Reddit mentions: The best books about musical string instruments

Hey, I teach violin lessons, mostly beginners. I have a plethora of info for you. :)

Not gonna lie, violin isn't really like piano in that you can teach yourself pretty well if you're really committed. It's just that so much depends on you and your build and how you use certain muscles, it's really tricky. You could get a lot down but I'm moreso worried about the possibility of developing bad habits that can easily become painful.

Where are you from? If you're near me, I'd so give you lessons, free of charge. Or, if you're interested, if you send me pictures of your set up I could give you see how I can help you out.

But anyway, if you do end up learning through books, your best bets are Galamian's Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching and Fischer's Basics. The Galamian is more straight up book reading but has a lot of priceless information. The Fischer is one of the best books ever and is I think around 300 or so exercises that covers pretty much every technique. It's expensive but so so very much worth it.

Also, in regards to instruments, if you really want an acoustic violin, they sell practice mutes that work really well. I used that one when I lived in a small apartment building with paper thin walls, works like a charm. The only thing that gets me about electronic instruments is that being able to feel the vibrations and resonance, nothing can really take the place of that. You could probably find a decent instrument for about the same price range.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have more questions, and good luck! :)

I was actually in this exact situation when I started playing - was a highschooler with free time and just wanted to learn banjo.

1. Get a banjo: If you don't have one already, then this part is sort of a requirement. A standard 5-string is the best place to start. This Deering is a fantastic beginner banjo (and not too bad for performing either), but if price is an issue, I've heard that Gold Tone's work just fine as well.
   
2. Get some books/material: This book is by the master himself (Earl Scruggs). It's sort of an essential for anyone looking to play classic 3-finger (Scruggs style) banjo. If you're looking to play Clawhammer perhaps, this is a very good book for learning.
   
3. PRACTICE: It can seem difficult at first, but I recommend practicing as much as possible. When I first started, I practiced for about 1-2 hours everyday for a solid month. I was able to improve very quickly. And the best part is that I enjoyed every bit of it. That's another thing, if you really enjoy playing, then practicing shouldn't be verry difficult for you.
   
   Good luck, and have fun!

Speaking from experience as both a violinist and teacher, obviously the best thing to do would be to see a teacher - but I definitely understand that isn't an option for everyone financially or time-wise. That said, here's my advice:

Start from the very beginning. Essential Elements is an awesome book series to teach you the basics, especially if you're rusty on reading music. The interactive CD helps quite a lot, and you should use it.

Put finger tapes on your instrument. Here is a good instructional on how to do it. I don't recommend the violin fretboard as it's too busy; the tapes are much easier to look at while you're playing.

Buy a tuner! If finances are a concern, you can download an app to your phone/tablet, but a digital tuner is your best option. I use this one and swear by it, particularly as it also has a metronome.

Practice using a full-length mirror. Since you don't have a teacher watching you play, you'll have to take on the role yourself. Particularly watch your left wrist (is it folding in against the instrument?) and your bow arm (is your bow moving straight and is your right shoulder hunched?). It sounds crazy, but practice in the bathroom...it usually has great acoustics and a large mirror. It works!

Make playing comfortable. If you need one, use a shoulder rest - they aren't especially expensive and make a great deal of difference in holding the instrument securely and comfortably (you don't want to be pinching your shoulder upwards or angling your head downwards). The Kun is an industry standard and works well for most beginners. Also, use a stand - do NOT put your music down on your bed or on a table and hunch over to read it, as it totally ruins your playing posture and prevents you from bowing properly.

I hope this helps!

>And here you have a method (modeled after Suzuki's view of language acquisition) that says playing a small handful of melodic pieces but those to perfection is all you need.

I think the Suzuki method may successfully reproduce the effect of going through hundreds of scales and other exercises that you'd otherwise do like in more boring books like [Whistler] (http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Positions-Violin-Third-Position/dp/1423444876/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422686450&sr=8-1&keywords=whistler+violin). But I wasn't aware that teachers use Suzuki as the only material for their students. It was the case for me that I'd have several etude books like Whistler plus a "fun" piece like Suzuki to work on concurrently. Plus I would hypothesize that the core "vocabulary", if you will, is narrower for violin playing than for languages. In other words, you only have to have mastered a relatively small set of variations on the scales, shifting and double-stop exercises before you are able to apply it freely in other pieces. It's like that typing example I mentioned. I only needed to practice for two or three weeks before I was typing completely fluently in a Dvorak layout and in Korean. Compare this with my Latin, where I can drill myself on the endings to the verb "eō" until the cows come home and still stumble when I see something like "inībat".

> We seem to have quite different approaches to language.

After reading the rest of what you wrote, I don't think so, or at least not to the extent that you think. I completely agree with your next statement regarding viewing core language fluency as chunks of words or phrases of varying lengths. Of course scanning language and analyzing syntax at the microscopic level is highly inefficient. I only recommended this as a way to learn the fundamentals before moving on to the 'chunking' phase. But it seems to me that it is still more a matter of chunking grammatical forms than individual words or phrases. Caesar does have a set of very frequently used words but I don't think to the extent that you can call them stock phrases. When I see something like that passage you quoted, for me there is a two part process going on. Just as you do, I instinctively group them together. His, litteris and nuntiis share ablative-like endings so they must convey a "by/for/with" kind of meaning (of course I'm not translating into English as I do this, I'm just trying my best to describe to you in detail the mechanics that happen behind the scenes, i.e. subconsciously, when I read a sentence). Then I interpret the meanings, which is not hard because I know by the stems that they must refer to litterae and nuntium, so there's hardly any difficulty here. Then I see "commotus Caesar" and think this must be the subject and instinctively pair this with the ablative phrase. And so on... But I think this example more demonstrates the repetitive occurrence of form, not individual words & phrases. It could easily be something like "illis servis permotus dux..." or "his legatis, qui in gallia erant, Marcus certior factus..." (k, I'm sure that's not good Latin but I'm trying to make a point). I'm in no way trying to parse them individually. This may be what is happening behind the scenes but I'm not formalizing them into technical terms by saying "ok this is ablative, singular, feminine". The meaning just dawns on me organically. But even if Caesar can be read fluently by having mastered a set of individual stock words and phrases, I think this goes against what our friend here was after, which was about the production abilities in language.

I nearly responded yesterday but I didn't want to seem like I should be an authoritative source. My advice may be bad and crippling me and I just don't know it. But since someone chimed in with sentiments that echo my own, maybe this will help?

I just turned 30 recently and am now coming up on the one year mark learning violin (while raising an infant!) so take what I have to say with a profound grain of salt - I have little to no idea what I'm talking about. My only background in music was a course in college that covered intro and basic theory so I'm starting basically from zero.

I've bought Essential Elements, All for Strings, the Doflein Method, ABCs for Violin, Wohlfahrt Easiest Elementary Method, I Can Read Music, Suzuki 1 and a few books geared for instructors to teach. What I find is the more methodical the better I like the book.

