Step 1: Open Strings

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First, here’s a pdf and a video to help you find the notes:

Open Strings On The Violin – pdf fact sheet


Now let’s practise using the whole length of the bow, playing one string at a time.

Don’t worry if you accidentally catch another string as you play – just keep playing and you’ll get the hang of it soon.

Just relax…and play G – a bowing exercise to help you practise long bows (no sheet music required!)

Exhaling on E – another slow, steady exercise to practise your bowing, this time on the E string. No sheet music required, just play E nine times, circle the bow round, and repeat.

Dreaming of D – a slightly quicker exercise to practise long D string notes. No sheet music required – just play D seven times, circle the bow round, and repeat.

“A” String Unwinding – one more open string exercise to give your bow some slow, steady practice. No sheet music required, just play A eight times, then eight more!

Open String Exercises – With Piano – here’s the sheet music for the exercises above, in case you have a pianist in your family and would like to play these pieces together!


Now let’s try playing some more challenging pieces.

These next three videos contain all four strings, and a mixture of long and short notes. You can download a pdf of the sheet music to help you. Each video contains several short pieces, and they get harder as they go along!

First Violin Pieces – pdf sheet music

Elves, Alligators, Dragons and Goblins – pdf sheet music

More Pieces For Open Strings – pdf sheet music


Let’s finish our study of open string notes with a quiz to test how well you can read the notes we’ve learnt so far!

Note Names – violin 1 – pdf worksheet


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