deo.html I still play as a hobby and just for myself. The neck of my violin rests on the lower part of my thumb (near my hand). It’s not an ideal compromise but I still enjoy playing.
Hellooo ma'am, I've completed lesson 10😄. My father gifted me the song book 1 for my birthday on Feb 17😍😍😍. It is so useful😀. You are sooo good 😍😍. Thank you so much for your lessons 🥰🥰🥰. First comment 😅 -love from India 🥰🥰🥰
For me, base below the 1st finger touches the lower part of fret. So I am finding it difficult to play notes like BCnatural and F#D on strings A & E. Intonation suffers. Thanks for pointing about the gap at the arch of thumb and fret. I find my movements freeing and easier to play on E and A.
I have a question that I'm not sure if anyone has asked - how hard am I supposed to press on the strings? Sometimes, I feel like pushing too hard is causing a distortion in the sound and other times, I think it's a problem with my bowing.
I feel the same. It feels like if I press any lighter that I won't be pushing onto the fingerboard enough to create the right note, but at the tension I am pressing, when vibrato eventually comes into play, I won't be relaxed enough.
Great video like always Alison! As a non-shoulder rest Violinist I wanted to ask if you have any idea why left hand tension especially on the G string is caused. I thought maybe because the violin is too "horizontal".
Hard to say as I would have to really see whats going on here. Totally depends on how your holding the violin, where it is, the bow, your hand grip etc etc.
I love all of your videos Alison. I actually changed my work schedule to fit in violin practice time every day. Wish I could practice all night and try and get it just right... Really addicting. I'm confused about where the thumb should go? Some people say plant it under the nut and other people say put it between the pointer and middle finger, seems to be no consensus on the matter. I notice your thumb moves around so I try and keep mine fluid.
It doesn't matter as such where the thumb goes. If your following my course, do it the way I do. Some hold more with the pad of the thumb (like me) and thats ok - and some hold with the thumb more in the groove of the hand - and thats ok too. Whatever you do, stick with it - but neither are wrong and both are right. Just personal pref. Do whatever the teacher/course/person you are learning from does otherwise you'll be getting conflicting information all over the show, which is very detrimental to your learning. Most videos that tell you how to hold or do whatever technique, will only explain their way and one assumes any other way is wrong - but I always make a point of telling folks what 'I' do and teaching that, but I also inform my audience there are other ways and demonstrate that (if possible or im physically able) so you all know there is more than one way to skin a cat. Hope that answers your question.
Thank you so much :D it does. There is a LOT to playing the violin. I try thinking about holding the violin and bow like archery with a bow and arrow. If you don't hold the bow and arrow the same way every time you can never shoot consistently. It's really actually existential with how many ways there are to do it. I'm still trying to wrap my head around finding one way to do it right with the violin and know I'm doing it right. I got your whole 1-30 course and I love it so. Thank you so much for replying:) I wish there was some way I could thank you enough for the videos and lessons. It's an amazing program and I can't wait to tell people in three years or so that Alison the Online Piano and Violin Tutor taught me everything.
Update, oh flip, i just did that? yup i went up the scale no worries, ok now to practice going down, hmm tricky, just have to work out how to make these stubborn arthritus fingers do what they are told. dont panic i might be rude to my fingers lol, yeah, getting it. x
I stopped using a shoulder rest but am finding vibrato difficult - I'm just at the point where I need the last push in terms of speed I reckon. Sometimes I worry my finger is sliding during the vibrato cos I'm trying not to grip? Agh. Does the last bit of vibrato take a bit of time to perfect?
Out of interest, does anyone know how you can record your electric violin on an android mobile phone or windows laptop? Thank you for any answers in advance! (I'm a beginner but it's cool to listen to what you've done to learn from your mistakes sometimes).
Do your violin lesson books comes with cds or any media that makes possible listening to the lessons/music? One thing that makes me actually "play" is when I "read" and listen at the same time,because I still can´t play looking at sheet music, I have to read and play slowly to memorize the whole song, so I can play by ear and not looking at sheet music. Thanks! Another great video!
