As someone who just started to learn, is it better for me to learn using an acoustic or an electric one? Based from my survey in the internet, an electric is more expansive than an acoustic but i’m prepared to buy one if I need to. Could you also give some recommendation for an electric violin good for beginner? Unfortunately, there are no instrument shops near my place so I need to ask opinion from others.

Thanks again!

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I am glad you you have decided to begin learning violin! As far as the difference between violins, there are two- Electric and Acoustic. (3 if you include “hybrid” acoustic/electric)

An acoustic violin is your traditional violin you will see just about anywhere.

Most electric violins (like the yamaha sv200 pictured here) will be a solid body, and therefore have very little resonance… which means less likely to anger your neighbors.
I like to use my acoustic during the day and if practicing in late hours I will use my electric, unplugged of course!

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I’ve been interested in playing violin since i was a kid but due to financial issue, my family can’t afford such thing. Now I have my own job, it’s time to realize my dream. I would like to thank you first for all the lessons as it is easy to understand and give me motivation to continue learning.

I have some questions that I hope you can help with. Due to my accommodation, i can’t play normal violin as to not bother others. My friend mentioned about electric violin or acoustic violin that can be played in silence. My question are: what the difference between electric, acoustic and normal violin? Do they have the same style of play? Which is better out of this three? And lastly, can we really play violin in silence?

thanks!

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When playing slowly this may not be a significant problem other than possibly hearing the split second where the pitch may change, however, in a quicker passage this means that your fourth finger will be late- throwing off the articulation of the passage.

A finger shape such as the ones shown at :50-:52 will require a great deal of tension, especially in higher positions to produce a clear tone- the 2nd image being extremely counter-productive- as the intonation will stem from the bottom of the last knuckle as opposed to the finger’pad’ or tip.

I actually had this habit (the first image at :50) for a long time until a teacher pointed it out to me and had me work daily on consciously changing the muscle memory to allow it to land properly.

Part of the problem may sometimes lie in the hand, where it may be angled too far up, down, or out - causing the fingers to bend in compensation.

My recommendation is practicing the the technique I mention in the video, of keeping the hook shape in your fingers while only rotating from the base knuckle of where the finger meets the hand. (Shown in the animated gif on this page)

Practice this with all four fingers- also taking care NOT to RAISE your fingers too high off the fingerboard. “Release finger - never lift- it will simply ‘pop off’ and float based upon arch.” (Drew Lecher in Violin Technique - The Manual)

I hope this helps answer your question, Good luck!

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“Hello!. In your video you said that the fourth finger should be curved and you said is wrong if it’s like at 0:50. i play the violin and when i see this video i tried to curved my 4th finger and i can’t, well i can but if i want to play the note in tune my finger doesn’t stay curved. I know a lot of people who plays the violin and none of them curved the fourth finger when they use it. And my violin teacher never has told me that i must curved my 4ht finger. Is it wrong if i play like this?.”

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