Transcripts
1. Introduction - Promotional: My name's Chuck Molar, and I've been a
professional musician and violin teacher for
the last 26 years, and I've helped over 110,000 students worldwide
master the violin. I'm the head trainer at a leading company
recognized by Forbes, CES, Esquire, good
housekeeping, US News, and a JD Power and
Associates winner. In this course,
we'll be diving into the foundations of
beginner violin scales, and it's designed for beginners
to intermediate players who want to learn
an easier method for learning violin scales. We'll start with scales in D, A, G and C major, covering open one octave scales before advancing to third
finger scales and eventually making the third finger
scales closed so you can move them anywhere up or down
the neck of your violin. You'll find practice
tracks at various tempos, so you can build intonation, speed, and precision
step by step. This class isn't just
about playing scales. It's about exploring new ways to express yourself
through the violin. From learning the basics
to refining your style, you'll practice
right alongside me with real examples sessions and tracks to practice on your own that support every
stage of your learning. Your class project,
I encourage you to choose a medium
that inspires you, write about your
journey, create art, or use the practice
tracks and record yourself using the
scales by themselves, or use your own
writing skills to make music that captures your
passion for the violin. Reflect on the
skills that you've gained in this
class and use them as a springboard to fuel your own unique style
as a violinist. If you're ready to learn how to make scales on the violin, easy to understand and start to unlock the violin fingerboard and grant yourself access to the full potential
of your instrument, I'll see you inside the class.
2. Open Scale D Major 1 Octave Discussion for the Violin: Alright, let's get started. The first thing
that we're going to learn and have a discussion about is our D major
pentatonic scale. And we're starting
on this D note. That's the third string open. And then after we play
that a nice long note, we're going to use
our first finger about 1 " away from the nut, that's raised a
piece on our violin. And we're going to play that
note right about there. And then we're going to
have a nice big space between our index finger
and our second finger. And that gets us to F sharp, and that's going to be
that note right there. And then the three
is going to be real close to the second finger. And depending on how big your fingers are or
how small they are, my fingers, they're medium size, they have to touch to
be able to be in tune. Now, the fun thing about
this scale is that the very next thing that I do is after I have my shape
of the open one, two, three, and I have
a distance between one, and I have a distance
2-3 is really close. On the A string or
the second string, I have the exact
same finger shape. It's open one, two, three. So the scale sounds like this. Alright, try to get your fingers ready and in those positions, try to get them in tune, and we'll see you in
the next lesson.
3. Open Scale D Major Example for the Violin: In this lesson, we're
actually going to be playing the D major full scale, and we're playing all of the
notes do mi fa so te do, or the first note, the
second note, the third note, the fourth note, the fifth note, the sixth note, and
the seventh note. When we get back to dog
do mia so la te do, it's really a one again. So even though we're
playing eight notes, it's really seven with
one being repeated, one octave away from each other. So we're going to get started, and remember it was going
to be that open one, that distance away from the nut, the distance away from
two for the F sharp. And then the third finger
gets right next to the tube, and then it's going
to go to open A one, high, two, three. And this is a good moment to recognize the difference
between low twos and high twos. Our ones will primarily, at least at this
point, always go right about 1 "
away from our nut. But our twos can
float a little bit, and the differences is that our second finger
can be a high two, which means it's far away
from the one or a low two, which means it's really
close to the one. So a low two or a high two, low two or a high
two, low two or a high two. And then the three. And the three, at this point, be going to call it a regular
three or just a three, there can be a high three. But for now, we're just going
to have a regular three, so it's going to be open,
one, high, two, three, and we repeat that thing on
the sneaxString A. Alright, let's get ready to
play it together. So here's an example
first so you can hear it. We're gonna start with a downbo. Then I'm going to go backwards. Alright. Let's do that together. And I'll always count
us in like this. I'll go. Three, two, one. Ready. And after I say ready, the very next note will be the note that
we actually play. So three, two, one, ready, d d, d. Alright, so
let's get it done. Let's start with that open D. Three, two, one. Ready? Hi, two. Repeat on
the next string. Now let's go straight down
and not repeat this three. So after we got done playing
the three or the deton, we're gonna go
straight down, two m. Alright. We're gonna do it again
without that pause at the top. In three, two, one. Ready. Mm. Straight back down. Alright, practice your one octave D skill, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
4. Practice Session D Major for the Violin: In this lesson, we're going to be using what we've learned in our open shape open scale, D one octave scale. And we're gonna be playing it
along with a backing track. And this is what it sounds like. So listen first to what
it will sound like, and then we'll play it together. Before we start
playing together, we're going to need to learn
one really important thing. And that's when we start to
play these backing tracks. It's gonna start out with
two long clicks like this. Click, click. Then after that, there's
four quicker clicks. Click, click, click, click. And after that
fourth click is when we can start to play.
