Are you confused between learning to play Violin vs Guitar? It all boils down to this – Are Violin and Guitar Similar? Don’t worry; we’re here to break it down for you. By the end of this article, you will know every minute difference and, hopefully, pick an instrument that speaks to you the most.
The primitive variations between guitars and violins lie within their features and characteristics. To summarize their distinctions, comprehensive knowledge on their instrumental classification, playing order, strings, frets, hand style, response time, versatility, genre, sound, and volume is needed.
| Violin | Guitar |
|---|---|
| Characterized by 4 strings | Characterized by 6 strings |
| Construction: wood, however, electric violins have entirely non-wooden construction | Construction: wood and polycarbonate |
| Two types: cello and viola | Three types: classic, acoustic, and archtop |
| Music genres: rock and roll, folk, jazz, classical and Baroque | Music genres: pop, reggae, jazz, country, blues and more |
| Needs assistance of a bow | Played with a pick or fingers |
Let’s get real. Even with such elaborated particulars, you’d like to know more in-depth about these two musical instruments taking the music industry by storm and why they aren’t similar. We have just what you need. Frankly, we’re far from being done. Keep reading to know more about their similarities, differences, and myths!
- Are Violin And Guitar Similar? – We’re Breaking It Down
- Is The Violin Harder To Learn Than The Guitar
- Which Sounds Better Violin Or Guitar?
- Few Factors To Help You Choose Which One To Learn
- Reason for Using Violin or Guitar
- How Many Days To Learn Violin And Guitar?
- Should You Choose The Violin Or Guitar?
- Final Words
Are Violin And Guitar Similar? – We’re Breaking It Down
There’s always more to such intricate choices. Wouldn’t you say the same? To make your process of picking one of these musical tools smoother, we will pinpoint every element and clarify them as needed. Stay tuned – no pun intended.
Instrument Classification
From the first view, you will notice that the guitar is a plucked instrument while the violin is bowed. While playing the guitar, the user will have to use their fingers or utilize a pick. The sound production depends on the playing style, which is plucking the string away from the guitar’s figure and letting it go and vice versa. As the movement causes a vibration in the strings, we get to hear a harmonious tone.
On the contrary, the violin uses a bowed string, meaning that the strings produce a sound as the users draw the bow across them. The results can be astounding, depending on the user’s technique, response, and sound duration.
Volume and Sound
Violins are known to be proud instruments. Whether it’s for the user or its volume. You see, guitars are neighbor-friendly; however, we can’t say the same about violins. Moreover, due to the violin’s theatrical sound and volume, it dominates an orchestral piece and setting.
Additionally, even though guitars aren’t quite as loud, they’re great accompanying instruments. Whether it’s to succumb to your loneliness, in a band, or even in an orchestra, guitars can induce multiple frequencies, melodies, and voices to fit various settings.
Versatility
Right off the bat, we need to put a disclaimer about violins. They’re limited to classical music genres, such as country, Celtic, and fiddle. On the other hand, guitars tend to be more diverse.
Almost everything is on the horizon with guitars starting from funk, blues-rock, heavy metal, rock and roll, flamenco, reggae, pop, folk, and so much more. You name it, and an acoustic or electric guitar can deliver accordingly.
Response Time
The factor and time of how quickly or slowly an instrument can produce a sound after being hit, strung, or pressed is its response time. A benefit of violins is that it has a quicker response time. It all comes down to their construction, too, and as violin strings are sensitive and thinner, they produce minimum sounds even with the slightest touch.
Guitar strings have thicker composition hence, require more effort while playing. However, that makes the instrument incredibly beginner-friendly. One downfall for the extra added pressure during strumming and plucking guitar strings is that players often encounter scabby and hurting fingers. But hey, what’s pleasure without some pain, right?
Starting with violins can lead you to attain greater hand endurance which later makes it easier to work your way around guitars. So yes, that’s a complete win-win.
Frets and Strings
Even though both of these instruments have strings, violins don’t have frets, but guitars do. Frets are thin metal bits placed along the neck of the guitar horizontally. As you press down on the frets, you will hear specific tones. However, as violins don’t have frets, sound production entirely depends on the finger placements on the strings. If your finger placement is off, the tone will be off as well.
Both of these instruments indeed require fine motor skills; nevertheless, maneuvering your hand around a violin to emit the correct sound requires immense practice.
