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I'm going to repeat what everyone else said - yes, it's not too late! Age should not be a factor in determining whether you wish to start learning a new instrument or not.
On the other hand, age is a factor when setting your goals on how far you plan to go with that instrument. I'm not going to downright declare it impossible for you to become amazing at the violin, because I don't have any rights to do that and nobody else does. I am, however, going to advise you to set your goals realistically because chances are you won't be the next Joshua Bell (he's amazing, by the way - watch some of his performances on youtube!).
I'm also going to add that you shouldn't worry too much about physical limitations. You don't need long thin slender fingers (in the left hand) to play the violin. Go check out some of the older, established violinists (like Itzhak Perlman) and you'll wonder how on earth he's hitting those delicate notes with his fingers.
If you have a close friend who has a passion for music and is a decent-to-good piano player, you should try to play together as much as you can. It'll be mutually beneficial as both of you get some practice and also learn how to listen to other sounds (as well as your own). "Having a good ear" is critical for musicians, and it comes with both natural talent and practice - in my opinion, more so of the latter.
As I always advise people picking up new instruments - load up your playlist with famous violin pieces (or maybe just classics in general) and immerse yourself into it! Hwaiting!
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Try for 3 months first, violins are expensive things if you're just gonna give it up in 2 yrs.
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On August 22 2011 21:50 Count9 wrote:
Try for 3 months first, violins are expensive things if you're just gonna give it up in 2 yrs.
3 months wouldn't have him taste the difficulty of violin, it takes years to be able to play "decent".
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I mean, if you're seriously going to put something like 2-4 hours a day, you can easily start slogging through the technique obstacle course, regardless of where you are right now. Many if not most of the greatest technical virtuosos in classical music went through WWII, which obviously put a damper on their practicing, but they became great anyways afterwards (example: Cziffra made that ridiculous comeback).
Arkady Volodos also seriously started playing at 15 (although he also did some music theory stuff too) and look where he is now. Sky's the limit if you take things seriously.
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Of course you can start learning now! 14 is never to late  , most of the stuff that kids learn with instruments ages 8-12 is stuff you can learn in like 3 weeks at age 14 
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If you are serious, I offer the following advice:
Get a teacher with a good pedagogical background immediately. If there's a college or conservatory around you, look for one of the professors or grad students and ask if they have room in their studio for an absolute beginner, and some very nice person might take you in. Otherwise, look for an undergrad. In any case, see if you can informally attend studio or master classes that the university/conservatory holds for its students. If they let you in the classes, don't say a word while you're in there, just learn the nomenclature and the solutions to common problems while hearing some great music.
After a few months of lessons - at least three or four to make sure you're not developing terrible habits - you should get the basics of reading music and finger/bowing technique from your teacher. Then, on your own, you can look at a ton of method/scale pattern/etude books (look at http://imslp.org/index.php?title=Category:For_violin for music that has gone out of copyright or is public domain and check your local music store). Read a lot of music (preferably read 2 or more pages you've never seen before every day, working on your sight reading), and take pieces that you would like to learn to your teacher, not only when there's something you don't understand, but every time to make sure you're not doing something wrong that you didn't realize. This is extracurricular in addition to whatever your teacher has planned for you. Do this because what you lack in experience now you can make up in determination by really submerging yourself into the subject.
Prepare to get more frustrated and burnt out than you would think possible. Prepare to hit walls for weeks where you think you'll never be able to play a certain passage simply because of the intervals or rhythms, much less be able to play it with beautiful articulation, legato, style, tone, and phrasing. Prepare to play and think about the same 10-15 seconds of music for hours (and listen to your body for when to take breaks). Identify those walls early on and then get excited, because you will break through them eventually and you can use that as motivation to keep going, getting better, and tackling even harder problems.
Search youtube for violin solos and concertos, and listen to a lot of different recordings of the same piece. Be wary of any information or masterclasses you see online (such as this thread and this post ) - even great teachers hand out bad information sometimes, and terrible teachers can ruin the technique you already have. It would be more reliable to go to the library and see if any of the violin journals are available to read.
Learn some piano. Piano helps every musician, for the simplest reason that most music theory is taught and discussed using the piano as a visual guide.
Always ALWAYS ALWAYS work on basics. It is unexplainable (yet awesome) how much better you sound when you've warmed up on slow passages and scales, and how much worse you get when you haven't after even a single day. You will not notice the improvement yourself (and probably won't be able to recognize it until you have decades of experience), but your teacher and other experts will. If, for some reason, there is a day when you simply do not have any time to practice, get up 20 minutes early and play some slow intervals and scale patterns. Your technique is like a fragile muscle, and not using it at all for even 24 hours can put you back weeks.
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It's all about practice! Learning younger just lets you progress more rapidly. With enough practice you can do well. Azera hwaiting!
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Never to late to learn something new.
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Go rent a violin. 