You should definitely invest time in learning to read music, including sight-reading. Just memorizing will leave you at a huge disadvantage, and you will stall in your progress.
I watched this hoping to understand how hard to press on the STRINGS. I've played guitar, and I've been pressing down on the violin strings hard, similar to how I do on my guitar, and I've lightened up a few times and am now beginning to wonder if I've just been mashing down on the neck way too hard. Are you supposed to press only as hard as it takes to get the note, that is, very lightly? I realize this is a newbie question, but I can't find anything in your channel and I've searched for "press" and "pressure."
I've just watched "3 Common Violin Mistakes/Issues - PART 3" and she's sort of addressed this issue in there in the 3rd issue, especially when talking about 3rd position--that is, you need to press harder, and showed the marks in the pads of her fingers. So that helps a bit, but it would be great to have a longer discussion about it, and related to that--Do violinists develop calluses on their fingertips like guitarists do? Her fingertips looked relatively soft so I'm thinking not, but it would be nice to know. With guitar, it was much easier to play after I'd developed calluses, but you have to keep playing to maintain the calluses, and that makes it slippery to play the piano, which I also play.....Thanks Alison for everything here !!
I just have one question as a beginner, when I do vibrato and I have to relese the violin from the base of my left index finger to prevent "shaking" but how do I keep it from falling forward? I'm holding it with my neck but not with a death grip but should that be enough?
Im assuming you have over 1 years of full violin playing experience and the basics are fully down and learned? If that is the case, the violin will not shake. It shakes when you attempt vibrato far too soon before the basics have been fully mastered...and I don't mean that you understand the basics, but that they have had time to properly mature and only time can do that.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor okay, thank you for the advice and for actually replying! didn't expect that tbh. I learned violin 8 years ago and just picked it up again so I am around 2 month experiance mark I would currently say so I am just too focused on perfection rather than experiance. thank you very much again for your advice and have a good day every day!
I've been playing a long time. Self taught fiddler. I'd like to learn some classical, and thinking of doing your course. Been trying the last few days to get a correct position, but my neck hurts and even with a shoulder rest, the violin is slipping. I can't be clamping down on the chin rest, or I'll quickly get a headache. I've been watching your videos , but I'm stuck at square one, because of this issue. I have to solve this or I won't get a good vibrato. Vibrato is easy for me if I hold the violin like a cello or a guitar. So the problem has to be my neck, shoulder and chin.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor I use a shoulder rest, and have experimented a lot over the years. Saw some other videos that gave me some other ideas. I'll keep at it.
fwiw - I don't have a shoulder rest yet, so I've been using a rolled-up kitchen towel. It drapes over my collar bone, a bit down from my shoulder and allows me to get the fiddle to settle in at a nice 10:00 where I don't have to crank my head very much or pull it back. (Neck isn't as supple as it was... some years ago.) I know my fiddle is angled to far forward to be "correct," but it's still reasonably "classical." I'm three weeks into the course and the first two, I spent a LOT of time figuring out how to hold the darn thing.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor you are right. I can play a bit but unable to improve my skills just because I couldn't give it enough time.... Your lessons are very good really... I play the violin in Pakistani way though
yeah I'm 57 and just started to learn I ordered Allison's books and I'm just about ready to start on the lessons of songbook 1 loving it I don't think age has anything to do with it just put your mind on to some days will be easy and some days will be a little harder but just keep at it the more you do and practice you'll notice you'll start getting better and better and you will feel very well. And make sure that you order Allison's books they will help you out a lot
I do recommend the books, personally I have book collection 2. Thank you, I have been playing the violin 1Year and 7 months but have been watching this channel for 4 and a half years
👏 Speaking of shoulder rests: I use a 59-cent cellulose sponge scrubber as a shoulder rest. It's about 1/4 inch thick, and is quite comfortable 😊 🎻♫
Thank you for going over again the basics I believe that it keeps us sharp. Thank Ralph
I have said before how amazing I think your lessons are, today I say how amazing your smile is😊 absolutely beautiful
Somehow you always manage to make the exact video i am in need of at the time. I have been searching for a good video explaining this all week
Thank you! Every other video I've found on the internet says you HAVE to use a shoulder rest, even if my teacher says it's okay not to if it feels comfortable and straining; and to hear you say you don't use one for those reasons is very reassuring, and I think very helpful for people who are learning just from the internet.