ABCs for Violin is arguably the best overall. It contains a DVD which I didn't find that helpful compared to my teacher, and generally starts with basic exercises in preparation for a given piece or series of pieces and seems to introduce things fairly evenly. I wish it were a bit more methodical but the music is much more accessible than some of the others. So far I've enjoyed Ode to Joy, New World theme, London Bridge, Home on the Range, and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Doflein or Wohfahrt are much more methodical and introduce things very systematically and introduce 4th finger use almost immediately - which makes sense to me as an adult with medium to large hands. Doflein seems to focus on duets to help improve playing and is very progression and practice oriented but the music is generally older tunes that are unrecognizable which makes learning to play them more difficult even though I've learned some I liked. Doflein and ABCs are the basic books my teacher is using with me; aside from glancing through Wohlfahrt and playing the first few pages of exercises I haven't gone through it much but expect it suffers from the same issues as Doflein.

Essential Elements I liked and it has the ability to download the music off the website but it takes a really long time to introduce 4th finger. By that point (I started on my own) my teacher noticed I'd already developed a bad 4th finger habit and my teacher thought it was too easy and dismissed it; All for Strings met a similar fate.

I Can Read Music for Violin I only picked up later after I was struggling with rhythm problems and my teacher had copied a couple pages of exercises for me to work on. If you are really new to reading music this might be okay and basically alternates one page for fingering/tone and the next page for rhythm.

Suzuki I won't comment on as I've only looked through it but never really used it. After researching it for a few days and comparing it against what I know about learning physical skills I just didn't feel that it would be the best way for me to learn - I can't follow the logic that created it. It has been used by millions worldwide and quite a few swear by it, and it is definitely accessible because of it.

I'm also a beginner, but I'll share what I've learned (in no particular order) and what I've been doing to improve technique and maybe it will help you too.

1. Research. There are tons of videos on YouTube and articles online you can read with tips on fixing bouncing bow or improving intonation or avoiding scratching noises. You'd be amazed how many different ways there are to practice the same things, and some ways may work better for you than others.
   
   
2. My teacher recommended a book that is specifically to work on technique, 60 Studies by Franz Wohlfahrt. It can look intimidating because it's just page after page after page of notes with no tips or explanations, but if you can already sight read and if you know all of your 1^(st) position notes, then this might help you work on your fingering and intonation. It's a lot of repetitive notes and can sound odd playing them because they aren't really pieces, they're just practice techniques, but it's helpful.
   
   
3. Find some pieces that you really enjoy playing. Seriously, this is important! At first I was just learning basic pieces that were helping me learn, but I wasn't enjoying practicing. Once I started to learn some pieces that I liked, practicing became fun and I looked forward to it and I really started improving.
   
   
4. Find something you are struggling with and practice just that over and over. When I was learning the Gavotte at the end of the Suzuki 1 book, I struggled with the runs that had 16^(th) notes, so I just practiced them much more slowly over and over and over and over until I had the fingering and bowing down.
   
   
5. Practice with a tuner. While you're practicing, just keep checking the tuner and making small adjustments to your fingers so that you stay on pitch. This is especially good to do with scales since you aren't trying to think about the piece and tempo, just the notes. I find that really nailing the 3^(rd) finger notes helps keep everything else in tune, so really focus on those.
   
   
6. Practice in front of a mirror. You'll probably hear this advice a lot to help with bowing, and it can help, but I personally find it very distracting and only do it when doing very simple things like long bows on open strings or easy scales. Don't worry so much about intonation when doing this, just focus on keeping your bow straight and in the correct contact point on the strings.

I have no teaching advice to give since I'm still a relative beginner myself, but as an adult learner perhaps I can give some advice from the student's perspective.

My first lessons (after my teacher showed me how to hold the instrument, do pizzicato, bow from the elbow, etc.) were taught using the Essential Elements book. I thought it did a decent job as a first step to learning intonation. We also did the Twinkle Theme and variations from Suzuki Book 1, because of course every beginner has to learn Twinkle Twinkle Litte Star lol. Honestly I don't remember much after that, because she wasn't a very good teacher. The one thing I do remember clearly, and am thankful to her for, is that she taught me to do scales with normal (separate) bows, slurred bows, and in sequential thirds. Sequential thirds in particular have proven to be really good finger exercises for me, and I was surprised when I looked through the ABRSM scale book that it's not part of their repertoire. (If anyone doesn't know what sequential thirds are, look at measures 19 - 26 of this score.)

My second (and current) teacher instructs me using the Suzuki Books(see note below), with lessons modified for me since I'm an adult (the Suzuki Method is meant for children). I've been very happy with this teacher and the Suzuki Books - they contain good tunes and the progression can be quite demanding, which is good if you're up to the challenge. Being an adult beginner, one of my biggest issues was/is stiff fingers, so I remember having a lot of trouble when I was first introduced to G Major, with that low 2nd finger C (when I played the low 2nd finger it would also pull my 3rd and 4th fingers flat). So be prepared for that, and other similar issues. My teacher is really good at both pushing me to improve, but at the same time being very laid back and always making a point to instruct me to relax and not beat myself up - which is important because as we all know, learning violin can be very frustrating.

• Note: Just buy the paperback version of the Suzuki books. No need to pay extra for the version with the CD, since you can find all the Suzuki pieces on YouTube. Check this thread I made here a while back for the relevant links.
  
  I hope that helped a little. I'll edit my post if I think of anything else that might be useful to you.

The background in piano will really help a lot. One of the biggest problem that I've seen when people start violin is their intonation. As apposed to the guitar, or mandolin, the Violin doesn't have frets. This can make getting exact pitches hard for people just starting out. Don't get me wrong, when you start it will still be tough to nail notes on the first try, but at least you'll know when you mess up. The hardest part is when people can't tell that they're flat or sharp, as they have no way to improve without outside help.

My advice for starting out would be to find some quite simple music that you enjoy, and practice a lot.

Get a book of scales, and practice getting them down as a warmup every day.

Also, if you're inclined, you could also pick up some etude books to help with some technique. Wohlfahrt's etude books come to mind for this (https://www.amazon.com/Franz-Wohlfahrt-Complete-Schirmers-Classics/dp/0634074032), but they might be a little to advanced for someone just starting out. Regardless, getting some sort of etude book will help out a lot. They aren't fun, but they really help with technique. Look at them (and scales) like eating your vegetables.
But as I'm typing this I remember you have a background in piano, so you probably know most of that haha.

Although I've never really had the issue of aches and pains from extended practice sessions, as I started very young, I've definitely herd it can be an issue. If you notice this as well, stretching, and just generally benign aware of your body while you play can help as well. If it hurts to keep practicing, stop for the moment and stretch, and assess what's causing the pain. Could be anything from you not being used to holding your body like that for so long, to not having the right setup.
As an example, I played with a chin rest that didn't really suit me for a long time. After becoming aware of it and making a change, it made a big difference.

I touched on this earlier, but I'll say it again here: practicing as often as you can helps immensely. Even if it's only for a few minutes, try to at least pick it up once a day.

