In this post we will be discussing your primary options, along with the pros and cons of each.

There are two main categories, and a couple of options below each.  The first category is self-taught.  The second is taught by a teacher or instructor in person.

Self Taught

Those who are looking into these options will generally be faced with more personal challenges and fewer financial ones.  For self taught you only need to buy one set of materials and you never need to pay for them again.  The individual lesson costs otherwise can rack up some serious dollars over time.  The personal problems come when you need to be disciplined in your scheduling and practicing, not giving up.

With these you can practice or review what you’ve learned any time and any where.

The options under this category include various books and manuals, videotapes (for those who still have VHS), DVDs (slightly more expensive) and online violin lessons.

How to learn violin cheapest overall is through violin lessons online, as they can be complete courses covering a wide range of topics and skills.  To learn about some of the best options for these, visit our home page below.

Reviews of the Top Violin Lessons Online

Pro/Con Bullet Summary

Pro:

-Cheapest option

-Can be reviewed and practiced any time

-Convenient

Con:

-You have to judge your own progress

-You have to motivate yourself (or at least be creative)

Teacher Taught (in person)

With this option, you have direct, immediate feedback for private lessons.  This is often of less benefit in groups, though the group option is cheaper, often at about half the price.  These help to keep you scheduled and on the right track.  Teachers can help to keep you from getting discouraged while you’re trying to learn.  Generally you have to drive to and from your lessons at a specific place though.  You can theoretically learn via webcam, but that’s rare.

For more information on finding personal violin teachers, you may find this site useful.

How to Find a Violin Teacher

Pro/Con Bullet Summary

Pro:

-Immediate feedback from a professional (or whatever skill level of teacher you’ve chosen)

-Paced expectations and some help with motivation

Con:

-Expensive over time

-Can only be reviewed in memory (or notes)

-Have to be in a certain place to learn

The basics are violin are quickly picked up with a little practice and in most cases you don’t need a lot of reinforcement to get them down.  In fact basics can be absorbed quite easily through video lessons.

Check Out My Top Recommendation for Violin Lessons for Beginners Online Here

This recommendation covers all of the basics, as well as intermediate to advanced lessons.  It is available for $27 currently, and the teacher is Eric Lewis of the Manhattan String Quartet.  Don’t even bother trying to get private lessons from this guy.

So, after I’ve thrust that in your face, if you’re still reading, here is the actual list of things you should want to have covered by your beginner’s violin lessons in some manner.

1. Instrument care.  If you’re serious, you’ll be carrying your violin around with you for some time.  And even if you aren’t, a violin is an investment.
2. Detailed instructions about how to play.
3. Music theory – it isn’t enough to know what to play you have to know why you should be playing it
4. You should be able to trust in the experience of the person you’re learning from.  If you don’t trust them and like their playing style, you are far less likely to follow their instructions exactly, and that may mess up your progress.
5. They should cover how to read music if you don’t already know.

This can be a lot to expect from private lessons alone, so if you’re going that route, you may want to purchase some extra materials to help you with instrument care, music reading, and music theory.  Numbers two and four are key for during the actual lesson though.

There are some additional options to look for, but with dedication and practice you will pick up a lot of things.  You can gain an ear for music in time, or there are techniques where it can be taught more easily and more quickly.  And have you ever heard of a guarantee as to results if you practice with someone’s program or lessons before?  I haven’t with the exception of one place.

Again, Here’s My Recommendation That Covers All the Criteria and Then Some

In order to teach yourself violin effectively you need to be one of three things: driven, disciplined, or creative.  These are things that can’t be taught or picked up overnight, but you can get better at them.  If you aren’t good at one of these or aren’t willing to improve at them, you will inevitably fail before you reach any level of proficiency with the fiddle.

Drive is something that stems from your reason to learn.  For most, wanting to be good, cool, or simply liking the music is rarely enough.  You need a vivid image and hard reason that makes you want to learn and practice no matter what obstacles you face.  This will be different for everyone so I can’t tell you the specifics.

Discipline, when you have it, will reinforce itself.  If you lack that discipline, it will also become harder and harder to do something over time.  Discipline helps to create habits, and once playing is a habit, you no longer need to be driven.

The last option is creativity.  Suppose you have flimsy drive and poor discipline, but you still want to become good at playing violin, you can still do it if you’re creative enough.  For example, you could pay someone to lock you in an empty room with your violin a few times per week.  That way you’re either going to play or waste a lot of time and money.

Teaching yourself violin is a poor choice of words in most cases because you’re still learning from a reference or program of some sort.  The only difference is lack of someone right there with you for reinforcement and correction.

Books work okay, but they come in behind other resources.  Video programs work best because you still get the benefit of the other person’s experience and how the movements, set up, and sounds work in conjunction with each other.  Books should be additional, not a stand alone material.

I have a favoritism towards digital programs as you get more value due to the medium of delivery.  There are no additional costs that require the product to be marked up for, so you pay just for the value.

My top recommendation to start with is Violin Master Pro, which you can check out below.  It costs about $30 and is a full course for self-taught violinists.  You also get instant access to it.

Teach Yourself Violin With Violin Master Pro Here

The other thing I hear people ranting and raving about is the Suzuki Violin Method.  You can check out some of those materials below.

