hi, i am new to this board and new to violin. i am a 24 year old left handed musician and i'm looking to learn to play violin and keyboard for my rock band. my musical experience is as follows: i have been singing my whole life and playing electric bass guitar for 5 years. i recently decided to quit playing bass for my band to concentrate on vocals and accent instruments. i want to incorporate violin into the band's live show.

here's my question: how hard will it be for me, as a beginner who plays mostly on feel and doesn't know much music theory, to pick up a violin and play it in a rock band?[B][/B] i know different people learn at different speeds, but i'm wondering if my experience playing a stringed instrument will help speed up the learning process. i'm not looking to play fast fiddle style leads or anything like that. i will mostly be playing over slow instrumental passages, in the vein of the black heart procession and my dying bride. the violin will mainly be an accent instrument in the background. i imagine most people on this board aren't interested in rock bands with violins, but any advice or tips on how to start would be greatly appreciated. thank you everyone

~ken

Hi Ken,

Welcome !

My hubbie had a kind of Indie band were the singer used to fiddle on most songs.
She had done music before, but this wasn't something she took into account.

She was just a natural at making a tune on the violin. It was very good too !
She just played what came into her head with relation to the rest of the music really - if that makes sense ?

Do you have the ability to play by ear ?

I do with both piano and violin. I can play most things I hear quite easily which is helpful. You the have freedom to play what you feel instead or read.

This is something that you could do whilst learning to read violin music.

It shouldn't take very long to pick up if you play guitar anyway. You have already got knowledge of how to make sounds with strings (you know, piano - the note is already there, strings - you have to make that note sound as it should)

From my experience, the bowing technique makes a lot of difference as to how you sound.

I would definatley go for it.

Hope I have helped a little as I have rambled !

Let us know how you go on.
Fiona

The violin sounds great in a rock band. I recall listening to The Rye a few years ago and they had a violinist which gave them something different to the 1000's of other bands out their. I think one of the first rock bands to try this was 1960's 'The Velvet Underground' although they actually used a viola.

thanks for the advice and encouragement. i am decent at playing by ear, but not great. i will post soon about my progress once i get into violin playing.

thanks,
~ken

my advice whould take the notes you want to play and show them to your teacher that way tell what you have to do to get it right

Try listening to Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, they are fantastic - their violinist is why I am learning the violin!

Absolutely - it's certainly possible! Just to give you some background, I'm a singer/songwriter and I've been playing guitar and singing in bands and as a solo performer for years. However I've also got grade 8 violin and always wanted to somehow incorporate it into what I do. So I decided to join a pop/rock band last year (playing guitar and violin) to get some experience doing it and to improve my improvisation. I now add it to my own acoustic recordings.

It's a bit weird at first because you have to play it through the p.a and it takes a bit of getting used to. However it becomes easier the more you play and improvisation really begins with playing notes around the base chords/scales. That way you know you are playing the correct notes and it is a start. Then you get to know which notes fit. However from what you said it seems that you are more of a *feel* player. As you are used to playing the bass then I'm assuming you build up your notes around the songs, so once you have a basic grasp of the violin, you will instinctively start to know which notes fit.

The violin is such a versatile instrument which can be incorporated into most styles of music. It's great in folky-type stuff (check out The Waifs (www.thewaifs.com - a song called 'The River' for some great fiddle playing) and also Kate Rusby whose violinist (and husband) is John McCusker, who is a well-known Scottish musician in his field. As mentioned here on another reply, the 'Gorkys are a great example too and I've seen them a few times. For something with a harder edge, then check out The Levellers. All these people are self-taught.

If you've got a good musical ear then it shouldn't take too long to be able to play some basic stuff and start adding some warm tones to the band's sound. I'd definately advise learning some basic scales - just one octave will be enough, in both major and minor. At the end of the day it's how well it fits into the music that counts and not how many notes or how fast. The Gorky's are a prime example of that.

What kind of band is it? Have you got any comparisons?

QUOTE (daebreak80 @ Apr 7 2004, 07:00 PM)

i imagine most people on this board aren't interested in rock bands with violins,

oh i don't know, i think you'd be surprised, i think theres a latent rock star in eveyone

are you playing an electric or acoustic miked up? i'm interested to know how you get on playing live as it seems difficult to get sound right live. violins can often sound muddy or screechy through amplification. i bought a bridge 5 string for messing about with recording, it's got a nice sound, but i still haven't really got to grips with it properly and it tends to distort sometimes, maybe i need to look at a decent compressor. i like playing through delay though, you can get some interesting sounds and patterns that way.

what are you using, and does your band have a website or anything?

cheers, phil