One other thing is that once you get into long practice sessions, you might notice that you'll start to get a passage of the music, and then for some reason it will become really hard again. At least for me, this is normal. Keep working at it, and you'll really notice a difference the next day. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. It's frustrating at first, but once you see the trend, it becomes rewarding.

Overall just have fun with it, and don't be scared by everyone saying that "it's the hardest instrument to learn." You'll get it in time, and it'll be great.
Also, sorry this was rather long winded for such a quick question.

Hope this helps!

Edit: a word

>G above the first measure shows that the song is in the key of G.

I don't mean to make things more confusing or distract from the original question, but that's not quite right; the F# just before the 4/4 time signature is what shows that the song is in the key of G. (The 4/4 time signature tells you that there a 4 quarter notes to each bar, giving you that common 1-2-3-4 count.)

As others have said, the 'G' indicates the chord that accompanies that measure - it's informational, not something you're supposed to somehow simultaneously play along with the melody. Think of it this way: Say you get together with a guitar player who knows how to play chords, but doesn't know the melody for "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." They can still play along with you by counting along and following those chord changes indicated above the music. Likewise, if you get together with other musicians and they have something like the Fiddler's Fakebook, you can play along with them even if you don't know the song; you'd just follow the chord changes and play banjo chords to back up the melody.

Regarding key signatures/music theory in general check out Edly's Music Theory for Practical People, which is a good introductory guide. Some people will tell you that you don't need to bother with music theory for banjo/folk music, but it really helps in terms of understanding why you play certain chords to accompany certain keys, etc; it can make the difference between learning by rote memorization, and learning by developing an intuitive understanding for how notes, scales, and chords fit together.

I don't know what you like, but there's old disney films

Pop and Rock hits for easy violin

Easy pop Melodies

Phantom of the Opera

Lion King

Harry Potter

More pops stuff

Top Charts

Some of those might have cross over with others. Some might have one or two you can play easily and several that will be a little hard for right now. But it's a lot easier learning music you're more familiar with. There are plenty other books out there like these, I just did a quick search of amazon and alfred. Music shops like Sam Ash, perhaps Guitar Center, and others will have some of these too.

As far as building music reading, it's just practice like anything else. I take many students through the I Can Read Music series because it eliminates a lot of extra information and just practices the basics. Setting the metronome at 60 and forcing your way through, trying to look ahead instead of what note you're currently playing is sometimes all you need. However, I got better at sigh reading by finding extra books with pieces I liked and reading through them.

edited because I can't format well...

I love Ted Greene and I love his books, but they're not for beginners.

"The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer is indeed a great overview of the guitar, and guitar music. But while it is a great reference, I'm not sure that it's the best book to guide a beginner in how to play.

Perhaps it's because I'm an old dude and read his books decades ago, but I always liked the instruction books by Richard Daniels, such as "The Heavy Guitar Bible", "Be Dangerous on Rock Guitar", "Blues Guitar, In and Out", and "The Art of Playing Rock Guitar":

https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Guitar-Bible-Instruction-Manual/dp/0895240661

Like I said, those books are decades-old, and there are probably more up to date books that younger players will recommend.

EDIT I'm including a link for a post about Ted Greene that includes a bunch of links that allow you to view his material online:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/47b61j/discussion_i_made_a_sub_about_the_jazz_guitarist/

I really liked this book after not playing since a little after high school, so about 7 years inactive.

What I found more important than just working on technique was finding a reason to play consistently, and to challenge myself. I found that with musician friends that needed a cellist (start simple with something like Wonderwal). And also with friendly community orchestras. Playing with others is challenging as it forces you to listen to yourself and others, and it greatly motivates polishing your technique.

Find fun and enjoyment in the hobby, I haven’t stopped playing since and have met many wonderful people out of my music adventures. Good luck!

In my opinion, it's better to spend your money on music rather than books.

There are some banjo books that are important. I used to own these. I really should build my library back up. Currently I only have the "Hot Licks," "Banjo Styles by Bela Fleck" and "Masters of the Five String" as I've leant out the other ones and never got them back.

Earl Scruggs and the 5-string banjo has already been mentioned. I would recommend trying to find an older version, simply because I'm a nerd.

Masters of the Five String Banjo. A very cool, very informative piece on bluegrass banjo players, their set-up, and some tablature. Obviously dated, but an incredibly insightful book.

Melodic Banjo: by Tony Trishka. Again, I like the older cover

Hot Licks for Bluegrass Banjo, another book by Tony Trishka, is pretty good.

Banjo Picking Styles: Bela Fleck is also a pretty interesting book. And not just for the 80s shirt that Bela is wearing on the front.

If you're looking for specific bluegrass songbooks.

Bluegrass Songbook, by Pete Wernick. Seriously, this is a great book.

Bluegrass Fakebook. This covers most of the standards.

And though you didn't ask, here are some other books that may be of interest to bluegrass/banjo nerds:

Bluegrass: A History Neil Rosenberg's very thorough history of Bluegrass music

Spann's Guide to Gibson 1902-1941. If you're interested in prewar Gibson banjo, this is an incredible resource.

Gibson Mastertone: Flathead Five-string Banjos of the 1930s and 40s. For the prewar nuts.

Can't You Hear Me Calling: The Life of Bill Monroe Father of Bluegrass Music. An interested read.

What I Know 'Bout What I Know: The Musical Life of An Itinerant Banjo Player. This is an autobiography of Butch Robins. It's... interesting.

Your uncle is right. The older one is, the harder it is to pick up something as technical as the violin. However, because you have experience as a musician, I don't think it's out of the question that you could reach a basic proficiency, at the very the least.


With that aside, I would definitely check out the videos from Violin Masterclass, Todd Ehle, and the great virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin. In terms of method books, check out the Learning the Positions series, the Tune a Day series, and also the Sevcik and Schradieck scale books. Violinist.com is also a great place to ask around. I'm going off the top of my head here, so perhaps other people can chip in as well, since I know I'm missing a bunch.


Anyway, you need go into this like a sponge; listen to everything your uncle suggests. Watch videos and listen to recordings of the great performers, such as Perlman, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Heifetz, Zukerman, Hahn, Mutter, Bell, Shaham, etc. (i could go on and on about this one, haha) and see what you can learn from them. Attention to detail is a must! Most of all, be patient! I have been a violinist for the majority of my life, and yet I am still constantly learning new things from my teacher and other violinists.


I hope this helps, and best of luck to you as you learn this wonderful instrument!

I'm currently working my way through a method book called Ukulele Acrobatics: For All Levels From Beginner to Advanced

I'm currently working on week 6. As someone who's been classically trained in music (9 years on the clarinet, 2 years on the cello), I found this book as an excellent resource in learning how to play the ukulele using traditional music theory and methods.

This particular method book breaks the exercises up by days and weeks, which allows you to take your time in digesting each exercise. I especially enjoy how the author breaks down music theory, particularly establishing how to properly strum rhythm, scales, arpeggios, harmonics, etc.

