Online violin learning works great for adults, but I've gotta say… there's one thing that remains the most difficult to troubleshoot online:

Equipment!

Some days the sound is great, and other days it can be likened unto a dying cat…

How do you know when it's your technique vs an equipment issue? A great place to look first is at your strings.

These two things are often overlooked:

1) Strings need to be changed about once a year

2) Quality matters a TON

If it's been more than a year since you've changed your strings, order a new set or bring it in to your luthier for a fresh set. If you're practicing or playing several hours per day consistently then you may be ready in as few as 4 months, but most hobbyists can go a year.

If you've passed the “one year test” and still aren't sure about your strings, answer this quick quiz.

1) Do you see any wear or corrosion?
2) Have you been sweating on the strings without wiping them off?
3) Do you have a hunch they are dead?
4) Do your five-note rolls lack crispness?
5) Do you feel like you're pressing harder than you used to to get a good sound?

If you answer yes to any 2 questions, then give new strings a shot.

There are so many types of strings and each one has strengths and weaknesses. Here are my top 3 favorite strings!

Helicore 

I really like these affordable strings. The price is good, so they are a go-to for me on tour when I'm going to blow through a bunch of sets.

They are steel so they work really well with electronic pickups such as my fave the Baggs Bridge.

That said, they are kinda bright sounding. This makes them perfect for fiddle music, but maybe lacking for drama and long slow notes. They still sound good enough for smoother darker stuff, but it's not their strong area.

Vision 

At about the same price point, Vision strings have a more balanced sound. I wouldn't quite call it dark, but leaning more that way. If you're more into playing moody sweeping melodies and not so much into fiddle ornaments and tunes, this could be a great choice for you.

Evah Pirazzi

Now here's where I become a bit of a bad influence. These are my all time favorite strings.

The Evah's are considerably more investment, but they will pull the richest tones from your violin. They have a sort of impossible balance of depth and sparkle.

One possible downside is they are higher tension. It's never bothered me but some players find these harder on the left hand.

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I hope you'll use this as a starting point to have fun and experiment with strings.

If you purchase strings using the links above, a small commission will go to thehotviolinist.com at no extra cost to you. I always recommend supporting your local shop whenever possible.

Please post a comment below with your favorite type of strings and why!

Check out this Chinese proverb:

I really like it a lot.

But sometimes it's hard to figure out exactly how to act on a proverb, even if I think I agree with it.

In today's video I get very specific about what relaxation means to me and how it can help you a ton in your music life.

Here are your new homework items:

Homework Item #1: Watch the video you chose of your inspiration performer with the SOUNDS OFF.

Homework Item #2: Pay attention to yourself over the weekend and try to spot ONE THING you’re doing with extraneous tension aka a little too much effort.

Please share in the comments section below!

I’m not here to say that everyone should learn to learn to play an instrument.

Some people just want to listen, so if playing isn’t your thing, more power to you.

As my pal Jay used to say about things like this, “That’s why they make more than one kind of breakfast cereal.”

I’m just sayin’ if you want to play… you’ve gotta try it!

2018 could be your year to learn the instrument you rock out on in your dreams, and I'm here to help you get some momentum started this week.

We did this exercise at the beginning of 2017 and it helped kick start some of you guys.

If you missed this last year, or did it but then got derailed by this thing called life, follow along with me this coming week.

Here's a quick story for you if you've ever thought these three terrible words, “It's too late.”

(You can also scroll straight to the bottom if you're ready to jump in to today's video.)

One of my students, Minni, never had the chance to learn music as a kid. She grew up in Northern Italy where classical music is the big thing.

At age 55 she decided to go for it.

She lives in Cremona, where the violin-as-we-know-it was literally invented a few hundred years ago by Mr. Stradivari and his pals.

Today there’s a skyscraper of a violin sculpture that welcomes you into the city, and you can find luthiers carrying on the tradition in just about every other store-front.

Pizza shop, violin shop, gelato shop, violin shop, farmacia, violin shop.

Children and teens with violin cases on their backs infest the piazza like cockroaches scurrying in every direction.

The heartland!

She bought a decent locally made violin, and called a few teachers.

They didn’t want to take her on.

My theory is that these teachers are more interested in a child who may make a name for them by becoming the next big thing. Or maybe they just don’t know how to teach adults- I admit it is way different.

When she finally found a teacher, he loaded her up with sheet music and etudes. Barely showed her how to hold the bow.

It was frustrating, of course. She easily could have concluded she has no musical talent and deemed the whole project a huge disappointing waste of money and time.

Thankfully she did a YouTube search and found me!

😀

I’m not trying to brag.

I want to show you by Minni’s example that there's power in seeking and trying different things when one thing isn’t working. I'm also gonna tell you in a minute where she has ended up with violin.

But meanwhile I am pretty dang proud.

She searched a bunch of videos on how to hold the bow and found mine easier to understand than the others she had seen in her native language of Italian.

Anyway that’s how we found each other and the rest is history.

I’ll never forget when she started to make her first truly beautiful sounds on the violin with long steady full resonant bow strokes. I get goose bumps every time one of my students feels that for the first time.

We were smiling at each other, big toothy ones, and she said,

“People are depressed. Because they don’t play the violin.”

I jotted that down in my notebook right when she said it.

I thought it was true. And important. Even if it’s just a metaphor and violin isn’t necessarily your thing.

So I did what every socially responsible truth seeking person would do…

And posted it as a meme on my Instagram!

I believe the ability to play music is one of the basic human functions that we all share. And that our world will change for the better if everyone who wants to play gets to, regardless of age or social background.

In certain tribes in Africa there is not even a word for musician or dancer. It’s just understood that everyone is included.

“Only relatively recently, five hundred years or so ago, did a distinction arise that cut society in two, forming separate classes of music performers and music listeners.,”

writes Daniel Levitin,

“Throughout most of the world and for most of human history, music making was as natural an activity as breathing and walking, and everyone participated.”

That's from his book, This is Your Brain on Music.

Civilization has brought about some comfortable perks, like hobbit movies and turtleneck sweaters, but we also:

-Put our musicians up on stages at a distance above us.
-Put the ones still learning on reality TV to be made fun of by Howard Stern.

As a community we're breaking that pattern here at The Hot Violinist!

If you wanna start playing the instrument you’ve always dreamed of to enhance life for those around you, but have no idea where to start…

Check out this video!

Your assignment for today is…..

Create a comment below, and answer me these 3 questions from today’s class:

My top instrument I’d like to start (or explore more) in 2017 is _________.
The top three pieces or musical vibes I’d like to master are _____________.
I want to play _________________ because _________________________________.

There are a lot of things out of your control in life, but deciding to learn a musical instrument and get good at it, is in your control.

“There is only one reason that you ever fail at anything…and that is because you eventually change your mind. That's it!…anything and everything you have ever decided to do, you have succeeded, or will succeed, at doing.”

-Victor L. Wooten, The Music Lesson