Hi there!

Are there anyone here who learns violin or viola, then later learns guitar? How do you find it? Is it difficult to catch up? (I mean just to play the chords and those rhythm, not for exams And not those classical guitar where you have to learn to play a melody line and a bass line)

Don't know why I suddenly feel like learning another instrument, but do not have the gut to take it, since I am already short of time to practice my violin.

Does guitar requires such great amount of practice like piano and violin? Or is guitar easier to learn than those instrument? Quite a number of my friends can play guitar after learning for few lessons only. I still doubt I can catch up???

And of course another prolem is financial, to buy a guitar of course!

Happygirl

Ohhhh the neck is so w--i--d--e

Ohh...haha...will it affect violin playing after one learns guitar? I mean will the fingers know where to go on the violin after playing with such huge gaps on the guitar? Sorry if I sounded funny But it is like violin players playing on viola and vice versa. How can one adapt to the difference in positioning of fingers? Sorry I just play the violin And it is like normal for me now to know where my fingers go on the fingerboard of a violin.

I played violin and classical guitar at school and I don't think finger positioning was ever a problem. It's a completely different instrument held in a different way so there's no confusion because it feels so... different. Ithink you'll be OK.
W

I had violin lessons for 10 years as a child, and started teaching myself guitar in my bedroom when I was about 16. As Willobie says, it really doesn't affect your violin playing because guitar is such a different instrument. I actually think being able to play violin gives you quite a headstart because your left fingers are already used to holding strings down. I progressed quite quickly and I'm no genius! I've seen other violinists progress quickly on guitar as well. Once you've learnt some chord shapes and worked out how to strum or play finger-style, you should do just fine.

Why not just try it?

Violinia

I learnt violin when I was little, before I learnt the guitar. (I don't play violin anymore, but it's on my rather long 'will learn to play again...' list lol) I don't remember it presenting any serious problems - it's so different, that I don't think you'll feel confused by it.

If you're just planning to learn chords and a few strums, I reckon you'll find it fairly easy.

Well, learning to play the guitar is quite easy... but then I wouldn't know how it is under a teacher because I'm self thought. All you need is a good sense of rythm to learn strumming and basic songs... and I managed by learning to read tabs. Actually I think it's good to pick up the guitar cause it's a really flexible instrument and you'd be able to play nearly any song once you've mastered a bunch of chords.
Having already learned the violin is definately an advantage... at least you don't complain about painful fingers when you start.

Well, playing the guitar isn't easy. Playing a few chords to sing along with is. Not quite the same thing...

Classical guitar is a totally different thing to folk guitar. With classical guitar you ahve to read from notation and it really is difficult because the strings aren't evenly spaced in the way violin strings are - most are a fourth apart but two of them are a third apart. With folk/rock/jazz guitar you read from tablature which is much easier once your fingers have got used to the shapes. Then all you have to do is become fluent switching from one chord to another, work out what to do with your right hand, and you can do quite a lot of stuff. Obviously there's a lot more to it than that, but you can play quite a lot of tunes with just three or four chords.

Start by learning E, A, D, G, C and F. Then learn the dominant 7 versions of all those, then the minors. Then you'll be well away!

Violinia

If all you plan to do is play a few chords I shouldn't think you'd have any problems at all - proper classical guitar is very hard, but just learning a few chords will seem easy in comparison to playing the violin, and although it may take a while to get to know so many chords fluently that you can just play anything, to know enough to muddle through isn't hard (even I managed that and I am completely talentless on the guitar!) And as others have said, violin and guitar are SO different I can't imagine it being confusing, will probably be a good extra workout for your left hand - may even be beneficial?!

Thanks everyone, I guess what I have to do now is to find a way of learning it, and to get hold of one guitar Thanks for clearing my doubts

Classical guitar is Viohazard's second instrument - he'd been playing violin 2-3 years when he started. I think that playing violin did make his progress on guitar a little faster.

However, whether it was because he hadn't really done much double stopping on violin at that stage, or because classical guitar started out with just one or two notes in the bass plus melody, he actually found strumming chords while singing quite difficult to get used to!

Now he has a lot of fun making up accompaniments to songs.

Having long nails on his right hand causes no problems with his bowing, though it surprised his violin teacher at first, and his guitar teacher is just as fussy as his violin teacher about short nails on the left hand, so no problems there either.