I also recommend using a metronome and tapping your foot to the beat as you practice. This will help you keep a nice and steady rhythm which is so important in playing music as you could imagine.

I can see how this method book can be frustrating for those who have never studied music theory, especially for those who primarily rely on tabs and chords. But if you're truly serious about learning to play ukulele using sheet music, it is vital to have an understanding of music theory and how to properly apply techniques and this book addresses those concerns. You just need to be patient with yourself and take the time to really practice with a metronome.

Good luck!

I don't know that there's an easy way to transition from guitar to violin. It doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of commonalities between the two. Also I think it's easy to assume that "learning violin" means you want to become the next Heifetz or Perlman. But maybe it's safer to ask what you want to do with the violin? Any style you're interested in?



If it's bluegrass or folk, you might have to deal with a lot of doublestops (sort of like "chords" on a violin) and fast runs. Because of the hand position and lack of frets, doublestops are going to be weird to play at first.

If it's jazz (yes violin jazz exists), you'd probably learn best by just listening to lots of violin jazz.

If it's indeed classical, you just need to get a teacher from day 1. There are a lot of minute details in violin playing that are ostensibly meaningless initially but later essential to great playing.

In the meantime, you may want to invest in a scales book. One of the more famous ones is by Hrimaly. Don't cheat with the book by playing all the notes on one string. By crossing the strings, you'll get a better grasp of note relationships (kind of like what you would do in guitar). If you want to venture into doublestops you can start learning with this book.

If you're not going to get a teacher, I guess just watch videos. But do pay attention to proper form. Sometimes form is meant to improve tone. Other times proper form is to prevent injury. No i'm not joking.

I haven't read it myself but Cello Playing for Music Lovers advertises it self as comprehensive and focused on adult beginners specifically . As a bonus one of the top reviews runs down multiple book options. Myself I'm also going through Essential Elements like you mentioned and enjoy it.

Since you're not going with a teacher I would highly suggest some YouTube channels like Johnathan Humphries and Sarah Joy.

Lastly, I would be iffy about being purely self taught, there are many teachers who do half hour lessons and will probably do it cheaper. Especially people who are current music students and don't have 15 years of teaching. Even if you had to go with once a month. There are ways in which you can give yourself unhealthy habits that could even be painful later on. So an occasional correction and instruction might really help. If you really can't... Play with a mirror.

I'm an adult learner and I started with Suzuki. I actually like it. I also use Whistler's Introducing the Positions Vol. 1 and my preferred scale book is The Complete Scale Compendium for Violin by Larry Clark although I also have Galamian's Contemporary Violin Technique. I like Larry Clark's because it's good for beginners and very thorough. Galamian's and Carl Flesch's Scale System are good if you're really familiar with scales and need something more advanced.

YouTube has a lot of excellent videos. I prefer Eddy Chen if I'm stuck with something really particular. His advice helped me to really develop a practice routine that helped me stay focused and actually accomplish something. If you do Suzuki, there are some instructors who do play along videos (some even do slower tempo versions) of the etudes which I find helpful.

The thing that strikes me about MM when listening to his instructional videos on YouTube is that when talking music (not posture, not technique, but notes) he talks like an improviser... which can be hard to follow if you don't already know lots of scales and chord progressions. "So in this lick you can throw in a C here, which gives it a little bluesy sound." "Well why the hell does it DO that, Mike?" So I've been a little reluctant to sign up for his courses. Awesome player, but communication-wise, might be better to learn from someone who has had to articulate all of this stuff for themselves because it didn't come naturally.

For theory: You may want a book. You could go for a straight-up music theory book, but for something geared towards mandolin, I think that the book by Horne and Fugate did an okay job on theory. Mike Marshall also publishes an "Improvisational Concepts" book for mandolin (look at Elderly.com for it, I think). It is a little sparse, but if you are willing to work with the exercises and design some of your own it can work. Pretty bluegrass specific, but I think this book is outstanding, lots of depth, slowly ratchets up your improv level.

For technique: Watch videos and mimic. Video yourself practicing (it helps!)

Learning random songs: There is a lot to be said for learning random songs as a tool for learning theory...as long as you are consciously connecting it to the theory, rather than just playing tab. I like the Jethro Burns mandolin book for this reason. It looks mostly like a big collection of songs...but Jethro is the absolute freaking master of licks, turnarounds, and finishes. If you spend some time figuring out how his licks work with the chord progressions and melody you will not be sorry.

Better uke setup, still cheap:

• Lanikai 21-T. This is a tenor uke, around $120. I love mine. The strings that come on it shouldn't, so next...
  
  
• Worth brown strings. These really helped my fingerpicking. $12.80, but the strings are cut long enough for two full sets. Crappy or dead strings will not help you develop your ear correctly. Being out of tune will also prevent your development, so next...
  
  
• Snark SN-2 tuner. About $12.00. Finally, you need something to play...
  
  
• The Daily Ukulele is great, and can be used to practice your rhythm playing or to develop fingerpicked versions of classics (lots of Beatles in here, and an easy uke arrangement of California Dreamin'). At a more advanced level, try Learn to Play Fingerstyle Ukulele Solos. If you have not really gotten into fingerpicking, starting this book will be a big revelation: you suck, because you can't play freaking Twinkle Twinkle Little Star the way the author arranged it (anyway, that's where I started). Learning these will be a long process, and you will probably want to make many detours, through scales practice, finger exercises, and music theory, but your playing (even for strummy things) will start improving enormously.
  
  I'll also assume that, since you are a Redditor and know what's up, that you don't need to be told to get a metronome like the Korg MA-30.
  
  So borrow a couple of textbooks instead of buying and set that money aside; that should be about enough to get all of this. Or save money some other way... A friend of mine had a serious Starbuck's habit. I don't think he even realized it, but he was dropping $5-$10 every day at Starbuck's and whining about how he had no money. Coffee at home and two months later, his first uke.
  
  Last, strumming... practice the living crap out of your strums. Count out loud. Use a metronome. Write down the patterns. Speaking and writing the strum patterns is important, drumming them out with your hand (off the uke) is also important. You need to think of the strum as a rhythm that's independent of your uke, like this magical, ideal, Platonic rhythm, and you with your poor wooden uke and your sad meat fingers have to try to mimic it; anything you can do to understand the rhythm better -- whether or not you do that thing on your uke -- will help improve your strum.
  

/u/Morthy's Demands: I only have one wishlist. =]

1. I feel like classical music could be something posh. haha
   
2. People may think I'm odd if I just busted this out in public.
   
3. Sadly I had nothing phallic on my list, what is wrong with me?!
   
   /u/Akeleie's Demands:
   
   
4. Possibly this, but not sure if she's that geekish, more like awesome!
   
5. This to help me relearn what I've forgotten.
   
6. I don't think anything on my list would be helpful, except maybe these? lol
   

The auditory component will always be there. You still need to primarily develop the mechanical muscle memory side of things but violin intonation is about constantly adjusting based on your ear.

