i have tought myself guitat and violin, i am great at neither. some people won`t understand playing for fun, i have never had a lesson or learned to read music, i feel this has limited my ability but still i enjoy my music, a simple guitar tuner @ 440mhz if you dont have an ear for tune will help you not break strings G D A E most important love whatever music you can make and get joy from it.

yeah! my first time waz just jike yours. with The rosin put it on you bow to keep the bow from sliding off of your insterment.

teachers definitely help a lot with intonation, because they know (or should) exactly what it sounds like, and whether your sharp or flat.. etc. They can help you understand a lot more of the theory and "unwritten stuff" that`s in the music. IT`s so much more than what`s on the page..
and on TUNING:
you can`t just have someone show you once, and you know how to do it... it takes year(s) to refine your ear enough to tune a violin, even if you are a musically attuned person. There`s a girl i know who`s been playing for 7 years and she STILL can`t tune worth crap, i tune it for her... natural talent helps.. but it`s not something you can pick up right away

GET A TEACHER if not one

I got a 440 mz on Saturday and I`ve realized I`ve learned pitches wrong lol.

I think that while you CAN learn to play the violin on your own, and might even play reasonable well, there are somethings that cannot be self learnt. or rather , there are some things that you would not know that you have to know/learn. Having a teacher guide you for a person who has just picked this skill saves a lot of problems in the future. At a glance , you know what is right, and what is wrong, rather than teaching yourself then finding out what you learnt is wrong and then try to correct it.

as for roslin , for a new bow , i would recommend taking the roslin in the left hand , and griping ( note: Griping , not holding it the correct method . like the way you would hold maybe a baseball stick?) around the frog. then rub the rolsin up and down the horsehair. for a new bow make sure you put enlough roslin. My tutor used to tell his students to put on a heavey coat , then tap the access off lightly. i don`t know how good/lousy that method is, but that was what he would make us do. after that , maybe 1 to 3 strokes will do, depending on how much you play? as for violin mantainence, i would strongly recommend wiping the strings (yes the strings, the part where you play ) the body below and round the strings, and then ends of the fingerboard every time you stop playing. During playing, roslin drops and lands on those places, and roslin can corrode wood(or so i am told) so wiping it every time you finish playing is a good idea to keep your violin in good condition. same goes for the bow, the inside on the stick ? after playing, loosen the horsestring a bit , but not too much . If you keep it tightened always, then after a while the tension will be gone .. just my 2 cents.

I believe it`s `rosin`. No letter `l` in it.