Playing Order
Guitar and violin strings are played in entirely different styles and notes. The guitar strings are E, A, D, G, B, and E, low to high, respectively. Each of these notes has an interval of a fourth.
In retrospect, the violin strings are G, D, A, and E from low to high, respectively, with intervals of a perfect fifth. The differences are pretty staggering and opposite of one another.
Is The Violin Harder To Learn Than The Guitar
Truth be told, most users find it ungovernable to cope with playing the violin, singing, and keeping in sync with other instruments. But the scenario is contradictory with guitars. Guitars are open to you singing while keeping your fingerstyle optimized and in sync with other instruments in the room.
Moreover, you can also play two instruments at once along with a guitar, for example, a bass drum or harmonica. The possibilities are endless with guitars, which is one of the fundamental reasons guitars have gained popularity.
Beginners and professionals can’t emphasize enough how guitars are the most lenient to adapt and learn, mainly because of their fret designs. While drawing a bow across the violin strings could take you weeks to get control of, guitars are worth the lower hassle.
However, since learning the violin is a challenge, taking up guitar lessons afterward will seem like child’s play with a decreased learning curve for you. At the end of the day, it is straightforward to learn the guitar if you already have a violin-based background due to increased hand endurance.
However, when the circumstances alternate – things could get tricky. Don’t fret yet. If you’re looking for ways to obtain more authority and hand endurance while playing the guitar, we have a few simple tips for you.
- Reduce some of the action. ‘Actions’ are the distance covered from the first fret to the last. As actions affect your playing style, tone, and overall feel and melody, if you reduce the action efforts, the strings will become easier to press.
- You can also switch to lighter strings. Lighter gauge strings are convenient for possessing higher sensitivity to touch. Hence, they require a lower effort but will maximize the output, nevertheless.
Which Sounds Better Violin Or Guitar?
To put it simply, the sound and tone that each of these instruments makes ultimately boils down to your liking and taste in music. As we all know by now, guitars are more versatile. Furthermore, guitars tend to have even more variations in their styles, constructions, and sound systems. What does this mean?
Well, generally, with guitars, there’s something for every music taste and genre. If you’re a fanatic of metalheads, an electric guitar could tailor to similar booming and earthquake-like sounds and vibrations. Whereas, if your taste in music reciprocates your calm attitude, you can switch it up between a violin and an acoustic guitar.
Lastly, we recommend you give all the instruments a trial. Listen to each of their gifted genres and select what you like best.
Few Factors To Help You Choose Which One To Learn
We urge you to focus on your interest and passion while selecting an instrument. Frankly, these two are vital elements that force you to keep learning and playing even when the process seems rickety. But, honestly, the critical component to learning either the violin or guitar is your passion, desire, and interest.
And the best part? More often than not, these elements are the only drive that you need!
However, before you rush into anything, let’s list down some more details on these bad boys. Before learning to play the guitar or violin, you need to comprehend what sets them apart, and if you want to let these differentiations guide your decisiveness – so be it!
Other than their prominent featured differences – which are rather obvious, there’s more to them. Let’s take a gander at the table below to perceive more.
| Guitar | Violin |
|---|---|
| Simple posture while playing | Difficult posture while playing |
| There are abundant resources to learn from | Resources for learning are often limited |
| With very little practice and experience, you can make desired tones | Needs extensive practice sessions for months to bring out desired sounds |
| The strings are tougher to press upon | The strings are easy on your fingers |
| Adaptable to multitasking | Needs all your concentration thus, difficult to multitask |
I’m sure the varieties make more sense now, don’t they? If you don’t have a determined goal on which instruments to play, the differences will set your objectives straight. Consider these reasons as to why you’d like to play the violin or the guitar.
Reason for Using Violin or Guitar
The benefits of playing violins and guitars are surprising. Often people play to suffice their cravings and interests; however, the effects of these instruments run even deeper than that, without us knowing. So, if you’ve been wondering why professionals motivate us to learn them hold tight because the answers will amaze you!
Why Should You Play the Violin?
There are five benefits of playing the Violin.
Improved attention span and memory
Multiple studies have disclosed that violins and other musical instruments can positively impact attention span and memory development, especially in children. According to a survey in McMaster University, even a year of training in violin can deliver optimized results.
Sense of belonging
In adults and teens, playing the violin can pose a sort of social belonging unlike any other. The instrument sets the perfect catch for having a group, uniforms, attention, and coordination.