Here is a great video by Nathan Cole, associate concertmaster of the LA Phil discussing how to nail shifts that I think you'd find useful. Keep in mind he is talking especially about how to do big jumps, from first to sixth+ position for instance. It's still very important to teach your muscles where the basic positions are, such as knowing where third or even where first position is, which is where the muscle memory mechanics come into play.


Edit: The practice exercise you described is exactly how you should be developing the motions. Slide up to the pitch that you are going for and eventually you can start hiding the glissando sound, through shifting fast enough and/or by slowing down your bow/changing bow direction. I highly recommend you also start practicing 3 octave scales with basic shifting, even if you only go up to the highest note you can play in third position for now.

The Whistler shifting book is a staple resource for developing all this.

For books a Google search will turn up some great stuff. I find the early evolution from an African instrument really fascinating - Google 'ankoting' for some great info.

This is a classic on that topic: http://www.amazon.com/African-Banjo-Echoes-Appalachia-Publications/dp/0870498932

I was once at a concert of some great African musician playing an native instrument. When I looked closer I realized he was playing with the backs of his fingernails like the clawhammer style - so very likely that style of playing, not just the instrument, has African origins as well.

You might want to watch Bela Fleck's video, Throw Down Your Heart. It's basically following Fleck around as he meets and plays with musicians around Africa. While I was a little disappointed by how it's much more about Fleck than it is about Africa, there are a couple sections that are wonderful. Watch for the explanation of what the title means.

There is of course more to the history of banjo than its African origins, but it's definitely an important aspect.

I can't recommend Hal Leonard's Ukulele Aerobics enough, as far as stretching the fingers and finger placement. It starts out really easy and unassuming, but has you on four-finger chords by week 3 and goes on from there. It's been a super great resource for someone like me who tends to lack direction when self-teaching. The exercises are all challenging at first, that's the point! But by the time I was on week 8, for example, I realized I could go back to week 5 and do those exercises with ease. In general, that's how practice works, but this made it quite tangible for me.

I have used a book called "Cello Playing for Music Lovers - a self teaching method" by Vera Mattlin Jiji for teaching one of my adult students. You can look inside the book on Amazon.com and see if you like it. It includes a CD which helps you hear the proper sound. The writer is a retired English professor who writes well, and provides accurate word descriptions and reference photographs.

It is much better to have a teacher, but if you need to start on your own, this book may be useful reference material for the correct hand position, posture, etc. and it has a number of songs to play arranged in a progressive sequence.

If you buy this book, don't pay list price for it. You should be able to find it for under USD $40.00.

Began playing the violin when I was 7. I took lessons until I went to college. Didn't play it that much in college, but I had it with me for a few semesters. After I graduated, I brought my violin with me and play it every so often.

The Suzuki books are garbage. If your teacher uses them, consider buying your own books or asking him/her to use other books. You could also consider getting a private teacher that doesn't use Suzuki.

On the topic of material, get a scales book (Hrimaly), a technical book, and later on get a book on double-stops. You won't need to use double-stops that often, but it helps with balancing the bow so you only hit the strings you want, and also with intonation.

I don't have all of my music with me so I can't recommend the other books that I have. However, I think every violinist needs to know how to play the Bach Double.

Whatever you do, don't give up on playing. It takes a long time to become even slightly decent at violin. It's the hardest instrument to learn to play, but everyone is always impressed when they hear someone play violin, because either they don't have the ear to notice the mistakes, or they notice but realize how hard it is.

When it comes to concerts and whatnot, if you have to play in front of people, keep what I just said in mind - most of them won't be able to hear your mistakes. Loosen up, correct your mistakes early but don't assume you won't make any mistakes. Realizing that you can fix mistakes before most people will notice takes a lot of the anxiety away.

Now I think I'm gonna have to go play my violin for a bit. :)

In your price range, there are two popular, reputable options that I'm aware of for bows: they are the Glasser Fiberglass bow, and the Gollihur Music Brazilwood bow. These bows are both good for beginners, with the former option being a bit cheaper ($75 vs $154) than the latter option. However, the former option is a bow made of fiberglass, as opposed to brazilwood, which the latter is made of; as a result, the tonal quality of the two bows will differ quite a bit, with the latter option probably being preferable tonally.

As far as bass method books that are popularly used by beginners, Simandl's New Method for the Double Bass is the one I'm most familiar with. There is also the Rabbath method, and various other methods that are useful for beginning bass players.

If you're looking for rosin, I personally like Kolstein's Soft and Nyman's; however, you may have different preferences, or needs (depending on climate).

I strongly suggest that you contact a teacher before purchasing any of the above things, as they will best be able to determine your individual needs at this point in time. In addition, it would serve you well to find someone (if not the aforementioned teacher) to study with on a regular basis, as learning to play the bass on one's own might very well lead to developing bad, perhaps even dangerous habits.

I'm not sure why everyone is always recomending the How and Tao book.. I have just about every clawhammer book you can get (i can get them for free so why not) and there are much better books out there.

I would suggest either this one or anything by Ken Perlman, maybe this one: or this

the first one is really good for beginners, but you'll quickly outgrow it, but it'll teach you the right hand motion. The second and third are more intermediate to advanced stuff but really really good stuff.

I think the term you're looking for is fingerpicking. If you search for that, you should find stuff. However, some books that I either own or have seen people mention:

• https://www.amazon.com/Jumpin-Jims-Ukulele-Masters-James/dp/1540003043 (or anything else by James Hill)
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Ukulele-Aerobics-Levels-Beginner-Advanced/dp/147681306X (I own this one, it's a little simplistic but isn't a bad starting point)
  
  And plenty more are around. I think James Hill and rockclass101 are the only full systems I'm aware of, although I've never used either of them. But James Hill even does a teacher certification course, and is quite well respected.
  
  You can also come up with your own, it's not too difficult. You can base it off of a book for a classical instrument for example. It's a great exercise to do that, since you already have a basis for music theory from the violin.

There's not as formal of a progression with mandolin as there are with more established jazz/classical instruments. I think the closest that you're going to find would be a book like The Complete Mandolinist. It has a decidedly classical bent to it, but it's a single book but it was created to be used progressively rather than a random selection of tunes.

I've also heard good things about Horne's series. but they are well reviewed. More folk/bluegrassy oriented.

It doesn't answer your question, but depending on your level and what you're looking for, there are two books that I have that are more exercise oriented that focus on a progressive approach to learning imrpovisation and the fretboard-- Esichman's getting into Jazz Mandolin has years worth of exercises to develop a Jazz vocabulary and fretboard knowledge.

And Petersen's Guide to Bluegrass Improvisation focuses on building a bluegrass improv vocabulary.

Sorry I don't have much more help, but I don't know if there is a correct answer to this one.

Violin tops an backs are normaly made of one wedge shaped block of wood that is split from a tree, this produces well quartered wood with very little runout. This is then is split down the middle and opened like a book, it is therefore often said that the wood is "bookmatched"

The minimum dimentions i would use of such a wedge for the back or top would be about 380mm long, 225mm wide and about 30mm thick at the tickest edge, this gives you enough spare wood for resawing and jointing, but larger dimentions are fine, and this is the minimum.

