Violin & Mandolin

[JeffD]

The other thing that makes going to a fiddle from years with a mandolin is that I am too impatient. I know what good fiddling sounds like, and I am still at the point where I offend myself. Very discouraging.

[T.D.Nydn]

Yeah,the violin can really frustrate me,but I'm determined.its the bowing that gets to me,I seem fine with intonation.my violin is so freaking loud I have to wear a gun ear plug in my left ear when practicing...

[Bertram Henze]

The other thing that makes going to a fiddle from years with a mandolin is that I am too impatient. I know what good fiddling sounds like, and I am still at the point where I offend myself. Very discouraging.

I still offended myself after 9 years. The violin chooses the player - or not.

[T.D.Nydn]

Oh yeah? This summer I was practicing and a mouse ran in the room and dropped dead right in front of me,,,now,that's offensive playing...

[DavidKOS]

With violin, I have to choose between being a decent fiddler or a crappy classical player.

I'm better on mandolin.

[SincereCorgi]

Yeah,the violin can really frustrate me,but I'm determined.its the bowing that gets to me,I seem fine with intonation.my violin is so freaking loud I have to wear a gun ear plug in my left ear when practicing...

I wore an ear plug for a long time, too – like, well over a year – but eventually discarded it and became either 1) accustomed to the loudness or 2) sufficiently deafened in my left ear to no longer mind. Courage! Violin is really hard, you've got to keep showing up daily for two or three years for it to start sounding pretty.

[Jim Garber]

I took up fiddle at the same time as mandolin, over 40 years ago. I am more comfortable in multiple genres on the mandolin and stick mostly to old time and a few ethnic genres on fiddle. I rarely play old time on mandolin except when I am asked to play in a group performance since otherwise it is hard to hear myself. Its either that or take out the National and scare people. OTOH fiddle is lots of fun and I get into a zen paying mode esp in a good jam with some of my fiddle buddies.

[catmandu2]

OTOH fiddle is lots of fun...

I hate to be the most unpopular person at the mandolin party, but... fiddle is just one of those epic instruments. I like a mandolin, you know - growing up with zee frets you know predisposes one to, like, plucking. But the fiddle .. I'm finding increasingly that I can go with two instruments (fiddle and harp) and be satiated. (Well, I like a good squeeze too though..)

But then, I'm playing just Irish music on the fiddle. So I guess it's an easy call for the doctor..

[Tobin]

Yeah,the violin can really frustrate me,but I'm determined.its the bowing that gets to me,I seem fine with intonation.my violin is so freaking loud I have to wear a gun ear plug in my left ear when practicing...

I typically do the same, although I use the Etymotic ETY ear plugs. They are better at reducing volume without totally killing all the overtones that you need to hear. It is actually painful for me to play my fiddle without ear plugs or a mute of some kind, due to the extreme volume right next to my ear.

Now that I've been playing the fiddle for close to 6 months, I'm finally starting to get comfortable enough that I don't have to rely so heavily on a shoulder rest and the chin rest. I'm finding that if I take off the shoulder rest and let the fiddle sit down on my collar bone, and then get my jaw off the top of the fiddle to free it up, I can play more relaxed. And the greatest side benefit is that getting the fiddle just an inch or two lower, and getting my head off of it, really makes a big difference in reducing the volume assaulting my left ear.

But I still tend to wear my ETY ear plugs, or use at least a tourte mute on the bridge. The tourte mute tends to take the 'bite' off, slightly reduces volume, and gives my fiddle a darker tone that I like.

[Purdy Bear]

A Corgi/Dachshund mix we adopted less than a week ago. He wails and moans as soon as the bow touches the strings!

I had that with one of my cats a long time ago when I played the flute. She would climb on my arms and head but me, or walk along my arm to get in between me and the music until I stopped. My current pet, a cairn terrier cross quiet likes the string instruments.

I would love to play the fiddle/violin at some point in time, but it may well be an no no as I already have spondylosis in the neck, thus I would have to use a different hold from the usual shoulder/neck arrangement. I was offered the violin to play when I was 7 but my horrid mother refused as she hated the scratching, I often wondered where I would be now if she hadn't been so selfish.

[Hany Hayek]

With violin, I have to choose between being a decent fiddler or a crappy classical player.

I'm better on mandolin.

I totally agree with this. That's what I did when I decided to start playing mandolin instead of restarting my violin studies.

[darrylicshon]

I started playing violin when i was 10 i think along time ago, i studied classical violin and went to a performing arts school and played in advanced orchestra from 11 -17 years . I gave up classical and played in some rock bands which i found a mandolin hanging on the wall at a show we did loved playing it, but then started playing guitar around the age 25 took a year of classical guitar at university of Cincinnati CCM but again played in rock bands with guitar sometimes violin. When i was 33 living in San Fran i found a Ibanez mandolin in a pawn shop $100 couldn't pass it up.

Well last week i decided to start violin again i have a few electric silent violins and a acoustic one from 1940 that fell apart when i moved to Atlanta. So i ordered a new acoustic electric violin and it arrives today while I'm at work and won't get home until tomorrow i can't wait, it has been awhile since playing violin. I have been playing mandolin for the last few years with alittle guitar. If things go good I'll put the 1940's violin back together. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Joel Glassman]

There is a device called violin silencer to help reducing the volume when practicing. With it, one can practice without bothering people in next rooms.

Yes, there is a mute for bagpipes too. Its called "the Atlantic Ocean"...

[DougC]

If you want good tone instead of a nasal sound get a 3 prong wooden mute like this.

http://elderly.com/3-prong-ebony-violin-mute.htm