Can I Learn Violin Online? 3 Questions To Ask Yourself

“Can I learn the violin online?” 

The short answer is YES, it’s totally possible to learn violin without taking violin lessons in “real life.” However, it also really depends on your goals. Famous violinists like Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, or even Lindsey Stirling, have spent years practicing and perfecting their techniques. Just taking some lessons online certainly won’t get you to that level, unless you’re a musical prodigy. When deciding how you should go about learning the violin, here are 3 questions you should ask yourself.

1. Why do you want to learn the violin?
   1. If you want to learn the violin because you have dreams of becoming a professional musician, then it’s recommendable to get a good teacher, frequent in-person lessons, and to practice lots.
   2. If you want to learn because you want to take up a new hobby and meet new people doing it, then perhaps taking group lessons would be a good choice –– if your community has such a thing.
   3. If you want to learn just for yourself to expand your skillset, you want to see if the violin “fits” you, you live in an isolated place, you have a limited budget, or you’re just a self-motivated learner, then learning violin online is a great fit.
2. How much time do you have, and what is your budget? 
   1. This is a serious concern! Learning violin is both time consuming and expensive. Simply driving to weekly lessons can take a lot of time depending on where your teacher is located –– and I probably don’t need to tell you that violin lessons are EXPENSIVE. If you don’t have serious time or budget constraints, then I’d recommend getting private or even group lessons. But if time and budget are prohibitive to you learning the violin, then learning online is a great low cost and flexible way of going about it.
3. Are you self motivated enough?
   1. Are you dedicated enough that you will put the time in to learn? Having a teacher can be a good weekly motivator to make sure you actually practice and stay on track. When learning online, it can be easy to forget about things for a while. That said, I know a lot of people who pay for expensive violin lessons and then still never practice. And of course, there are ways to motivate yourself –– like setting timers for when you’ll practice, creating weekly goals for the new skills you’ll learn, or whatever works best for you!

Think seriously about your answers to each of these questions. If you think that learning online is a good fit for you, then there are many programs available online that would help you. I also have a full online violin school right here at themusiciangirl.com, with 100+ on demand violin lessons, personalized help on every lesson, and new lessons every week. Check it out, and thanks for reading!