Thankyou sooo much. I was trying to hold the violin up and yes a death grip. you have just accelerated my learning, and by following your lessons here, I am now able to sustain a clear and somewhat wobble free note, currently doing scales starting on the A going to E first position. xx keep up the amazing work xx
I have been playing violin for 3 years and had to stop lessons due to instructor getting COVID. I have a problem gripping too hard on the neck. I bet I looked at 20 people on line showing how to hold it but yours was the best because I needed to see the gap between my hand and the neck. I'm gonna buy your 30 lessons and start from scratch! Thank you!!
i believe for some beginners, (or at least in my experience) getting the violin to rest comfortably and stably (stable-y?) at the neck-shoulder region takes a while, so until then they hold the violin neck in the V between the thumb and index finger to support the neck; and by the time the neck/shoulder grip is done, it might be too late to change the hand grip around the violin neck
I started learning via Zoom with a borrowed - very old & quite valuable - violin. Took me ages to find a comfortable shoulder rest, and was terrified of dropping the instrument! So I developed that bent wrist habit to hold up the neck, and now - even with my own violin and comfortable shoulder rest - I’m having to work hard on keeping my wrist straight. This video is really helpful in explaining & showing that air gap!
I'm definitely a wrist up, tight gripper. More stuff to keep working on. At least my scales are coming along decently.
Thank you for the very clear instruction. I just acquired my first violin. I am so excited to find your videos.
I appropriated your directions on holding the violin with my left hand, and I instantly felt that my 4th finger was stronger and better able to press the strings. This gives me a little more confidence that I will someday be able to complete your 1-30 lessons....because I was losing my confidence right quick! I was becoming stymied on using my 4th finger---it felt so weak. I still haven't found a totally comfortable way to hold the violin on my shoulder, but I will keep pressing on until I find something that works and feels totally comfortable and stable! Thank you so much! I am a raw beginner on this instrument (but I can read music)!
Your camera angles are great- I think the key to the thumb and index placement is the direction of the hold between the two points- compressing the neck on either side of the neck will lock up your hand as opposed to more of an over the fingerboard and below the neck sensation. Your left hand can be in the exact same position on the violin, but the "direction" of the grasp (side to side vs. over and under) can be totally different. Thanks for your video.
Alison thank you. This video has been really useful. The death grip is one of my biggest hurdles. Having listened to what you have said I think my problem is with my shoulder rest / chin rest combination as my violin feels unstable.
Wonderful and very nice 👍💐💐💐💯💯
a great Hello from Vietnam. Many thanks for your knowledge.
Thanks, I needed this! Making my way through book 1 btw!
Thanks - really helpful. And I love the Groot 🥰🥰🥰
Thanks for this lesson. I’m left handed learning to play like a right handed person. It’s taken me a couple of years to realize it, but I think I’m gripping with my left hand as sort of a crutch because I’m afraid of dropping the violent. Your video is helpful.
This comment might not be appropriate because I’ve included a link to one of your competitors but one of my main struggles and something that was brushed off by my violin teacher was skin friction. The pads on my thumbs (and fingertips) are very slick. The only way that I could keep the violin from slipping out of my hand was to use the grip of death. No amount of practice and no technique could allow me to hold the violin the “right way”.
It was a mystery to me for many, many years and then I saw a video that explained that violin players have sufficient skin friction.
One of your competitors mentions this at 6:40 in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/04UHMwCeO9M/v-deo.html
I still play as a hobby and just for myself. The neck of my violin rests on the lower part of my thumb (near my hand). It’s not an ideal compromise but I still enjoy playing.
