How To Play Viola With Pictures

You can buy a shoulder rest at a music supply store or online. You don’t need to use a shoulder rest if you don’t want to.

If your viola is too far forward or back on your shoulder, it will be difficult to hold and support.

Don’t grip the instrument between your head and shoulder or else you could develop neck problems over time.

Don’t rest the neck of the viola against your wrist. Make sure your elbow is under the center of the viola.

Always loosen your bow by the same number of rotations whenever you’re finished playing.

Don’t put your thumb in between the hair and the stick.

A good rule to remember is placing your ring finger on the dot that’s on the frog.

If you ever move your pinky, your bow will easily drop and be difficult to play.

Don’t touch the hair with your fingers since you could leave fingerprints on them and cause your bow to slip while playing.

The A string is the easiest one to start on since it’s the closest to the bow.

Use shorter strokes to play notes faster and long strokes to play notes slower.

Once you’ve played all of the strings, switch the string you’re playing on with every stroke. For example, play A, D, G, and C in 4 strokes.

The position of each note varies for each person since your finger shape will affect the notes you play. [15] X Research source Don’t press the string down with your nail or pad of your finger since you won’t get as clear of a sound.

If the string doesn’t sound close to the tuner’s pitch right away, use the pegs at the top of the viola’s neck to adjust the strings.

This technique is called vibrato.

Many pieces have plucking sections in between parts where you use your bow. Practice switching between using your bow and plucking to create a smooth transition.

This technique is known as spiccato. You can bounce on the string multiple times to play notes close together.

You can find a fingering chart for the notes on your viola here: https://www. violaonline. com/violafingeringchart. htm. The notes will slightly vary in location since the size of your fingers affects the pitch.