I'm new to violin, and will be self taught, but I was wondering; How tight should my bow be tightened? How do do I know if I have enough rosin on my bow? How hard is it appropriate to press my bow to the strings?
Thank you :D

Hi, I've been learning Violin with a teacher for 2 months. Don't mind real violin teachers tell their answers below me.


How tight should my bow be tightened?

When you're feeling more resistance with the screw and hair looks parallel with the stick.

How do do I know if I have enough rosin on my bow?

Just brush it with enough rosin. My teacher said you should brush it every time you play it. But he didn't notice I didn't use my rosin for an entire month. Just know that the sound of the violin should be 'optimized'. In other words, brush it with enough rosin (give it ~40seconds brushing) and listen to how loud it is and this is your optimal loudness level for your particular violin.

How hard is it appropriate to press my bow to the strings?

Your hands should be completely relaxed. Let the weight of your hand guide the pressure. When you feel a certain part of the violin is making loud screeching sound, release pressure in those areas.

You should be able to have a pencil fit in the middle of your bow. Some people like looser bows but I like mine more tight.

Aply more preasure on the G string than the D, D than A, And A than E. With E & A you should have a fast bow arm. Keep it moving. G and D need more preasure. But don't make it sould like your killing a cat! G sounds great with the right amount of preasure. Experiment!

The bow should be tightened enough that your pinky can barely fit through. The wood should still show that curve. If the wood it straight, then it’s definitely too tight.

Rosining the bow should take about 30 seconds. Make sure to apply more rosin near the frog and near the tip. If you want the most out of your rosin, put it at an angle against the bow and rosin the bow against the edge. Here’s how I rosin the bow:
-5 times near the frog, 5 times at the tip
-Then rosin the whole bow 4 times.
-Repeat about 3 or 4 times.
The reason why we bow this way is because we are usually not going to use the whole bow on every note. Some notes are obviously short and require only a small amount of the bow.

Remember to loosen the bow after you are done practicing! Loosen it so the hairs are touching the wood, but not to where the frog can get unscrewed.

As far as pressure is concerned with the bow (after it’s rosined), since you are a beginner it will sound scratchy. That’s normal. Focus on maintaining relaxation. You don’t want to be too loose or you will get an “air” type of sound. Focus on using the whole bow when playing half notes and whole notes. It will be a great first habit that’s worth practicing.

Simple Exercise: On open strings, set your bow at the frog and prepare to play downbow. Just play one downbow. Repeat on different strings. The purpose of this exercise is to improve your listening and bow control. Good luck!