So, let's get started. Here we go. Macom Now, that's an example of playing through the scale at full speed. We can do what's called
double time and play twice as many notes as
we would like this. Instead of be playing these
long notes, we have one. Just simply twice as fast. And let's get an
example of what that'll sound like. Double speed. All right, get some
practice done, and you may not be
able to at this point, practice that double
speed. No worries. At the bottom part of
this video player, there's a little
part where you can actually speed up or slow down the video so that
you can play it at the exact right speed for you. So if you need it a little faster, make it a little faster. If you need to make it a little slower, make
it a little slower. However you feel the most comfortable is the way you
should be practicing for you. And don't be afraid to push
yourself a little bit, just on the edge
of not being able to play cleanly and practice a little faster than
you're capable of for just a couple tries
and then back it off. And then you'll find
that you're able to play slower a little easier than
you were the last time. And as you force yourself to go a little
faster the next time, you'll find that the couple clicks faster is
even easier yet. The next two videos are for you to be able to
practice along with. One was the exact same speed
that we just practice at, and the other one, the next one is a little faster to
help you push yourself. So get some practice along
with those bag and trucks, and I'll see you in
the next lissen.
5. Violin Practice Track D Major 85 BPM: This is a practice
track for playing your D scale at 85
beats per minute. You can try single
time or double time. If you're having trouble
playing this up to speed, simply use the video speed changing feature at the
bottom of your video player.
6. Violin Practice Track D Major 105 BPM: This is a practice
track for playing your D scale at 105
beats per minute. You can try single
time or double time. If you're having trouble
playing this up to speed, simply use the video speed changing feature at the
bottom of your video player.
7. Open Scale A Major 1 Octave Discussion for the Violin: Welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to be learning about the A major open
scale one octave. And just as we did the D, just a few videos ago, we played open a big 1 " step between the nut and the one, a big step again between
our one and our two, and a little half step in
between our two and our three. And we played it
on both strings. Okay, we're going to do
the exact same thing using the exact same shape. And notice I'm talking
about a shape. The shape is the
one, the high two, and the three being played
on two consecutive strings. Now, we're going to use everything that
we've learned so far, except we're starting on the A string or the second string. So now it's going to
start with open A. The one instead of on the
D string, starts on the A. So this is a B note, C sharp, D, or open one, high, two, three, and then the next string is the exact same thing that
we've done already again. So now we have open E, F sharp, a G sharp, and then an A note or a open
one, high, two, three. So if you're having a little trouble wrapping
your head around it, just remember it's exactly
the same thing you just did. One set of strings higher on the higher side of the
brighter notes. Very up there. So open one, high, two, three, open, one,
high, two, three. Get some practice
done with that, get your fingers
used to the shape, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
8. Open Scale A Major Example for the Violin: Welcome back. In this
particular video, we're going to actually
play in the scale together, the A major open shape. And the open means we just
started on an open string, and it's going to be the
second string that we play on. Then the first
finger. A high two, so it's a reach real
close for the three. Now to the open E string. Then one, high two, and then close for the three. Let's do that one more time. Now go straight
back down to two. Alright, let's do it together. In three, two, one. Ready. Straight back down. Little faster this time. In three, two, one. Ready. Alright, get some
practice done with that, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
9. Practice Session A Major for the Violin: Welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to be practicing
along to a backing track. What's important about
these backing tracks, is it forces you to
play in time because the people in the studio play to a drum track that
you can't hear, and it's perfectly in time. And then the other thing that happens is you have to
play perfectly in tune. You can play a note,
and you can tell right away if it's not in tune or not. And you can do some
careful little editing by sliding your finger
just a little bit up or a little bit
back so that you can always make sure you're
playing in tune. Alright, let's get into it. We're going to listen
to what it sounds like first and then we'll
play it back together. All right. Now that we know what it sounds like,
let's play it together. Keep going. And for those of
us who are ready, let's play at double time. Okay. Great work. And remember, you always have the option of speeding up or slowing
down the video and the next two backing tracks
that you can practice along with and speed those up or slow
those down, as well. Alright, get some practice done, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
10. Violin Practice Track A Major 85 BPM: This is a practice
track for the key of A, 85 beats per minute. Push yourself to try double
time if you haven't just yet.
