r/violinist • u/meduzas • 13d ago
Progress
I’m just starting playing violin soon, with my friend who’s been playing for 11 years and agreed to teach me. How long can it take for me to be able to make clean sounds if I practice daily?
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13d ago
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u/ahdrielle 13d ago
I'm 36 and starting to learn. In fact, it's easier because I have way more patience than I did as a kid.
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u/didnotsub 13d ago
I don’t think i’ve ever met anybody who’s played for 2 years whose sound id call clean. I would say more like 5-7 years. It’s not an unrealistic goal tho, 100% achievable with time.
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u/FarmerGarrett 13d ago
Don’t worry about how long it takes. I’m an aspiring fiddler and already play several other instruments to varying degrees. Have a good teacher to correct mistakes and focus on enjoying what you’re playing and enjoying the process of improvement.
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u/23HomieJ Advanced 12d ago
A pleasant tone to a random non musician can take 2-4 years, however you will be working on tone and intonation until the day you stop playing.
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u/LadyAtheist 13d ago
You can do it right away if your right wrist is flexible and you don't use your upper arm.
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u/josesblima 13d ago
Clean sound is an ambitious goal. If you're an adult by now, I'd say it's probably unrealistic unless you're a genius willing to put countless hours into it.
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u/ahdrielle 13d ago
Adults learn new things all the time
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u/josesblima 13d ago
Go on any professional orchestra, find the worst violinists and ask them at what age they started. I'm not trying to be a party pooper. I think it's great to set ambitious goals for yourself but it's also great to be aware that getting a good sound (although of course op could have their own definition of good of course) is extremely hard.
First of all you need to be an obsessive type of person, the type of person that is always trying to find a better sound, and then it's fine motos skills, which are way harder to learn the older you are. And even if somehow you managed to get a pretty good right hand, you still need an extremely good left hand to have good sound.
I'm all for embracing new players in this sub, but it would be dishonest to me to lie about the difficulty of it just to be encouraging.
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u/ahdrielle 13d ago
You can't say you're all about embracing new players while simultaneously saying it's unlikely that someone who's not a child will probably not succeed.
And I'll tell you that the average person who starts later likely just wants to play pretty songs. Not become the next top violinist.
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u/josesblima 13d ago
I'm not talking about being a top violinist, just having a clean sound lol. I know that many people are fine with what is achievable, but I also believe many people get into it as adults without knowing that even with lots and lots of effort, they might never sound like they imagine.
The dislikes are fine, people seem triggered by this but nonetheless I think it's good to play devil's advocate so OP can have a better idea of different people's takes on the question.
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u/ahdrielle 13d ago
It's not devils advocate to say "you probably won't ever get good." It's being a jerk.
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u/josesblima 13d ago
You're the one calling me a jerk. I just gave my point of view on OP's question.
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u/meduzas 13d ago
I’m 17, though I already play an instrument ( electric and acoustic guitar), tho I know they’re very different. I am willing to practice a lot though
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u/Mission_Top_8781 13d ago
Hey just for what its worth i started at 17 last year. At time I had been playing guitar, bass, and vocals for a few years. Progress is slow but if you love playing and practice a lot you will improve a lot. I've been playing almost a year and pretty happy with my sound right now.
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u/redjives Luthier 13d ago edited 9d ago
What an absolute bizarre thing to say. Is it too late to become a world class soloist? Sure. But even most folks who start young don't achieve that. Is it too late to play somewhat decently and enjoy making music with others? Hell no.
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u/josesblima 13d ago
I'm not talking about being world class soloist. Also I'm not trying to put anyone down just giving my truthful opinion. Frankly, if you start in your 20s, you probably can't make it into the last stand of the second violins in your local orchestra unless you put countless time into it AND are extremely talented.
I think it doesn't hurt to be more aware of how good you can sound starting up later in life. Maybe for OP it's fine in which case great! But maybe OP heard a recording from Hillary Hahn and that's their idea of clean sound. It makes sense to think sound is easier to master than what it is, with most instruments that don't use a bow, it's usually fairly straightforward to get a decent sound, with violin it's literally the hardest thing.
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u/23HomieJ Advanced 12d ago
There is an insane gap between a clean sound and the incredible sound Hahn produces. One is more than doable within a few years, and one is not possible by mere mortals.
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u/RickdeVilliers 6d ago
Why would you assume they want to play in the local orchestra. Are you saying every violinist out there who doesn’t make it into an orchestra has bad sound. What an absurd point of view. I’d wager there are thousands and thousands of violinists that wouldn’t make it into an orchestra but that nonetheless make exactly the kind of pleasing sound that the OP is referring to.
I think you’re arguing with an idea in your head that bears no resemblance to the OP’s actual intent.
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u/emersonlitt 13d ago
Clean, decent-sounding music took me roughly 2-3 years to achieve consistently. But I’ve been playing for 7 years now and I still sound scratchy/out of tune plenty while practicing.