When you look at violin bowing techniques, it is important to learn the correct technique and not the wrong technique. Now, while there are several violin bowing techniques out there, only one has ever worked for me.
The different ways to hold the bow on the strings, the different grips etc can all be debated. This is an important part of violin technique that needs to be gotten right from the start. We do not advocate the “Russian” way of doing the violin bow hold as we feel this is going to teach you the wrong technique.
Along with having the correct violin bow grip, you also need the correct bowing technique. Learning how to bow straight is a very important part of the technique that needs to be gotten right from the start. There is no point in learning the violin unless you have got this bowing technique down. It takes many hours of practice to get right.
So what violin bowing techniques to you need to remember? There are several. When you go onto my YouTube channel, I explain the violin bowing technique in detail. But for the purposes of this article, let me take you through some of the important techniques that you need to know.
Bowing straight is an important part of technique. This is obtained by keeping your upper arm still and bowing straight. Along with this, your eye needs to be on the bow to make sure that it’s moving straight between the bridge and the fingerboard. You cannot have the bowing go sideways. Straight upper arm, straight bowing.
Another one of the violin bowing techniques is to have your pulse move up with the up bow stroke and down with the down stroke. This is also important to remember when practicing bowing techniques.
Next, you need to remember to not bow too heavy and not to softly. The bowing needs to be just firm enough to get a sound, but not so firm that you are going to get a scratch out of it.
Also remember when practicing bowing technique to make sure that your posture with the violin is correct. The violin needs to be up to your side and parallel to the floor. This is vital.
The last thing to remember when practicing bowing techniques is to make sure that your bow is balancing between the two strings on either side of the string that you want to play on. Tip it if it’s touching another string you do not want it to touch.
For more on violin bowing techniques, please check out my violin lesson channel on YouTube. The link is on your left at the top.