Thanks for the lesson
Very helpful
Hellooo ma'am, I've completed lesson 10😄. My father gifted me the song book 1 for my birthday on Feb 17😍😍😍. It is so useful😀. You are sooo good 😍😍. Thank you so much for your lessons 🥰🥰🥰. First comment 😅
-love from India 🥰🥰🥰
Tack så jättemycket 😘
Thank you. I get pain in my elbow and I think it's caused by tension in my shoulder
Teacher I need this books
I love you sparrow too much
Lovely 😍
Btw, you have beautiful long fingers ❤️
For me, base below the 1st finger touches the lower part of fret. So I am finding it difficult to play notes like BCnatural and F#D on strings A & E. Intonation suffers. Thanks for pointing about the gap at the arch of thumb and fret. I find my movements freeing and easier to play on E and A.
I have a question that I'm not sure if anyone has asked - how hard am I supposed to press on the strings? Sometimes, I feel like pushing too hard is causing a distortion in the sound and other times, I think it's a problem with my bowing.
I feel the same. It feels like if I press any lighter that I won't be pushing onto the fingerboard enough to create the right note, but at the tension I am pressing, when vibrato eventually comes into play, I won't be relaxed enough.
Great video like always Alison! As a non-shoulder rest Violinist I wanted to ask if you have any idea why left hand tension especially on the G string is caused. I thought maybe because the violin is too "horizontal".
Hard to say as I would have to really see whats going on here. Totally depends on how your holding the violin, where it is, the bow, your hand grip etc etc.
I love all of your videos Alison. I actually changed my work schedule to fit in violin practice time every day. Wish I could practice all night and try and get it just right... Really addicting. I'm confused about where the thumb should go? Some people say plant it under the nut and other people say put it between the pointer and middle finger, seems to be no consensus on the matter. I notice your thumb moves around so I try and keep mine fluid.
It doesn't matter as such where the thumb goes. If your following my course, do it the way I do.
Some hold more with the pad of the thumb (like me) and thats ok - and some hold with the thumb more in the groove of the hand - and thats ok too.
Whatever you do, stick with it - but neither are wrong and both are right.
Just personal pref.
Do whatever the teacher/course/person you are learning from does otherwise you'll be getting conflicting information all over the show, which is very detrimental to your learning.
Most videos that tell you how to hold or do whatever technique, will only explain their way and one assumes any other way is wrong - but I always make a point of telling folks what 'I' do and teaching that, but I also inform my audience there are other ways and demonstrate that (if possible or im physically able) so you all know there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Hope that answers your question.
Thank you so much :D it does. There is a LOT to playing the violin. I try thinking about holding the violin and bow like archery with a bow and arrow. If you don't hold the bow and arrow the same way every time you can never shoot consistently. It's really actually existential with how many ways there are to do it. I'm still trying to wrap my head around finding one way to do it right with the violin and know I'm doing it right. I got your whole 1-30 course and I love it so. Thank you so much for replying:) I wish there was some way I could thank you enough for the videos and lessons. It's an amazing program and I can't wait to tell people in three years or so that Alison the Online Piano and Violin Tutor taught me everything.
Update, oh flip, i just did that? yup i went up the scale no worries, ok now to practice going down, hmm tricky, just have to work out how to make these stubborn arthritus fingers do what they are told. dont panic i might be rude to my fingers lol, yeah, getting it. x
I stopped using a shoulder rest but am finding vibrato difficult - I'm just at the point where I need the last push in terms of speed I reckon. Sometimes I worry my finger is sliding during the vibrato cos I'm trying not to grip? Agh. Does the last bit of vibrato take a bit of time to perfect?
Yes - once you sort of 'get it' youll just need to perfect it.
Out of interest, does anyone know how you can record your electric violin on an android mobile phone or windows laptop? Thank you for any answers in advance! (I'm a beginner but it's cool to listen to what you've done to learn from your mistakes sometimes).
Do your violin lesson books comes with cds or any media that makes possible listening to the lessons/music? One thing that makes me actually "play" is when I "read" and listen at the same time,because I still can´t play looking at sheet music, I have to read and play slowly to memorize the whole song, so I can play by ear and not looking at sheet music. Thanks! Another great video!
Some of the pieces in my books come with piano backing tracks that you play to. You should not be memorising music really, but reading it.
