Hooray for you, patty! I teach a lot of beginning adult fiddle workshops and find that folks catch on quickly and have a good time (which is MOST important!) Advice.... relax as much as you can when holding your instrument. We, as adults (I`m over 50, too tend to tense up more than young students. The more relaxed you can keep your bow hand and arm the better. Also... realize that it doesn`t happen overnight... so be patient with yourself. I hope that you have a good and happy teacher who will help you enjoy playing the violin! I`ve had a wonderful time as an adult with my fiddle...hope you will, too!
folkfiddle
http://www.folkfiddle.com

Hooray for you, patty! I teach a lot of beginning adult fiddle workshops and find that folks catch on quickly and have a good time (which is MOST important!) Advice.... relax as much as you can when holding your instrument. We, as adults (I`m over 50, too tend to tense up more than young students. The more relaxed you can keep your bow hand and arm the better. Also... realize that it doesn`t happen overnight... so be patient with yourself. I hope that you have a good and happy teacher who will help you enjoy playing the violin! I`ve had a wonderful time as an adult with my fiddle...hope you will, too!
folkfiddle
http://www.folkfiddle.com

i had the same thought as you. I am 36. I have zero experience as well. the bottom line is that if it sounds good to you, you will take the time to learn what you want to hear. I can`t believe it is any different than learning a new languague. Just remember (ah, I know it well, being the troglodite of my group) some people grasp concepts/techniques fast, some don`t. It comes down to persistence. If you really enjoy doing something, time is the only determinant of whether you become a professional or not. I personally just wan to be able to play the classics for my self. good luck

Violin is not relly that hard. I mean i had no experience of music previously, i couldn`t even read music. I just had always wanted to play the violin when i was a kid so i took the opportunity. I started when i was 12,,,and now i`m 15 and i have already been entered for my Grade 7 exam with ABRSM. It all depends on how much u want to play and how much u are willing to practice. cya

I am 19 years old and i have just started taking violin lessons.I have zero experince in music of any kind.I believe that learning anything has nothing to do with age but all to do with attitude.I say to everyone who wants to learn GO GET `EM.

Wesley,

I am 11 and i have been playing for 2 years. I reccomend 2 books, Essential Elements 1, and Suzuki Violin Book 1. Try to find a teacher as soon as possible. Good luck!

I am past 52yrs, never learnt nor played any instrument; cannot remember tunes; but have been fascinated by violin. Though friends told me to start with an easier insturment, I decided to learn violin a few months back.My teacher is pretty good and started me on the Suzuki method. I am really finding it tough....I am really encouraged by the postings here and hope I will have enough perseverance to stick on and start getting good music out...

ive been learnin piano for 7 years and clarinet for 2 im grade 8 in both of them now, and ive just started the violin, and im lovin it,ive been playin about 6 months now and im hopin to take my grade 7 in about 6 months and if i can do it any one can ! Its soo much easier if you already now how to play an instrument especially 2 satves like the piano , this makes a one stave instrument sooo much easier , go for it !

HI, I WANT TO START LEARNING VIOLIN, BUT I WONDER IF ANYONE WERE IN MY POSITION BEFORE JUST TO KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.. I`M PROFESSIONAL HAND DRUMMER (DJEMBE, DOUMBEK, CONGAS, BONGOS) AND I`M WONDERING, WILL BE THAT EXPIRIENCE BAD FOR ME, BECAUSE THAT ARE TWO DIFFERENT KIND OF INSTRUMENTS... DIFFERENT KIND OF PLAYING AND OFCOURSE TOTALLY ANOTHER WAY OF FOLLOWING THE RITHM AND NOTATION ( I HOPE, THAT I`M CLEAR FOR UNDERSTANDING )... IF ANYONE HAD SIMILAR EXPIRIENCE, PLEASE REPLY ME ( I WANT TO START PLAYING ELECTRIC VIOLIN )

Hi everyone

First I have to disagree politely with Jackie that violin is an one octave instrument and surely piano is not considered to be an 2 octaves instrument.

I believe Jackie must have a great great talent for music. 2 yrs to reach grade 8 for clarinet and will attempt grade 7 exam for violin after only 12 months of learning!! Possibly you are now on a music scholarhip at high school or university?