11. Violin Practice Track A Major 105 BPM: This is a practice
track for the key of A 105 beats per minute. M.
12. Open Scale G Major 1 Octave Discussion for the Violin: Welcome back. And again, we're starting to talk
about the shape thing. And we first noticed
it on our open scale, which was open one high 23. And we did it on both strings. And we're going to do the
same thing on an A string. The same shape existed. And again, we find ourselves
doing the exact same thing, finding that the
same shape exists. But we're going to start
on our G string instead, and that's our last open string we can start on besides the E, and we can't play a
full scale from E. Although it does exist from
a shifting perspective, and we'll learn how
to shift later. But we're going to
start on G and then have that one finger and then a high two
and then a three, then go over to the D string. Then it's going to be the one, the high two, and the three. For note perspectives,
it's G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, N G. Of course, we go straight
back down and we don't end up playing
the last note twice. Alright, get your
fingers in order, get them stretched out,
get them ready to play, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
13. Open Scale G Major Example: Welcome back. In this video, we're going to be doing
the G major open shape to a G major scale, one octave. And again, that means do
rem facaTe do or one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, one. Alright, we're going
to just hear it first, and then we'll come back
around and play it together. All right, we're gonna play
it together in three, two. Ready. Go. I double speed and three. T one, go. Oh Alright, now that you have
your fingers on this G major open shape scale, and we're starting
to get the idea that our fingers
are all the same, and as long as we kind of follow that same
structure, we'll be good. Alright, get some practice done, get your shapes, feel it. Try to get all the fingers
down all at once in a block position to try
to lock in that shape, lock in that tonality,
lock in that intonation. And when you're ready, I'll see you in the next lesson.
14. Practice Session Open G Major: Let's practice our open G scale. But first, we're
just gonna hear it, see what it sounds like, and
then we'll play it together. Now that you've heard what it sounds like, let's
do it together. Keep going. One last time. Alright, let's try it in double time if you
can follow along. Alright, get some practice done. The next two videos are for
you to do self practice. The first one the
same speed as we did. The second one a little faster so that you
can push yourself. So when you're ready and
you feel comfortable, I'll see you in the next lesson.
15. Violin Practice Track Open G Major 85 BPM: This practice track is
for the key of G at 85 beats per minute. B
16. Violin Practice Track Open G Major 105 BPM: This practice track
is for the key of G at 105 beats per minute. O.
17. 3rd Finger Scale Open G Major Discussion for the Violin: Welcome back. In this lesson, we're going to be
learning a new shape. We've learned shape one, which was an open shape. And we learned three
different scales from that open shape. This is the first time
that we're learning a different shape
than our original, and it's called a
third finger scale because we start with
our third finger. And if we don't
know which numbers our fingers are, that was
a good time to start. This is one, two,
three, and four. If you're coming
to this and you've played the piano,
this was one before, but a thumb doesn't
get a number, so it's just simple kid math, one, two, three, four. Alright, so we start
with our third finger. And if we remember right, when we did our open scale, we did open one, two,
three for a G tone. And that's where we're starting, and it's the only note that
we're going to play on the third string D. So we're
starting out with this note. Followed by an open A, we go directly to
an open string. So this is also kind
of an open scale because it involves open notes. But we can also use our pinky to be able
to use that same Anu. And we'll be using
that a little later. For those of us who are having a hard time
with a pinky just yet, we can use an open note A. So G tone, followed
by an open A. Then the first finger goes down, same position as before. Now, this one's a little bit different because we
had a high two before. Now we have a low
two so that the two is right next to
the first finger. And then the three goes down. And because we used to have a two that was stretched up and the third finger
was real close to it, it might start to draw our third finger back a little bit out of
tune to the flat. So just make sure
that it's up and reaching for the intonation,
the proper intonation. So we have three on the G tone, an open A, B, a C instead of C sharp. So it's a low tube.