The ribs are normaly made from rough pieces that are about 2mm thick, 40mm wide and of adequate length.

I do recomend you get a good book though http://www.amazon.com/The-Violin-Making-Chris-Johnson/dp/0709058764 this book is very good, it may seem expensive, but it is worth every cent. You can also check if your lokal libraries has some violin making litterature.

Octave double stops like this are among the more difficult to master. My advice is to pick one line and make it sound good in first position. Play the other. Start mapping out the positions you're going to need for this piece and playing all the bottom notes as first finger moving from position to position, super in tune.
I would practice Sevcik Preparatory Exercises in Double Stopping op 9 or Trott double stops has a bit more melody, less octaves though. Scales with double stops are always great, though they can be tough, motivation wise.

I took a free ukulele class at the local Guitar Center that they have once a month. It was just me and one other guy. In just an hour, the teacher had tuning the ukulele, playing a few simple songs, understanding how to read ukulele music from a page, and pointing us to tons of other resources for learning. If you can find anything like that, it'll save you a ton of time. The teacher answered a hundred questions and helped me pick an instrument to buy. I also bought a clip-on Snark tuner which essentially do what many ukulele phone apps also do. I bought a few beginner books, including this Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1, which was helpful, and a 4-chord songbook to practice with.

Don't miss the "Related Links" at the right side of this page.

A few pieces of advice.

1. If you don't play a stringed instrument, your left-hand finger-tips are going to hurt like hell for about a week. Keep playing. That pain all goes away.
   
   
2. Some chords that seem very difficult to get at first will definitely become easier over time. Practice...
   
   
3. When you learn something one way, it's very hard to unlearn it and do it a different way. I got into playing quickly, learning on my own. By the time I started working with a teacher, 3 months in, he had to tell me that the way I had learned to finger some of the chords, was OK, but not the best way to do it. There's no one-way to do some things, but certain ways will make things harder for you later on. I'm stuck now feeling that some ways to hold a chord feel natural, while the recommended ways can feel less comfortable.
   
   
4. Have fun!

I recently was at a party of violinists and this got pulled out: http://www.amazon.com/Fiddlers-Fakebook-Ultimate-Sourcebook-Traditional/dp/0825602386/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

It immediately popped out to me as the most important thing that any violin player should have, most of all because it just has a ton of really fun easy to learn pieces. Also of course, playing with other people is always going to be the most fun way to practice so see if you can figure out if there is a group of musicians near you.

Easy one! Get this book and read it start to finish. Then put it on a music stand and start again. Play each exercise in the book and make sure you understand each concept. If you get through this book and can play every exercise, and you understand every concept you will be a very good rock guitar player. From there, write songs, form a band, play gigs, and record albums.

private lessons, definitely, but Simandl I is probably your best bet for learning solid left hand technique.

I'll tell you something - the online lessons didn't work for me at all. I bought this book (http://www.amazon.com/Clawhammer-Style-Banjo-Ken-Perlman/dp/0931759331/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1333467612&sr=8-2) and made it a chapter or two in. Then I went to Africa for six months, took my banjo and what little knowledge I had formed a jam group. I learned more from doing that than anything else. That said, invest in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Parking-Lot-Pickers-Songbook-Banjo/dp/0786674911/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1333467621&sr=8-4

I got it as a gift, and it's awesome. There aren't a lot of clawhammer songbooks out there, but this one has most of the popular songs in melody-only tab, so you can pick them any way you want. It's the single most useful book I've ever looked at in trying to learn banjo.

These are all great suggestions. These were all some of the songs I learned to play guitar to as well. May I suggest these songs as well;
"Sitting On Top Of The World", "Whiskey Before Breakfast", "High on the Mountain", "Old Home Place", "Whitehouse Blues", "Me and My Uncle". Or better yet, just buy the Bluegrass Fakebook. (http://www.amazon.com/Bluegrass-Fakebook-Favorites-Gospel-Mandolin/dp/1893907376)

The Daily Ukelele has a section full of kid's songs. Provided that you are still new to the uke (as am I), I would generally recommend the book as well. A wonderfully put-together fakebook. Good luck.

Teach yourself.

You can learn everything that your teacher has taught you on youtube for free. If you actually want to learn the instrument from where you are now, then focus on the C-A-G-E-D method of guitar study for at least a while. Good books to study C-A-G-E-D are:

Fretboard Logic by Bill Edwards and
Fretboard Theory by Desi Serna. Another old school book that is pretty good is The Heavy Guitar Bible by Richard Daniels.

Learn your minor and major pentatonic scales for every key and then get into your chords. When you practice your scales, don't just do straight runs, but do doubles and triplets and make up your own trips. When you learn the "boxes" for your pentatonics, step outside the boxes and tie them together. See your chords when you run through the pentatonic scales. Learn the names of all of the notes on each fret on all 6 strings. Learn how your octaves are laid out.

After you have this wired, go into your major scale modes.

During all of this, teach yourself songs by TAB or learning to sight read or by ear.

My interests in music jump around so much that I'm into Led Zeppelin one day and Joe Pass on another. If that is how you roll, then teach yourself how the instrument works and the theory behind how the music that you like works along with the lingo or dialect for that branch of music. For example, a blues guitarist has a a whole slew of riffs that are not much ever going to be something that a classical guitarist is going to be playing.

If you teach yourself, then you are steering the bus.

Make sure your shoulder rest (if you use one) is properly securing your violin. You should not have to adjust your grip on the violin after a shift.

I personally had my shifting improve substantially after adjusting my shoulder rest.

Second, don't forget your open string checks. In 3rd position, you have 2 checks that are easy: 1 and 2 can be checked with the lower and higher strings, respectively.

Also, this book has very good exercises: http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Positions-Violin-Volume-Position/dp/1423444876

Get into the habit of playing scales regularly. Scales will help you develop pitch recognition (getting used to what "in tune" sounds like), tone quality, bow usage (use full bows!) and it will help you learn the higher octaves/positions once you advance.
When I started learning violin, I used the "Essential Elements" method book, which has pretty useful information and exercises. (http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Elements-Strings-Book-Violin/dp/0634038176)

In addition to the Suzuki repertoire, I had these books when I first started:

• String Builder
  
• Introducing the Positions for Violin
  
• Hrimaly (Scale Book)
  
• Practical Method: Violin Method
  
  String Builder, Intro to the Positions, and Practical Methods all have several books in the series, and I went through quite a few of them. If I recall correctly, they're filled with fairly simple etudes that aid in building fundamental techniques. I wonder if a teacher would recommend other progression books for adults, however?
  
  You could also use that extra time to practice one octave scales for intonation, finger positioning, and bow variations (whole notes, quarter, eighths, then different slurs such as 2 notes in one bow, 4 notes, 6...). Not only do scales help in solidifying fundamentals, but just knowing how to play/identify different scales, as well as it's minor, harmonic, and melodic counterparts goes a long way when playing more complex music.

