How loud is a violin?

[Abellana]

And would practise annoy neighbours? Asking for a friend.

Thanks all for your lovely encouraging comments. I guess having played classical guitar there may be some similarity with holding the neck of the violin even though there are no frets. And I will be used to a bit of plucking! But the bow is a whole new thing entirely.

If I am going to read music the violin being in the treble clef will be more familiar to me too. Rather than alto or bass. I think I’m going to go my local music shop at the weekend and get a feel for it. I guess they might be able to help me find a teacher as well. I might be totally rubbish at it (well definitely will be at first!) but hopefully will have some fun learning if nothing else!

Too loud.

And it sounds awful when practicing, unlike guitar or piano which are much more forgiving to beginners

Yes it will annoy neighbours, doesn’t mean you can’t do it but maybe ask them when is the best time to do a 30 min practice

As an adult beginner there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to get an acceptable sound on the violin quite quickly. Be prepared to put time and effort into how you hold both the violin and the bow, and focus on tone quality as a priority. Don't jump into trying to do long bow strokes at first, I've been taught to start with short rhythms and then aim for longer bows gradually as control improves - that really helps.

Most of my beginners sound perfectly ok by the time they can play a piece, which for some is weeks some a few months - but the ones that take that long are VERY little and their practice times also short.

Above all focus on listening to your sound and your intonation. Something I say to my students a lot is, your eyes are in charge of your bow, and your ears in charge of your fingers.

I hope you find a convenient teacher and give it a go, and have fun!

@Pythonesque thanks for your comments. As a result of this thread I decided that I need to get a decent violin if I have any chance of making a nice sound so saving up for that at the moment, plus I still need to find a teacher. But it's still very much in my mind to do this.