Violinists! I need your backing in this one

I have a few `friends` who are both clarinetists. They don`t know that I play the violin, but for some reason they seem to think that all beginner violinists are the worst musicians in the world, and that they only like violin music if it is played perfectly with no error.

Now, correct me if I`m wrong, but doesn`t everyone stink at an instrument when they first pick it up?! I mean, I`ve been playing violin for a while now and I still get the occasional squeek in first position. Don`t clarinetists...infact, players of all instruments...sound bad the first time they try their instrument?

Now, before you start having a go at me, I`m not insisting that one instrument is better than the other, or that all clarinetists are bad, etc. I just need someone out there to back me up in saying that with practise and time, a violinist can sound good!

Anyone willing to help?

Hey I started playing in the 7th grade with a school with tons of preppies (cool/popular) kids, and the violin is doubed like a geek instrument to some of them. This is probably because it is harder to play and therefore sounds bad for a longer period of time and gives it a bad reputation in a group of spotty teenagers.

Anyway, keep playing, once you can really start playing the violin like a pro it will definatly be better in my humble opinion then playing a band instrument. If your friends try giving you some trouble about playing the violin it should be more incentive to keep on practicing. The violin isn`t easy but it is definatly worth it. Start playing some really flashy songs on it and people`s opinions will change.

I don`t know how exactly you could proove them wrong, just bear in mind that the violin is a more difficult instrument, but at the same time more rewarding.

The violin is one of the hardest instruments to learn (along with the rest of the string family). Naturally, it would take longer for someone to get used to playing it and sounding nice.

unless 4 sum strange reason a person can pick up an instrument and play perfectly 1st time every instrument will sound bad at 1st!!!!!!
and the string family are like the hardest instruments 2 learn 2 play as there is no set note!!hope i hav proved ur friends wrong!

I dont think they were serious.

Anyway, the violin is a bit harder to learn than, say, a piano because there is nothing to tell you where F and E are. A violin has infinity notes between E and F, but a piano, clarinet, guitar, harp has (for our purposes) no notes between E and F. Furthermore. It`s easier to differentiate between G-sharp and A-flat on a violin. G-sharp and A-flat on a piano sound exactly the same.

So, maybe you can ask your friends to try to sound good on a violin.

"It`s easier to differentiate between G-sharp and A-flat on a violin. G-sharp and A-flat on a piano sound exactly the same."

But, uh, they are the same . . . aren`t they? I`m a little confused by this . . .

Well, G# is typically played with your third finger, while Ab is played with your fourth finger (first position D string). And etc for other positions/strings. That`s all I can think of :\

Here`s a history lesson: http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/tuninghist.html
But I`ll just tell you what you need to know.

OK...lets say A=440, as in most cases.

On the violin:
If we`re playing a song in A-flat-major, with four flats including A(flat), A(flat)=422.4.
If we`re playing a song in A-major, with three sharps including G(sharp), G(sharp)=412.5.

On the piano:
A(flat) is a semitone lower than A, so A(flat)=440/2^(1/12)≈415.3=G(sharp).

So, on the violin, A-flat is a bit lower than G-sharp.

Thanks, I think I understand It`s very interesting, and that`s quite the history...

My main instrument is the clarinet, but I do play the violin well enough to teach the lower grades.
Most people sound awful at first on any instrument. Beginner clarinettists sound like a goose in heat. Beginner violinists sound like someone torturing a cat.
The exception is if you have a talented student with a teacher who knows what to teach- proven by the fact that I sounded good on the violin after my second lesson, and my student did the same thing and now, after 5 weeks learning sounds beautiful, does most things with ease, has started on basic double stopping and will soon be ready to start shifting (brag brag brag ). He started off as a clarinettist, too.

HA! Have you ever heard beginning band(5th grade in most cases) instrumentalists? I heard a clarinet duet play "Heart and SQUEAK!!!" at an elementary talent show. Your friends need to be told that nothing is perfect. And the violin is definitely the best instrument in the world!!! I heard a 5th grade band play "The Stars and Stripes Forever" once. It DRAGGED. I don`t think you`ll ever hear anything more excruciating than a dragging "Stars and Stripes Forever."(except perhaps a boy band) It`s easy to be perfect when you have a tempo of two, apparently. They just think they`re so great because they can hide in a band, which is normally bigger than an orchestra, but it takes real talent to play a string instrument!

First of all, who cares what they say? Tell em to that they can shove that clarinet of theres u- ahaha im just kidding.. .just be nice

secondly, when rachel said a beginning "clarinetist" sounds like a "goose in heat" i nearly laughed till i cried....

lololol goose in heat

Good one harvey! Yap, there`s a difference between G sharp and A flat and all other enharmonically related notes as such...ie : C sharp to D flat etc. Only experienced violinists will know that. There`s why we will play C to Dflat differently as we play C to C sharp. hmmm... good one!

hahah goose in heat

yah clarinets sound horrible anyways, i hate clarinets.. they sound like gameboys

well i play violin too... i personally think its not as hard as people put it out to be... yah i gess its somewhat hard to learn.. but i got the hang of it after a week or two,.... i also play piano, alto and tenor sax, and a penny whistle. i think its harder then sax and penny whistle for sure.... its one of the hardest instruments to learn... but its not harder to learn then a piano like someof you have been saying... piano is the hardest instrument to master(known fact), yah its easy to learn a couple songs but it they sound like crap anyways... on the violin i had songs sounding really good after the third week.. it took my a year to acttually have some good sounding songs.. even then i wasnt happy with it..(im in the graded system thats why it took so long) now after 9 years on the piano (im 14 now) im actually happy with it... im playing songs such as revolutionary etude and all that jazz.(its classical) for most normal people it takes them until the end of highschool to be playing even grade 8 pieces... i hate when people say piano is easy.. its really not .. theres about 7 octaves,,... im sorry but what other instruiment has that much notes.. and most other instruments you can reach any note easily , unlike the piano, and for piano you have to cleffs instead of one..... well anyways off of that... tell the clarinets to try learning a violin good inthe start... and clarinets suck, they sound like ducks... seriously i only know two clarinetist that i actually like how they sound.. and they probly suck at music if theyre making comments like that..they obviously dont know what theyre talking about