I agree that having a piano background will help learn violin or other instruments but they are ultimately different in terms of techniques and expression. Nevertheless, at the end of the day it is very much depending on how much time and commitment a person will spend on practising the instrument.

My opionion is that piano is very easy to learn for a beginner but getting harder and harder when moving up higher grades, and violin is exactly the other way round, which is very hard at the beginning but easier as moving on.

For Raju, keep up your good work and resolution to learn violin. However, If you have a very poor memory capacity, Suzuki method may not suit you the best because it heavily focuses on memorizing the pieces. This method is especially good for young children, who in general have not yet developed the patience or capacity to intrepret a set of notation. I wonder whether learning how to read music will be easier for an adult student and take the pressure off to remember so many pieces after some time. Discuss this with your teacher and I believe having a good teacher to help resolve problems during the learning path is very important for any adult students.

I absolutely agree to the statement made by many other people that "it is never too late to learn an instrument". Just give yourself a go and you won`t regret the experience in most circumstances.

Finally, Raju, don`t worry about how fast or slow other people learn their instruments. That is not important because everyone`s experience is unique. Enjoy the process of learning and the moment of playing the beautiful instrument.

Good luck

I posted a few months ago about learning violin later in life. Since then, I can only verify my earlier remarks that alot depends on one`s desire to learn.

This has been a phenomonal experience. I`m finishing mastering Suzuki 1, having learned all the pieces--and now making them more expressive and so on.

I`ve also learned 50 or so songs by ear, and have an excellent instructor. I`m flat-out in love with the instrument, and have also begun Wohlfahrt`s Etude Studies to make my bowing and noting excel.

The point is that if one wants to learn, I`m over 40, they can learn. And I stick by my observation that the mechanics and nuances of violin can be somewhat challenging, but I finally have the thing sounding nice and have been inspired (with two big sticks carried by my instructor) to focus on form and basics.

The violin is a phenomonal instrument. I play some classical guitar, a little banjo, have done piano almost since I was in diapers, and only now have nearly crashed into this instrument. Here`s some of the advantages:
1. the neck of the violin is especially achievable for people with small hands.
2. Noting a violin compared to other instruments, is fairly easy, even if it does take a lot of practice staying in a notes position.
3. violin`s music is fairly easy to read.

While I found guitar challenging because of small hands, I forced my way through Some Bourees and Sarabandes, a lot of rock, country double picking, and some pretty heavy duty strumming on things like Pink Floyd, finger picking, etc... The point is, that I`m sure on the violin I`m going much further because of the advantages listed above, but equally importantly because it really is an instrument that `is all that` and at this point I`m convinced it`s not just the newness of the experience.

I practice faithfully an average of two hours a day, having sometimes gone over four. I began learning violin believe it or not, with a terribly injured left hand, and have brought both online over the months in a way that when I couldn`t use my left hand, I`d focus on bow control. Remember again, I fell in love with violin. I thought I was smitten with banjo. Sheesh.

Let met summarize it this way. If you want to play violin, and love not only music but particularly beautiful music, close your eyes, take a deep breath, get an instrument and AN INSTRUCTOR, and JUMP!!!!! Violin really really is: `all that!`.

You can follow my experience at:
http://aljustice.blogspot.com If you visit my blog, you may want to start at the beginning of July`s archive to get a sense of how this all began.

I`m not exactly sure what it is like to start playing an instrument at an older age, as I took up violin at a young age, making it around 11 years that I`ve been playing now. If you are interested, I would definitely recommend it to you to enroll in private lessons. I can imagine that you would find it considerably easier than trying to figure out how to do everything for yourself. And, if you have a limited time schedule, you might drop the class after you have the basics down, including posture, ability to note-read, and perhaps some more. After that, you may be able to branch off on your own and discover the other beauties and subtleties of the instrument on your own.

I`d also like to add that I learned by the Suzuki method, which involves memorization of pieces, as stated in a commen above. I don`t believe this would be very easy for someone who did not start playing the violin at a very young age, so the Traditional method is probably the one that suits you best.

(Note: My last two posts are geared towards Matt, the original poster of this topic :P).

lots of people say its really hard. but i find really easy. plus i have some advantages over most. Im left handed so i didn`t need to take the time to train my fingers to move. plus ive only been playing for a couple of months, so maybe it will get harder as i progress!!