Few questions from a begginer about the rosin,fine tuners,bow...

Hello everyone! I have another few questions! My first question is about the bow. How often i have to loose strings? Is it every time when I put down my bow and don't want to play anymore?How should I know that the strings are tight enough?Will they crack?Is it hard to make a contact and good sound between the strings and bow?

Another thing is about fine tuners. What is that actually that and when should I use them,how to use them,how often....tell me everything about that.y, I am new to the Violin. I was wondering if the rosin was supposed to be so hard. It's almost like rock hard, and it doesn't seem like it would take to the bow.. but maybe that's how it's supposed to seem, I don't know.

Then abot rosin-how often should I use it,once amonth,week or what??how many times I have to put it on a bow...

Hi, ok. let's start with the bow. i loosen the bow when i'm not playing it for long periods of time. i think the longest i've left my bow tightened when not playing it was about 10-15 minutes. ok.usually, to find how tight you need to tighten your bow, go to the balance point of your bow and press down with your index finger on the bow and if the stick of the bow hits your strings, tighten it more. do that until it is not way above the strings but enough so that if you need to apply pressure to your bow, it will not hit the wood of your bow.
now rosin. yes, rosin is supposed to be that hard. i rosin my bow every time i take it out of the case or almost everytime that i am going to practice. also, make sure that after you practice, you wipe down your instrument with a cleaning cloth to take away the rosin on your instrument because after a while, it begins to stick to your instrument and then gets really gross.
hope i could help!

Thank you very very much!!!! You helped me a lot! I just have to ask you for an opinion about shoulder rest. Is it necessary and how much does it helps?? How should I know what size to buy,and should I buy it at all?

Thanks a lot once more!

I think that the shoulder rest has helped me a lot because it helps to hold the instrument parallel to the floor. the shoulder rest should be the same size as your violin. ex: if you have a 3/4 violin, you would get a 3/4 size shoulder rest. if you have a 4/4 (full size) violin, then get a 4/4 (full size) shoulder rest.

thanks!! Just one more thing is left(for now)-what are the fine tuners?? I just don't get what to do with it,and should I use it anyways? I don't have a violin yet,I need to buy it,so what do you mean about buying a cheap chineese violin-90-100 $--just for a begginig,to see if I could play it.Also,I play guitar,mandolin and piano for 7 years,is it possible to learn it by myself(with help of internet,videos...)because I live in little villiage where is no teacher...thanks,and sorry because of my big big reply...

np. the fine tuners are the screw-like things on the tailpiece (by the chin rest). when you are in playing position, to make the string sharper by a little bit, turn it to the right. to make it flatter, turn it a little to the left. the fine tuners do exactly as the name says. they fine tune. when you can't get the strings right in tune with the pegs, you use the fine tuners.
i think that you might be able to learn by yourself. i would try and get the Essential Elements 2000 (i think that's what it's called). it has a lot on how to hold the instrument, the positions, and basically how to start playing it. there is also a cd, i think, included so that you can hear everything. hope i could help.

aslo, i forgot to add, you might want to get a tuner and metronome. i have a SABINE METROTUNE MT9000. it is a metronome/a tuner/ and it plays the pitches. on the tuner you can also change the beats. like quarter notes,eigth notes, sixteenth...etc. you can also change the volume. it's very helpful. i use this to tune my violin.

sry. one more thing. i think that if possible, you should try renting a vioin before you buy it because a $90 violin is gonna sound not very good at all. that's what i started out on and it was terrible. i would try to rent or if you can afford a better instrument i would do that.

Thank you soooooooooo much! You don't know how happy I am right now! Everybody in my family and around me are telling me that it is impossible,I'll never could do it,but violin was my dream always!I also play in church,we have a band,and I want to play a violin in the band,and songs are short,almost all in C major.I want to learn violin just for myself,to enjoy in it! Thank you one more time! I'll send my questions if I need something...