You should definitely invest time in learning to read music, including sight-reading. Just memorizing will leave you at a huge disadvantage, and you will stall in your progress.
I watched this hoping to understand how hard to press on the STRINGS. I've played guitar, and I've been pressing down on the violin strings hard, similar to how I do on my guitar, and I've lightened up a few times and am now beginning to wonder if I've just been mashing down on the neck way too hard. Are you supposed to press only as hard as it takes to get the note, that is, very lightly? I realize this is a newbie question, but I can't find anything in your channel and I've searched for "press" and "pressure."
I've just watched "3 Common Violin Mistakes/Issues - PART 3" and she's sort of addressed this issue in there in the 3rd issue, especially when talking about 3rd position--that is, you need to press harder, and showed the marks in the pads of her fingers. So that helps a bit, but it would be great to have a longer discussion about it, and related to that--Do violinists develop calluses on their fingertips like guitarists do? Her fingertips looked relatively soft so I'm thinking not, but it would be nice to know. With guitar, it was much easier to play after I'd developed calluses, but you have to keep playing to maintain the calluses, and that makes it slippery to play the piano, which I also play.....Thanks Alison for everything here !!
I just have one question as a beginner, when I do vibrato and I have to relese the violin from the base of my left index finger to prevent "shaking" but how do I keep it from falling forward?
I'm holding it with my neck but not with a death grip but should that be enough?
Im assuming you have over 1 years of full violin playing experience and the basics are fully down and learned?
If that is the case, the violin will not shake. It shakes when you attempt vibrato far too soon before the basics have been fully mastered...and I don't mean that you understand the basics, but that they have had time to properly mature and only time can do that.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor okay, thank you for the advice and for actually replying! didn't expect that tbh.
I learned violin 8 years ago and just picked it up again so I am around 2 month experiance mark I would currently say so I am just too focused on perfection rather than experiance.
thank you very much again for your advice and have a good day every day!
I've been playing a long time. Self taught fiddler. I'd like to learn some classical, and thinking of doing your course. Been trying the last few days to get a correct position, but my neck hurts and even with a shoulder rest, the violin is slipping. I can't be clamping down on the chin rest, or I'll quickly get a headache. I've been watching your videos , but I'm stuck at square one, because of this issue. I have to solve this or I won't get a good vibrato. Vibrato is easy for me if I hold the violin like a cello or a guitar. So the problem has to be my neck, shoulder and chin.
Have you tried a shoulder rest, or a cloth, or sponge? You have to experiment to get it right ass its quite personal.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor I use a shoulder rest, and have experimented a lot over the years. Saw some other videos that gave me some other ideas. I'll keep at it.
fwiw - I don't have a shoulder rest yet, so I've been using a rolled-up kitchen towel. It drapes over my collar bone, a bit down from my shoulder and allows me to get the fiddle to settle in at a nice 10:00 where I don't have to crank my head very much or pull it back. (Neck isn't as supple as it was... some years ago.) I know my fiddle is angled to far forward to be "correct," but it's still reasonably "classical." I'm three weeks into the course and the first two, I spent a LOT of time figuring out how to hold the darn thing.
Hai allison can you play violin left handed if not can u make a try in your next video
Please🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
35 years!? you started playing 10 years before you were born !!?
haha, i wish!
I m 46, do you think I can learn?
Absolutely! Age has nothing to do with learning. Its about time and effort.
@@TheOnlineViolinTutor you are right. I can play a bit but unable to improve my skills just because I couldn't give it enough time.... Your lessons are very good really... I play the violin in Pakistani way though
yeah I'm 57 and just started to learn I ordered Allison's books and I'm just about ready to start on the lessons of songbook 1 loving it I don't think age has anything to do with it just put your mind on to some days will be easy and some days will be a little harder but just keep at it the more you do and practice you'll notice you'll start getting better and better and you will feel very well. And make sure that you order Allison's books they will help you out a lot
Of course. I started at 51. I certainly wish I started as a child, but eh, it is what it is.
Similarly, at 55..😊
☺
27 likes and 194 views but no comments 😐😐
There are loads of comments! Im replying to them all now :)
i am left