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Age doesn't matter at all, i started playing guitar at 16 and now I play deathmetal like a baws. It's all about how much time and practice you put in your hobby.
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Lets say you get 80 years old. You still have 66 years to learn to play Violin. You are never too late...
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On August 22 2011 23:31 Baituri wrote:
Lets say you get 80 years old. You still have 66 years to learn to play Violin. You are never too late...
Heh best argument ever. This pretty much sums it up.
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John Mayer started guitar at 13. Bela Fleck started banjo at 15. It's not about when you start, it's about how much you practice.
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Never too late for anything. Specially if you're only 14 years old.
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There are plenty of professional musicians who started learning their instrument at the age of 16 or later, so I'm sure you can do fine.
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It's never too late!
I do want to point out that (as a violin major), most violinists that I know started around age 4-6. But I have friend who started when he was like 12 and he is just as good if not better than a lot of other violinists who started way earlier. Totally possible. I highly recommend finding a solid teacher though. Violin is a really physically unnatural instrument (as opposed to say piano or guitar) so it's really important to be set up well physically when you start learning, other wise you will develop shoulder/wrist/back problems further down the road..
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I just picked up the cello a year ago at age 25. While I am far, far from god-like, people that aren't very knowledgeable musically think I am for how far I've gotten in just a year with such a difficult instrument and no formal music training.
I've also spent an hour+ almost every day of the last year practicing it. I just had my first recital, and took 4 days off, and intend to not touch it again for another 3, just because I feel like my mind needs a break. And I am seriously just itching to get back into it.
So no, it's not too late. Just make sure you find a top-notch teacher, buckle down, and practice that thing. I found a college senior majoring in cello, and she has been amazing, plus I got to go to all her recitals and such, for even more motivation.
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Ok, as someone who plays violin, I'll give you some advice:
First off, how far do you want to go with this? Are you just playing casually (like a guy who does only teamgames in SC), or do you want something more? If you want to do something more (like say, a concerto competition, or something like joining an orchestra and wanting to be the concertmaster), I can give you more advice on that.
If you're going to be very casual, only practicing a couple of hours per week, then I'd suggest getting a lower-end violin and bow. I think music stores sell stuff like that in a package (case, bow, violin) for a couple hundred bucks. It might be more, because you need a full-size violin and bow (you're not dwarf, correct?). They include rosin (necessary, start off with something cheap), and you also need a shoulder-rest IMO.
When you're starting off, here's something I STRONGLY recommend. There is no such thing as a fret on a violin, so you're going to have to learn everything from muscle memory. Get someone (a friend or a teacher who is good at violin) to help you find all the fingerings for first position. Get pieces of tape, and mark the basic fingerings. Here's a pic of what I mean. + Show Spoiler +
If you really want to get good (or good enough so that you don't sound like crap), then practice every day for at least an hour. You'll get good in no time if you practice like this.
Another thing that I consider necessary is a good teacher. There is no substitute if you want to improve rapidly and have good technique. Make sure that you do get a good teacher who will teach you proper technique, because having good technique makes it soooo much easier to play well.
When you're starting off, I recommend the Suzuki Method books. It's good for starting, but after you improve, start doing other stuff. Because it gets boring.
Above all, make sure that you enjoy playing the violin. It's a beautiful instrument, and you can really express yourself.
PM me if you have any specific questions, atm, I'm kinda strapped for time.
My credentials: + Show Spoiler +I've played violin for nearly ten years now, since I was seven or something (16 now). In the states, there is something called an "All-State" orchestra. You audition to be in it, and it's full of talented musicians. Also there is "All-New Englands" becaues I live in New ENgland. I've been in both (2 years in All-State and 1 in All New Englands). I should be concertmaster of my school orchestra next year, or sharing with one of my friends.
edit: (also because I have a potty mouth and you're 14)
Oh btw, forgot to mention. You're going to suck at the beginning. Really hard. But push on. You won't regret it. It'll take a week or so to stop sounding like absolute crap. Don't get discouraged Press on.
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That's the exact age I started :p albeit with a piano background and I made all region (an orchestra made up of the best musicians in the small region you are from) with minimal effort and just playing school orchestra music. So no, it's not hard if you really want to learn it.
If you can get a set up like that where you play everyday in school you will improve pretty fast even if you don't commit a TON of time to it. If you enjoy it and want to actively pursue getting really good at it then getting a teacher to help you out when you're more advanced is a great idea.
If you want to learn it on your own it might be a bit tougher because you don't get too much reward until you play for a long time. In that case, perhaps finding a teacher right away would be the best idea.
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It's definitely not too late. Just keep with it and don't worry if you sound terrible for a while. Violin is one of those instruments that sounds notoriously bad when you start out, but if you stick with it you'll improve. (I play violin so i'm not just hating on it :p)
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EPT![[image loading]](http://brebru.com/violin/v5/fingerboard_tape.gif)
