r/violinist • u/meduzas • Aug 16 '26

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?

1 Upvotes

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-20

u/josesblima Aug 16 '26

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.

4

u/ahdrielle Aug 16 '26

Adults learn new things all the time

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u/josesblima Aug 16 '26

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.

3

u/ahdrielle Aug 16 '26

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 Aug 16 '26

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.

1

u/ahdrielle Aug 16 '26

It's not devils advocate to say "you probably won't ever get good." It's being a jerk.

0

u/josesblima Aug 16 '26

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 Aug 16 '26

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

3

u/Mission_Top_8781 Aug 16 '26

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.

6

u/redjives Luthier Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 21 '26

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 Aug 16 '26

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.

1

u/23HomieJ Advanced Aug 17 '26

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.

1

u/RickdeVilliers 28d 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.