How hard to learn violin?

LivingFail
Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:04:00 +0000

I played the piano for about 5-6 years before I switched to violin; granted, I was never super talented at piano and I found the violin easier to progress in, but what I think many pianists have trouble with when they switch is mainly intonation. It’s a lot harder to get the notes in violin. I can hear the difference of up to a half a hertz and intonation is still something I need to constantly work on. Some pianists are really frustrated because it really is a lot of work to get everything in tune. Being able to play the piano will definitely help you in reading music, but the two instruments employ totally different muscle sets, so I would say AT LEAST 4-5 years before you’re proficient on some of the more advanced works. A lot of it also depends on the way you practice and how much time goes into it. I made more progress practicing 6 hours a day over a summer than I did in nearly two years, so it really depends.

With all this being said, I really hope you pursue learning the violin because it is a GREAT instrument and it is definitely rewarding. As a last note, I want to say that playing the violin adds so much more to making music because of all the variables that go into the sound–you can create totally different colors from bow speed, vibrato, arm weight, etc. The sound you make is a lot more personal than in other instruments.