Then the three. Now an open E,
followed by a one, which is F sharp, and
it's just a regular one, followed by another
low two again. And that gets me
back to G. So, open, one, low two, three, open, one, low two. I'll go right back down.
So starting on that G, then one F sharp, open, D, C, B, a G. All right, kind of get your
fingers in that position, and what it looks like is
it looks kind of like this. If you can kind of
focus on getting this third finger
position where these two are touching and we have a big gap in between the
middle finger and the third, then we're kind of figuring
out this shape idea again. So get some practice
with that shape, get ready for, and I'll see
you in the next lesson.
18. 3rd Finger Scale Open G Major Example for the Violin: Welcome back. In this
particular lesson, we'll be getting our hands on our violin and
actually playing it. And I'll be playing this G
scale, the third finger scale. So I'm trying to think of it as the term third finger scale because that's going to be
the most important thing that we get out of this
besides the shape. So I remember that shape was the real close to
the one and the two, followed by the three
being far away. And we're going to start
again on the third string, on a G tone, on the D string. So we're just listening. Low two. Low two. Back to three. And let's do it together
in three, two, one. Ready. W two. Back down. So as far as video lessons going, like we're
doing right now, we're going to
have a term called an active student or
a passive student, and none of those really
mean anything other than the action that the student takes while the
video is playing. And when we do this in time, you are an active student. So as soon as I start to
play a note, you play it, and as soon as I start to play a next note, you also play that. And then there's the
passive student who hears me play a note and
then waits a second, incorporates it,
really kind of figures out what just happened,
and then plays it. I really want you to be more
of an active student versus a passive student because it's forcing us to
be playing in time. It forces us to be reactive and be intuitive about when that
next note is going to come. So try to play it more exactly
in time when I play it. All right, get some
practice done with your G third finger scale, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
19. 3rd Finger Scale Open G Major Practice Session for the Violin: Alright, by now,
you know the drill. I'm gonna play it first along
with a backing track so you can hear it and kind of
get it in your brain, and then we'll come back
and we'll play it together. All right. Now, you
know what it sounds like? Let's play together. Keep going. All right. And now
for double speed. Let's do it together. Last time. Alright, the next two
videos are backing track lessons so that you
can practice by yourself. Again, the first one is going to be the
same speed we did, but it gives you an opportunity
to practice by yourself. And the second one
can push you a little bit and give you
a little extra speed. Alright, get some practice done, and we'll see you
in the next lesson.
20. Violin Practice Track 3rd Finger Scale G Major 85 BPM: This backing track is for
practicing the key of G third finger scale at
85 beats per minute.
21. Violin Practice Track 3rd Finger Scale G Major 105 BPM for the Violin: This backing track is for
practicing the key of G third finger scale at
105 beats per minute.
22. 3rd Finger Scale Open C Major Discussion for the Violin: In this lesson,
we're going to be doing the exact same thing because we're doing
the exact same shape as we learned last time. That shape was called
a third finger scale. Now, what we did before
is we did the G, and we started on a
G note and then we did open one low two, three, open one low two. And what's important about that is we started on a third finger. That's why we call it
a third finger scale. And what we're going to
do is we're going to just take that same pattern, that same thing
that we did before, and we're going to
move it one set of strings to the lower side. So now it's starting
on the G string, but on a C tone, and
this becomes a C scale. So it's going to be
three open, one, low two, followed by three, open, one, low two. Three, open, one,
low, two, three, open, one, low two and
back again. Low two. Again, that shape
looks like this. So if I have my first finger right next to my
second finger and a big gap in between my second finger and my third
finger, we're doing okay. So get used to that shape, get ready for it, and we'll
see you in the next lesson.
