Journey of a Fiddler

Hello Everyone! I've been practicing Mary Had A Little Lamb daily. Noticed that my notes do not really sound clear. I think I need to press down on the strings harder, and make sure I'm bowing properly.

I wonder if there's a proper way to press down on the strings.

Hi everyone! I'm practicing Mary Had A Little Lamb today. 


I think I have memorized the notes, but the notes did not sound clear.  I noticed the strings are kinda screechy when I bow... Do you think its because I'm not pressing down on them hard enough?

Also, my fingers  hurt if I press on the strings really hard... but if I don't do that, there's a screeching sound, and the note doesn't sound clear.

I've been working on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a lot...

 I think I want to try out Mary Had A Little Lamb tomorrow!

Omg! I have finally managed to do Twinkle Twinkle without hitting 2 strings!

I'm refining my methods now! Will post a video soon! ^^

Today I'm starting on Twinkle Twinkle with strings D & A! I feel its tougher than the A & E one because both strings have chords beside, and I had to be conscious of not hitting either of those.

Anyway, I noticed that the 'optical illusion' is making my bow in D crooked... I probably need to work on that.

Please comment & like the video!

Hi everyone! I'm still practicing string crossing! Wow this part is difficult - I'm still working on getting the timing just right so I won't bow both strings at once!

I see a slight improvement though! ^^

Does anyone have a problem with their pinky not wanting to stay near the fingerboard?

Also, what are the things you need to look out for when bowing and fingering to ensure that you have a nice round note?

Hello everyone!

I was practicing my fingering and bowing using the tune from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was difficult switching strings while keeping in-tune, and I'm working on it. Still takes me a while to make sure I'm now bowing before I fully switch strings.

I recorded this after 20 attempts, and I guess my fingers are still not used to fingering the strings - they kind of hurt now, with all the red marks on it.

Well, I do hope that it sounds better now, as compared to yesterday.

Do help by liking the video, and sharing your comments below!

Hi everyone! Today I was focusing on bowing strings A & E, while starting on the fingering too on those strings.

I made a short audio track with me trying out the first two parts of Twinkle Twinkle! My fingering's still not perfect though :(     Could hear some screeching!

Hello everyone! I decided to get new strings today!

The owner of Johann Strings, Swee Kwang, helped me pick a new set of strings earlier, and even spent time teaching me how to tune my violin.

Thank you Swee Kwang! Cannot to try them out tomorrow!

Hi everyone!

I've received feedback from the Fiddlerman forums that I should be concentrating on doing straight full-bows since I can roughly manage short-bows.

I tried doing around two sessions, 10 minutes each, of non-stop full-bows before making this video. What do you guys think?

I found that I needed to actively concentrate on keeping the bow straight when I reach the tip. Also, my bow tends to hop a bit during mid-stroke. Have you encountered problems like these?

Please like my video if you think my progress is good, and share your comments below!

Hope you enjoy it!

There has been a lot of requests asking me to make a video of myself playing... so today I made my first video ever!

Please like the video if you thought it was a good first attempt, and share your experiences below!
Hope you enjoy it!

I tried bowing today by pulling full strokes, from frog to tip. However, I noticed that when the middle of the bow is contacting the string, it tends to wobble sideways. I guess this should be solved with practice. Also been concentrating more on moving my elbow, and not my shoulders when bowing.


And according to FM, you'll need to put more pressure when you're towards the tip of the bow, and less pressure towards the frog, to maintain an equal volume throughout. So I've been working on that as well.


I noticed a fine coat of white dust on my string too - does this mean I'm applying too much rosin?


Have you all encountered this problems before? How did you make sure you were bowing straight?

Day 2 - New Friends

I found out from a few users at the FiddlerMan community (Fiddle4Fun & CatMcCall) that your wrist flexes the most when bowing, and that your fingers merely supports the stick. A bowing video at FiddlerMan also states that the movement comes from the elbow, not your shoulders.


I have created an account on the FiddlerMan forums - BakaKitty. Did a post on the forums too! I hope that I'll be able to get some guidance from the more experienced fiddlers there as well! 


Oh yes, and do visit CatMcCall's blog here, and FiddlerMan's beginner tutorial videos here.


They're both awesome help!


Today I noticed a metallic sharpness on my stock violin strings... Maybe it is time to spend a bit on better chords? Or do you think its just my newbie bowing (open strings) sounding terrible? 


My plan on my 2nd day is to continue on my bow hold, checking in the mirror to see if my finger placements were correct. I noticed a strain on my wrists. (Is this fatigue? Or am I holding the bow wrongly, thus straining said wrists?) 


I then tried bowing a few strokes, and noticed that my thumb kept sliding into the frog. (Does anyone know ways to prevent that? Am I doing something wrongly like too much pressure on the thumb?)


Have you encountered the problems I've highlighted? Share them in the comments below!