Improvement in health and mental functioning
Violin training has improvised numerous brain functions, including speech, language processing, and reading skills in all age groups. Due to the synced activity, experts believe that even children fighting psychological disorders could learn to play the violin to magnify their brain functioning.
Emotional Outlet
Teens mostly lack a sense and outlet of showing angst and pressure that they feel. Violin offers an escape for such topsy-turvy built-in emotions. It poses a kind of vent that lets adults and teens build a constructive manner gradually.
Physical Stance
If you’re looking to rectify your posture as an adult, the violin could be the best getaway for you – with a bonus of the music, of course. Even the younger population has seen a significant discrepancy with more muscular upper body strength, improved motor skills, and better posture and placement due to learning the violin.
Why Should You Play the Guitar?
On the other hand, Guitar has benefits too similar to the violin.
Confidence boost
Guitar players almost immediately feel a surge of confidence and esteem levels while playing. Alongside building your character assuredly, you will see evidence of advanced social and public activities in yourself.
An outlet for your feelings
Sometimes we all feel a bit caged with our emotions and words. As we get older, words seem to fail us irrevocably. Don’t worry; to shoo away the blues, process your feelings, and feel heard, the guitar seems to be an adequate release.
Social support and networking
People who play the guitar are often like-minded. Never underestimate the power of an excellent ol’-fashioned wellness boost that we all need once in a while. Whether you play with fellow classmates or in a band, a richer networking chain and social life is a pleasant welcome every time.
Enhanced grey matter
This one’s truly mind-blowing. Brain functions could decline with progressing age, as we all know it. However, studies show that the grey matter volume in guitar players seems to magnify in multiple brain regions, strengthening its core. Let’s face it; sometimes, aging on the outside isn’t all that matters. We all love to have memories to cherish and an amply functioning brain, never minding the age limit.
Enhances creativity
Whether you’re the lead in your band or dwell somewhere in the background – you matter. With each work-in-progress and approved material, writing and rewriting songs, or even learning a new chorus, the possibilities of enriching your creative background with guitars are endless.
A form of therapy
Musical practice is positively linked to blood pressure levels. Guitars never fail to calm and soothe your soul and heart. Other apparent usage and reasons for choosing guitars for children and adults are heightened motor skills, augmented communication, memory, and stress relief.
How Many Days To Learn Violin And Guitar?
If your ultimate goal is to become a violin expert, you need to hustle for 3-5 years at a stretch. Picking up the central tunes would come sooner, at the period of around three months. Generally, violin lessons without a halt are necessary to reach these goals. Furthermore, you must practice 4-5 days a week to see evident results.
In comparison, guitars could take lesser time to ace if you practice tenaciously and have a solid loyalty to practicing at least 30 minutes to an hour every day or most days during the week. To become an intermediate guitar player, you would require around three years with that amount of practice time. Essentially, if you keep elongating your practice hours, the closer you will be to the finish line – that is, if becoming an expert or professional is your jackpot.
To be fair, the primitive skills required to specialize in learning these instruments are to practice. Yes, that’s about it.
Now, with catching every tune, touch, and string, we could all differ at the timestamps. However, if you’re diligent enough to train every day or at least 5-6 days a week, that’s a big check!
Other than that, you must also pay extreme attention to the basic classes with both of these instruments. If you have a solid foundation, you get a much clearer sense of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Learning to listen carefully is yet another effective trick from the olden days. Listening carefully lets you recognize the intervals, chords, and sounds. Additionally, being able to play ‘on time’ goes hand in hand with how carefully you listen and mimic it.
Should You Choose The Violin Or Guitar?
We want to keep it short as we can feel you fretting through the screen. Firstly, you should go for an instrument whose music genres and songs will complement the instruments. If you don’t have any prior affiliations to choosing either, consider your motto and preference too.
But what if you’re unsure about which one would grow on you? Good question. For such uncertainty, we recommend starting with a guitar simply because guitars are more versatile, adaptable, and easier to play. Choosing to start with the more convenient alternative is always a smart move. Eventually, you can spread out your talents to the platforms of violin, too, if that’s where your heart takes you.
Final Words
So, are violin and guitar similar? Heck, no!
Before we get ahead of ourselves – yes, there are a few similarities, but that’s it. Now that you know every detail and cervices about these instruments, we’re sure to have pulled your heartstrings in the right direction. The best catch is that you can get the taste of both worlds. Don’t wait any longer – the musical world is a joyous sanctuary, and it awaits you