I am not a luthier or have I ever made a violin but it has been an interest for a while. Besides r/luthier there is musical instrument makers forum as well as this website. lastly the making the violin website recommends this book I’m sure there is more but those are the omes i know of.

https://www.amazon.com/Mandolin-Pickers-Guide-Bluegrass-Improvisation/dp/078668237X

Do you want a theory book, go over pentatonics/3 minor scales, chords to learn after major/minor triads? The above is really good, but you can learn that from a lot of books in yoru library, this is another https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Theory-Dummies-Online-Instruction/dp/1118646770/

The other, non theory way to go is to listen to lots of version of, say, Whiskey before breakfast, hear all the melody, harmonic and rhythmic variations and incorporate that into your playing without thinking "oh year, this picker really like mixolydian"

Just glancing at the piece, it looks like you should start in third or fourth position. I personally would start in fourth, so that high E can be played without an extension.

I would highly suggest getting the two Whistler positions books, which will help you get your fingers placed properly in the positions, and help you shift to them properly as well.

Book 1.

Book 2.

I recently picked up a copy of this book and have been extremely pleased with the approachability for newcomers as well as the depth of lessons as you get more advanced http://www.amazon.com/presents-Mandolin-Pickers-Bluegrass-Improvisation/dp/078668237X

Gives you exercises to help you learn the scales and theory behind what you're playing as opposed to just a lead sheet or fakebook.

I used this one as a student: https://www.amazon.com/O492-Method-English-Japanese-Simandl/dp/0825801524/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3YMW2XCGJW6WN23MF539 That one looks like it's still bound with the terrible glued spine that won't lay flat on a music stand. Take it to Kinkos and have them cut it and put a spiral binding on it.

Sankey was always messing around with fingerings, and came up with some super awesome solutions to a lot of tricky passage work. That kind of creativity lends a lot of joy to bass playing. Haters gonna hate, I thought he was awesome!

I have been going through Ukulele Aerobics book, which has a dedicated section on fingerpicking, scales, licks and runs. It can get pretty challenging pretty quick, but since its an exercise book, you can practice as good as you can get and go back and forth.

I've tried a bunch of books and the best one I've found is Ken Perlman's Clawhammer Style Banjo, which I see recommended pretty often. https://www.amazon.com/Clawhammer-Style-Banjo-Ken-Perlman/dp/0931759331

I used YouTube videos until I could get the motion down, now I'm learning via the book.

If you're talking about violins then this one, co-written by two English makers, is excellent. For bass (upright) the best one I know of is this one by Chuck Traeger. If you're talking about guitars, then I have nothing to offer, sorry.

I was briefly enrolled in a violin making program at the University of New Mexico. I already had many years of fine woodworking skills. There are a number of great books though. A classic is The Art of Violin Making A fairly new book is the Manual of Violin Making which I just ordered and am quite eager to check out.

Hello player!

I bought some Ukulele books myself not long ago. Please note that I'm a total beginner so you might not find them as useful as I found them. The books are:

• Ukulele Aerobics. This is a 40-week book. Each week is split into different practices.
  
  
• [20 Easy Fingerstyle Studies For Ukulele] (http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Fingerstyle-Studies-Ukulele-Book/dp/078668397X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427050523&sr=8-1).
  
  
• Fingerstyle Ukulele
  
  I also got an Ukulele Chord Dictionary, very handy and small. I keep it with me.
  
  I recently bought James Hill's book series (The Ukulele way) but haven't received them yet! If you want to check more books by James hill: Empiremusic website have them
  
  I hope that gives you a starting point. The only reason I don't own every single Ukulele book is because I pay twice their price due to shipping costs ;(.

One major difference is that when you play a note on the upright, the intonations is in your left hand and ear, opposed to just playing inside a fret. Since you already have jazz bass experience, I would recommend Simandl to work out fingerings and positions

I'm quite surprised that you've come across anything for banjo in standard notation. Outside of the minstrel tutors (which are from the 19th century) I've never seen banjo materials written in anything except tab. Especially for old time, where the so many tunings are used, reading standard is almost useless (unless you want to read out of fiddle books).

Anyway, my favourite resources would be Ken Perlman's Book and Art Rosenbaum's. Rosenbaum's comes with a fantastic CD which makes it worth the price alone. It's not really a beginner book, but it's still a great resource which covers a range of old time styles (clawhammer, 2-finger, and 3-finger)

Yep! If I may suggest a fantastic book to help you along:

Clawhammer Style Banjo https://www.amazon.com/dp/0931759331?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

https://www.amazon.com/Ukulele-Aerobics-Levels-Beginner-Advanced/dp/147681306X

This is pretty cool. It gets complex pretty fast though.

I used the Henry Strobel books, and they worked, but I recently got The Art of Violin Making and it seems to have a lot more information in it, plus the pictures are much better. I also poked around Maestronet and got a good amount of information from there.

The Hal Leonard book is pretty good.

It looks like a used copy is less than $2.

I normally start by doing the bottom A, C, D and G major scales with different pattern bows strokes, then do the full scales top to bottom. After that i'm kind of jumping into playing a few pieces from this book:https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/9043127515/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, then practice a few things from the either Suzuki book 1, or one or two things from this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0955438462/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 or this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0634038176/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. After doing that I normally try and do some 3rd position scales (Which I'm still really having to work at) and have recently started learning to do double stops.

When I notice I'm getting out of tune I normally stop, go back to the start of the phrase I was playing, play the notes in the key I'm playing, then go back over the phrase to see if it sounds better.

I also normally have a go at a few pieces from The Lord of the Rings book, from Full Metal Alchemist, a book of Disney songs (as they're familiar) or another piece that's caught my ear from gaming.

http://www.amazon.com/Hal-Leonard-Ukulele-Method-Book/dp/0634079867

I liked this book to help teach me to the picking notes on the ukulele, if you are interested.

Instead of tapes, get a book:

https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Positions-Violin-Third-Position/dp/1423444876

What I like about this is it builds on what you already know, first position and your existing ear training. You start out by playing something in first, then playing the same thing with a shift to third position. Normally, I don’t suggest books because I think it encourages doing things outside of lessons that could lead to bad habits. But this book is actually intended for students who need supplemental help with shifting. Assuming shifting has been demonstrated in lessons, the book won’t teach you anything new but will rather help cement some things so you can move forward.

I just bought a book called From Lute to Uke that has a lot of the medieval and renaissance kind of stuff you're looking for. Here's my favorite song from the book so far, Pastime with Good Company, composed by King Henry VIII himself. Note: I'm not the guy in the video.

I missed the original thread but Richard Daniels' The Heavy Guitar Bible is an excellent resource for rock fundamentals.

This is a very good starting book for just $6. It'll give you a good idea of what to do with your fingers. It takes just a week or two to work through.