23. 3rd Finger Scale Open C Major Example for the Violin: In this lesson, we're
going to be using our new third finger scale on a C note starting
on the G string. And this is what it sounds like. So first, listen, and then
we'll do it together. Lot. Low, two. Low, too. Alright, let's do it together in
three, two, one. Ready? Alright, get some practice with that by yourself
before we get started on practicing
with that backing track. Get some practice
done, feel confident, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
24. 3rd Finger Scale C Major Practice Session for the Violin: In this practice
session, we'll be playing our C scale along to a backing track using
a third finger scale. And as always, I'm going to play it first so you can
hear what it sounds like, and then afterwards,
we'll play it together. Alright, you got a
chance to hear it? Now, let's play together. Uh And for those of us who want a
quick challenge to do a little double
time, here we go. One last time. And Alright, if you haven't had a chance
to do a double time yet, now's about the time to start to get enough confidence
to want to try it. And again, you can always slow the video down to your speed and then slowly speed
it up as you get more comfortable
and more confident with those faster notes. Alright, so get
some practice done. The next two videos are going
to be backing tracks again, for your practice without me, and then one a little faster to really kind of push
you a little bit. And once you get
some practice done, you feel confident, I'll
see you in the next lesson.
25. Violin Practice Track 3rd Finger Scale C Major 85: This is for practicing
along to the key of C, third finger scale at
85 beats per minute.
26. Violin Practice Track 3rd Finger Scale C Major 105: This is for practicing
along to the key of C, third finger scale at 105 beats per minute. Oh
27. Closed 3rd Finger Scale Discussion (4th Finger) for the Violin: Welcome back. After going through the third finger scales, we did mention that you
could certainly use a fourth finger to make
it completely closed. So that means no
open strings at all. And in fact, that
would look like this. So if it was a G scale,
it would be three. The four reaches far, so there's a big space there. And so we have and that note should be the
same note as our open A. So we have three, four, one, low, two, three. Instead of open E, we're
gonna play a four. What this big long stretch. You get this big space there, followed by one
and then low two. Okay, and the same thing goes
for if we're going to play the C scale starting
with this C tone. So we're going to
start with the three. That's the C note, followed by the
big long stretch. Notice the space there. Followed by the one,
low, two, three, here's the pinky
again, four, one, two. So again, that's
three, four, one, low, two, three,
four, one, low two. And what makes that brilliant when we make it closed
and when we're able to make it closed is that
we're now able to move our fingers anywhere we
want to on our fingerboard, and we're able to play
a finished scale. So what that looks like, and we don't have to know
any of these yet. We're just looking at it. So we have a That would be a G scale because
we're starting on a G note. But now, let's say
I want to go up to an Amy And I play
the same scale. And it's closed. There's no opens to it. So that means I was able to play that closed, third
finger scale as long as I was able to utilize
my fourth finger. So it becomes important
at this point to try to use that fourth
finger to close it up. When the open string
is available to you, it opens up some nice
possibilities for a ringing out, um, open string. But for right now, in these next two lessons, make sure you do use your fourth finger for that
closed third finger scale. Alright, get used to it, get used to that reach
for the fourth finger, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
28. Closed 3rd Finger Scale G (4th Finger) Practice Session for the Violin: Let's do a quick practice of a third finger scale for a G, using our fourth finger
to make it closed. And we're going to start
on the third string. And with our third finger, and it's going to sound
like this. We have three. Reach that four. One, low, two, three, four. One, low two. Alright, let's try it
together in three, two, one. Ready. Here's the big reach. Bad down a scale. Big reach to four. This time a little faster. All right. Now that we
got that basic idea, let's do it to a backing
track. We're playing together. One last time. Alright, get some practice done with your third
finger scale on G, using your fourth finger
to make it closed, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
29. Violin Practice Track Closed 3rd Finger Scale G Major 105 BPM with the 4th Finger: This is for practicing
along to the key of G closed third finger scale, using your fourth
finger instead of an open string at 85
beats per minute.
30. Closed 3rd Finger Scale C (4th Finger) Practice Session for the Violin: In this practice session,
we're going to be using the same thing
as we did last time, but instead of the G scale
with the third finger closed, we're going to be
using the C scale with the third finger closed. So let's hear what
it sounds like, and then we'll
practice it together. Alright, you know what it sounds like? So let's play it together. Mm One last time. Alright, really get used to
those fourth fingers because they'll really come into
play in the next lesson. So get some practice done,
and I'll see you there.
31. Violin Practice Track Closed 3rd Finger Scale C Major 85 with the 4th Finger: This is for practicing
along to the key of C, closed third finger scale, using your fourth
finger instead of an open string at 85
beats per minute.
Lesson Pros, Learn from the Pros
