Hi,

I have a book which is for beginners and has lots of exercises to do. It seems nice and to the point but a little TOO much so for my tastes in that it gives no explanations at all. That is good in that ther eis no clutter but I also want some theory now to complement that.

I am a very analytical and technical person (philosophy background) so like to learn best with really in depth step-by-step guides not just of the exercises (which I have already) but the theory behind whatever I'm learning. I find this really helps enrich my learning and also gives a whole other fun dimension to engross myself in the challenge at hand.

So can ppl give me recs. for violin theory which fit the above criteria...helps if really exhaustive but still easy for me to understand as someone who knows almost non of the violin specific nomenclature.

Thanks.

Also any other general violin 'good reads' which I would not have known about..

Start collecting a few of the better series for learning violin. Essentials, Suzuki, ABC's...
Mostly the theory books are very technical that I have seen. ie. bowing technique.
Maybe a book like violin for complete idiots, or music theory for complete idiots might be what you are looking for. Try Amazon or a local book store to see what they cover. I like the Complete Idoit books better that the Dummies books most of the time, but I'm sure the Dummies books could be of help too.

Ye I have ABC's of violin and I'm almost at the end of it now (though I can by no means play all the tunes fluently yet).

I will keep going back to start and running through but I'm interested in some still basic tunes but not baby stupid tunes like jingle bells...any recs for beginner books but tasteful tunes i.e classical or other genre too but so long as it was tasteful- classical preferred though.

If you have finished ABC's book 1 and 2 and want a challenge, try one of the books that come with a CD of classical music. I have the book "15 Most Popular Classical Melodies" I got off of e-bay. Grab ABC's book 3 too, as you will need second and third posistion for some of these pieces.
You should be able to play parts to many of these pieces right off, but it takes me weeks to play most of them up to tempo, well enough to play along with the sound track. The sound track bites, and the scores don't match any of my other CDs of the pieces, but, this will get you practicing, and you can figure out which scores you want to buy or down load from there.
Also if you are new and want some better music to play (better as in tunes you know, other than twinkle twinkle level) try Mel Bay's Kidfiddle. Simple versions of many good old tunes you will know.

Thanks, ye I have only finished ABC's book one, I dunno if I wanna endure more kiddie tunes with buying the other books though I might have to 'grit my teeth' for practice's sake.

It would be nice to have a similar grade book which didn't have such tedious 'jingles'. I guess the ABC's book/s for study while looking for free sheet music which is geared to my taste/level would be the compromise.