I know that many of my regular readers are currently playing the violin, but are thinking about picking up another instrument besides their main hobby. Next to the piano, the guitar is one of the most popular instruments for violinists to pick up.
In this article, I will give you a comparison between the violin and the guitar – and which one I think is easier to learn.
As most of you know, I have been playing the violin for almost 20 years at this point. But one of the other instruments that I love to practice is the guitar. 14 years ago, I got an old guitar from my dad and started practicing. Since then, I have enjoyed playing the guitar at jam sessions, campfires, and school bands. I still use my guitar regularly to accompany my violin students.
Ways To Read Music For The Violin
I hope this post will help you get a better idea of the differences between the guitar and violin – and which instrument is harder to learn.
To understand what it is like to learn both violin and guitar, the first thing to understand is the differences between these instruments.
If you want to read about these differences in more detail, check out my article “Differences Between a Violin and a Guitar”.
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Now you understand more about the differences, I want to address the question that so many of my readers, violin students, and acquaintances are curious about!
The short answer is: Yes, the violin is harder to learn than the guitar. There are several reasons for that. First of all, the violin does not have a fretboard, which means you will have to find every tone by ear. Secondly, creating a beautiful sound with a violin bow is very challenging, which makes many beginners struggle to play even one note beautifully.
If you want to play any instrument at a professional level, it does not matter which instrument you choose in terms of difficulty.
Thomann Online Guides The Acoustic Guitar Choosing A Beginner's Instr.
The reason for this is that all instruments are endlessly difficult. You can compare learning an instrument at a professional level to becoming a professional athlete: there is no limit to how well you can perform. You can always jump a little higher, swim a little faster, or do a more impressive trick. A professional athlete would never say, “I am fast and strong enough – I am done practicing now.” Everyone at that level always strives to improve their skills and break new records.
The same is true for musicians. There is always a way to play a passage a little more musically, a little faster, or a little more precisely. That is why even the best players in the world – no matter whether it is the violin or guitar – are usually still practicing many hours a day, decades after they started.
In that sense, you could say that no matter which instrument you choose, each one will take more than a lifetime to learn.
Is Violin Harder Than Guitar?
The reason for this is that most people who pick up one of the two instruments do not have the goal to become a professional guitar or violin player. Many would simply like to play their favorite songs, join a local jam session, or play with friends.
On the guitar, I experienced that you can see the results of your practice significantly faster than on a violin. There are a few reasons for that:
As the violin has a fingerboard without any frets, finding the correct notes is considerably harder. Thanks to the frets on a guitar, you will play in tune from your first day of playing, which saves you a lot of time and effort.
How Easy Is Learning To Play A Violin As Compared To A Guitar?
I explain the process of finding the right notes on the violin and why this is so challenging in more detail in my article “Why Is Playing the Violin so Hard?”.
As you are playing the guitar with your hands instead of with a bow, the movement you need to make in order to play the tones is more natural.
Violinists can sometimes take years to get a beautiful tone, as it is hard to play with a violin bow without scratching and squeaking.
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On a guitar, you can learn both chords and solos. Solos are when you are playing either an improvised or existing melody.
Chords are several notes played at the same time, that sound in beautiful harmony. Chords are often used to accompany people who are singing songs.
There are 12 basic guitar chords, with which you can learn to accompany almost any pop song. It means that if you learn only 12 chords, you can play more than 1000 songs on the guitar!
How A Violin Is Made
It is a bit similar to learning how to play solos on a guitar – which is a lot more challenging. Most guitar players only start learning to play solos after reaching an intermediate playing level. Many guitarists enjoy playing chords so much that they never get around to learning how to play solos.
As violinists have no other option besides learning to play solos, they will often take many more years before they build a repertoire of songs.
It would be similar to a guitarist starting to play solos from the very beginning. Although that would be possible, it would also take a lot longer for a guitar player to play anything that sounds decent.
Guitar Vs Piano: Which Should You Learn?
There are a lot more free resources for learning the guitar than the violin. This makes learning the guitar more easily accessible for many people around the world.
I feel like this is quickly changing. I have noticed that more and more violin teachers are creating blogs and YouTube channels. As a fellow violin teacher blogger, I am happy to see this development, as it will encourage a lot more people to start learning!
Also, guitars and guitar accessories tend to be cheaper and more accessible around the world. Many people will easily be able to pick up a second-hand guitar, while finding a violin can be a lot harder.
I Know Why You Should Buy An Expensive Violin Vs. A Cheap Student Violin
Tip: if you are looking for resources to learn the violin, I have created a 100% free lesson library with over 100 violin lessons that you can check out here. Also, I recommend starting out with my 3-day beginner course to learn the right violin posture before you get started.
The reason for violin (or fiddle, in this case) being an easier instrument to earn a living with is that there is currently less competition. There are many guitar players that play folk, pop, and jazz music, but not as many violin players. As a result, there are a lot more gigs available for violinists to play as a fiddle player or improvisational violinist.
Most violin players decide to learn classical music. The classical music industry is extremely competitive. I would say it is close to impossible for any adult starter to make it in classical music without being classically trained from a young age.
Is Violin Hard To Learn? — Miri Ben Ari
However, if you learn to play fiddle music to a pretty high level, you are normally able to find at least some gigs as a violin player.
Throughout my life, from visiting various jam sessions and folk festivals, I have met several individuals who are making a living as a fiddle player after learning to play the violin as an adult.
Even though I would consider the violin to be an easier instrument to make a living with, it is also possible to make a living from playing the guitar if you start playing as an adult.
Is Electric Guitar Easier Than Acoustic?
I have also met a few guitarists who were able to make a living from playing guitar, after starting as an adult. Most of them were either accompanists (playing chords, accompanying other solo players) or singer-songwriters. It seems to be easier to make a living as a guitarist if you can also sing well.
Of course, bear in mind that you will have to play at a pretty high standard to make a living with any instrument. All of these individuals have spent many hours and years practicing before they were able to start making a (part-time) living with music.
I’d love to hear from you about this topic! Do any of my readers make a living with music after starting as an adult? Please comment below!
Electric Guitar Overtakes Violin In Music Lesson Boom
I asked readers what they still wanted to know about the violin, the guitar, and their differences. These were the questions I received, with my answers for each question.
Yes, you can use a violin as a guitar. Instead of using the bow, you are able to strum chords on the violin with your right hand.
The sound of playing chords on the violin will be different from the sound of a guitar. Guitars are made for strumming chords and tend to sound a lot more beautiful.
Is It True That It Is Harder To Study The Violin Than The Guitar By Your Self?
Violinists can use mandolin chord charts to learn where the violin chord fingerings are, as mandolins have exactly the same string tunings (E – A – D – G) as a violin.
Playing the violin is not easier than playing the guitar. The reason for that is that even though you are playing only one note at a time (as opposed to multiple notes on the guitar), finding the notes on
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