People come up with lots of excuses when they try to talk themselves out of learning an instrument they have always wanted to play. If you love the violin, perhaps you've told yourself that it's too difficult. Or maybe you think you're too old. The truth is that you really can learn how to play the violin no matter what your circumstances.

You can start by taking private lessons from a professional teacher, but really that's not entirely necessary at the start. If you have a friend or relative that can play, they can certainly get your started with the basics. That means learning how to hold the instrument correctly. This is important for several reasons. If you hold it wrong you'll be uncomfortable, which will take the fun out of playing. But if your form is wrong you can also have a stress injury so make sure you get it right from the start. Place your left arm under the instrument's body and hold on to the neck of the violin with your left hand. As you hold it your fingers should curve over the next so that your hands and fingers are set over the strings. The chin rest should be between your chin and left shoulder. Put the bow in your right hand and you are ready to play.

Once you've learned to hold the violin properly, you can begin to learn how to finger notes on the violin. Unlike guitars, violins do not have frets. Instead, violin players literally play "by ear" until they know exactly where each note falls on the fingerboard.

You'll start by identifying four distinct positions on the instrument. Position one is at the end furthest way from your body. Naturally the low pitched notes are here. Close to your face is the fourth position where the high notes are. The strings will be tuned in lowest to highest fashion. They are G, D, A, and E, meaning that when you play them open (with no fingers on the neck) these are the notes they play. Placing your fingers at different spots on the board will make different notes.

Notes are play in one of two ways. The are played pizzicato, (by plucking them) or by running the bow across the strings slowly and steadily. Most people learn by plucking and advance from there.

You're also going to need to learn how to read music. You have several options for this. The easiest would be to get a friend or relative that already knows to teach you. You can also hire a professional, take a class, or just search the Internet for one of many instructional sites.

You should know before you start that it will take years of hard work, dedication and practice before you become an expert and that's OK. You don't have to be an expert to have fun playing this wonderful instrument. Just get started and you'll see what I mean.

If you are serious about wanting to learn how to play the violin go to www.Discount-Violins.com. We'll show you where to go to find professional teaching online, and direct you to great prices on new and used violins. There's no need to spend more than you have to for a great sounding instrument.