I've heard good things about Brainjo, as suggested already, but I've never tried it. What has really worked for me over the last few month's has been Ken Perlman's Clawhammer Style Banjo book. For some reason, it just clicked with me and I'm around half-way through the book and have picked up maybe 30 tunes or so. There is an accompanying DVD available for around $28. I picked it up also, but mostly just refer to it occasionally if I need clarification on something. I've also seen multiple recommendations for Dan Levenson's Clawhammer Banjo from Scratch, but haven't used that one either.

Also, I think I found my recommendations at the time with a search for "clawhammer books" on the Banjo Hangout Forums. Plenty of info and helpful people there also.

I've been trying my best to practice the fundamentals as much as possible. Practicing scales slowly and making sure I'm in tune. I check my intonation against the open strings whenever I can depending on the scale. It's can be extremely frustrating! But I figure if you can't play it accurately slow then you wont stand a chance at faster tempos. Also if I land on an out of tune note instead of sliding to find it I try to take my finger completely off and try to land on it as accurately as possible.

If you can read sheet music I highly recommend the fiddlers fakebook!

Buy a copy of The Daily Ukulele and start working on the songs in it. http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Ukulele-Fakebook-Jumpin-Songbooks/dp/1423477758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330824569&sr=8-1 Also, try to find a local Uke group and meet up and play with them. In the Atlanta area, we have the Southeast Ukers who get together twice a month. I attended for the first time in February, and spent three of the most fun hours I can remember. Everyone there had their copy of The Daily Ukulele, and people would call out songs from that.

This Land Is Your Land

Crazy

Danny Boy

These were the first three songs I learned and they were quite easy.

This book (and the Leap Year book) is great for starting out - so many songs and you can learn more and more complex ones as you go.

http://www.amazon.com/African-Banjo-Echoes-Appalachia-Publications/dp/0870498932/ref=pd_sim_m_1

This book is amazingly interesting, if he likes history and Old Time music.

If you are wanting to learn clawhammer style, I recommend Clawhammer Style Banjo by Ken Perlman. I've been teaching myself with this book so far and it's very helpful.

I took classical upright lessons for a little while, and this was the book that I used: New Method for Double Bass.

This book has some very simple-to-follow exercises that should help you get used to sight-reading, and will also give you some foundational harmony.

Do you have prior experience with stringed instruments? If so I strongly suggest The Mandolin Picker's Guide To Bluegrass Improvisation, and Getting Into Jazz Mandolin, the don't require a lot of experience, but you might struggle if you have none at all. I'm sure some ones suggested Mandolin Cafe, but If you are a complete beginner, Folk of the Wood Is another good place to start.

I suggest reading The Heavy Guitar Bible. It's the best instructional guitar book that I have seen.

Clawhammer style banjo by Ken Perlman. Best $20 you can spend on clawhammer knowledge.

http://www.amazon.com/Clawhammer-Style-Banjo-Ken-Perlman/dp/0931759331/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426131101&sr=1-1&keywords=ken+perlman

I love these two books:

From Lute to Uke - https://amzn.com/1458406512

The Baroque Ukulele - https://amzn.com/1476815208

hi!
It is a somewhat old post, but I was thinking it over myself for over 10 years so maybe it would be still helpful :)
I got my violin at the end of March, as I understand cheap violins can be frustrating. You can search for rentals. I am on a rent-to-own program so anything I pay for rent is going to owning a violin in the future. In the meantime I am learning on a $700 dollar violin.
As books, you can start with Suzuki violin book 1 (with CD) and Essential Elements for Strings: Violin 1.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_25?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=suzuki+violin+book+1+with+cd&sprefix=suzuki+violin+book+1+with%2Cstripbooks%2C189&crid=9LAG8EWNCUFF

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Elements-Strings-Book-Violin/dp/0634038176

Here is a slide show with commentary, on making a viola by Michael Darnton.

Strobel's "Useful Measurements for Violin Makers" has dimensional data.

Johnson and Courtnall is pricier, and has a nice scroll pattern.

Make sure you can sharpen your tools well enough to shave a gnat's butt. There is more to it, but that is a start...

Check this one out : https://www.amazon.com/Lute-Uke-Ukulele-Package-Songbook/dp/1458406512

Definitely worth the purchase! (incidentally I found out about it when someone asked this exact same question on this exact same subreddit)

there are students who are more advanced than me, but everyone is < 1 year. 3 students in total, I think, including myself.

I have been thinking of supplementing with online lessons, or perhaps a book like this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Cello-Playing-Music-Lovers-Self-Teaching/dp/1412095603/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481493285&sr=8-2&keywords=cello+for+music+lovers.

But only as a supplement, not a replacement.

Violin making is a centuries old craft and it has been very well documented. There's a lot of material if you look in the right places. Everything is done for a well established reason.

For example

https://www.amazon.ca/Art-Violin-Making-Chris-Johnson/dp/0709058764

Don't forget that people make bows, too.

Just popping in to say that, while the Russian bowhold really does give you power, it also will generally give you tendonitis... So you may want to rethink adopting it. The franco-belgian bowhold is much more balanced and is much better for your body (though tendonitis is still a possibility- repetitive motion is brutal on your body). That said, if you really want to check it out, the link myintellectisbored shared is good, and so is Galamian (see here) or Auer.

We've had a lot of luck with this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Fiddlers-Fakebook-Ultimate-Sourcebook-Traditional/dp/0825602386

This is great for beginners!

I would say though, that anyone interested in really progressing invest in a scale studies book. I've been using Hrimaly since I was in High School, and theres seriously nothing better out there for kicking your own ass at scales. I go back and forth between loving this thing and absolutely despising it.

https://www.amazon.com/Hrimaly-Studies-Schirmers-Library-Classics/dp/0793525683

mandolin cafe is one of my favorite resources for all things mandolin. Got lessons on there, but their forums are a great source for whatever you want to learn. My other advice would be to get a book of songs (I use the fiddlers fakebook) and just run through them til you're dead.

If you're looking for a book, I highly recommend Ken Perlman's Clawhammer Style Banjo. It starts with the basics but goes into intermediate methods. I'm still making my way through it.

I play mandolin and use The Fiddler's Fakebook

Nice because it catalogs who has recorded it along with the music. There is no tablature, only standard notation. I don't like tabs anyhow.

Also, Carpilation

This is an assembly of fiddle tunes from an annual gathering in Kansas. It is also standard notation only. I uploaded the PDF file to Kinko's and had them print and spiral bind it for me.

Not all of the tunes are Irish tunes, but they are the majority.

I’ve been a musician for 30 years and a music teacher for 11 years. You are never - ever - too old to learn an instrument. You’re 16. That’s prime time. Find yourself a violin that works, and get Essential Elements book 1.

> Simandl book 1

Are you refering to this one http://www.amazon.com/Method-Double-English-Japanese-Edition/dp/0825801524

I also have Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus. Use that in combination with Youtube videos on frailing technique and you're golden. Once you outgrow that book pick up a copy of Clawhammer Style Banjo which will cover advanced stuff too.