Learn More About Suzuki Violin Method Resources

The only other option is another digital violin program but is quickly fading in popularity.  You can learn more about it on our review homepage.

Online Violin Lessons

Now, scientists have proved that music also effect the advancement of human brain too. When a baby is born, it has billion of brain cells, over times, these cells grow stronger. It has been proven that children who grow up listening music have strong music interconnection. It affects the way of your thinking, for instance, listening to classical music enhances your spatial reasoning and if you’re learning by playing with an instrument, it has effect on certain thinking skills.

Is it true that music makes one smarter? Not at all times simply because music controls some cells of the brain for a particular way of thinking. After listening to classical music, one can quickly execute some spatial tasks for example adults can quickly solve jigsaw puzzle. This is simply because the classical music pathways are much like the pathways used in spatial reasoning. Listening to classical music, these pathways are “turned on” and are prepared to be used. This really is how you can solve puzzle quickly but lasts for a limited time after listening to music. Playing an instrument also enhances the spatial skills as study has shown that music training generates new pathways in the brain.

Use of classical music The structure of classical music is much complex as compared to rock, jazz or pop. Kid who listens to classical music easily picks out the structure and identifies any classical music he has heard before. Therefore, listening to classical music has a various effect as compared to other forms of music.

How to nurture your child with music? You are able to effortlessly help your child to build his affection for music by playing music for your kid, singing to your infant, start taking early music lessons, sing with your kid or help your kid to learn music education in school.

[youtube:ao4twMkFaHE?hl=en;The Best [link:Minneapolis Music Lessons];http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao4twMkFaHE?hl=en&feature=related]

If you want more information on Music Lessons, don’t read just rehashed articles online to avoid getting ripped off. Go here: Violin Lessons

This violin was, with the “Castelbarco” cello of 1697, once a part of the quartet of Stradivaris owned by Count Cesare Castelbarco of Milan. After the count died, it was sold in London to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. The violin later was sold to several other owners until it was purchased in about 1875 by John Mountford, who also owned the “Kreisler” Guarneri. Mountford owned this violin until his death, at which time it passed to the Hills of London and then to a Mrs. Renton of Guildford, Surrey. Nathan Posner bought this violin from Mrs. Renton and brought it to the United States. He in turn sold it to Mrs. Gertrude Clarke Whittall.

Stradivari’s works from 1697-99 are especially interesting in that they reflect his relentless experimentation-notably a transition from the long form of the mid-decade to the elegant proportions of his post-1700 works. The “Castelbarco” is among the last of these long-form instruments–slightly longer in body length but also narrower across the bouts. The length of the back of this violin is 355.5 mm while the 1704 “Betts” measures 353.0 mm.

Violin Cremona Quite a Unique Violin

Notable in the arching is the fullness in the C-bout, which gives the instrument more of a barrel shape than evidenced in later instruments. The pegbox, a design change, shows Stradivari’s practical side-enlarging Amati’s typical narrow dimension of the inside of the pegbox at the A-peg to 10.6 mm. The scroll was further widened on the “Betts” to 11.4 mm in an effort to give a musician greater ease in putting on an A-string.

Many of the Stradivari violins sold by the Hills have an inscription inside noting an owner. In the “Castelbarco” violin, it is inscribed in the top in the lower bout on the treble side: “The ‘Castelbarco’ Stradivari / for many years in possession / of John Mountford Esq. / A. Hill.” From Library of Congress.

Looking for more info on violins visit Mark A Cella’s site, www.Mark-Cella.com for more on Mark A Cella musical instruments.

In his 30-year teaching career, fiddle champ Jim Wood has produced positive results for hundreds of students. He knows just what you need to get started the right way: Proper posture and body alignment, correct hand positions, warm-up exercises and other vital fundamentals that will get you in shape for a lifetime of playing. There s a wealth of information in this two-hour starter course. You ll learn how to hold the fiddle and the bow, tune up, and start fingering your firs (more…)

A hand-carved solid spruce top and solid maple back, sides, and neck deliver fantastic tone. Features a fine tuner tailpiece, ebonized fittings, and inlaid purfling. Full size. Comes with Mongolian horsehair bow, rosin, and featherweight suspension case.

(more…)

Over 100 tunes, this is an outstanding collection of the traditional music of Britain, graded from easy to advanced.

(more…)

Destined to become a classic, this method provides the beginner with the elements needed to become a proficient fiddler. Based on many years of teaching experience, the author introduces the concepts and techniques that yields solid results. This method encourages creativity in the student by including variations to the tunes and illustrating how they can serve as a basis for improvisation. To assist in the development of ensemble skills, chords and lyrics, basic music theory, a (more…)

Student Grade Instrument.. Learn to Play the Violin / Fiddle without breaking the bank.. Full Size 4/4 Violin. Bow and Case Included. Quality Inspected Instrument w/ lots of Extras. List Price $159.. Compare and Save…. The violin features solid, hand carved woods for a great sound and feel, as well as a fine tuner tailpiece and ebonized fittings for easy tuning. Also included in this valuable package is a balanced shoulder rest, nickel plated pitch pipes, case, bow, rosin, and (more…)