I have played the guitar since the age of 11 (I am now 58) – in the past I played dance music and was a fan of folk and traditional music.
2 months ago I bought a Neolin.
For two years I have been learning auto didactically to play the violin by hearing traditional Irish and French music. Thanks to my experience as a guitar player it is easier for me to learn the technique for the left hand regarding endurance, flexibility and the feeling of “palpating” the notes. However, the position of the wrist is rather unusual. It is difficult to learn how to control the violin bow with the right hand.
For the left hand it is difficult to play the tones clearly, I often have to “slip” in order to “save” the tone. Sometimes I succeed in doing so but in the long run you become tired of it.
The Neolin allows the muscles of the left hand to adapt itself to the correct position. This means some efforts as you should play regularly until you get tired. “Slipping” is more difficult because of the frets, however, this is perhaps rather good with a view to clear intonation…
Surprising: Once I play a few takes on the Neolin it is much easier for me to play on my classic violin. Is this the magic of the Neolin? Or is this due to the fact that the strings of the Neolin are relatively harder than those of my classic violin? When I then again come back to the Neolin I find it harder to play, but the warmth of the sound is fascinating, and the sound seems to “whisper” much easier than that of the violin. The versatility of the timbre is fantastic and the tuning mechanics are simply ingenious – finally, you can tune without problems!
In the future I would like to test a Neolin without frets…
After having played on the Neolin for two months I have made enormous progress and I enjoy playing more and more!
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