Guides
The questions every string student asks, answered at length.
Free to read, no account needed, and written to be genuinely complete rather than to sell you something.
Getting started
How to tune a violin, viola, cello, or double bass
The right pitches for each instrument, how pegs and fine tuners differ, and the order of operations that stops a string slipping.
Your first year on a string instrument: what to expect, month by month
What actually happens in the first twelve months, so you can tell steady progress from being stuck.
Choosing an instrument
Violin, viola, cello, or bass, which string instrument should you play?
How the four orchestral strings actually differ in sound, size, difficulty, and the kind of musical life each one leads to.
What size violin, viola, cello, or bass do you need?
How the fractional sizes work, how to measure, and how to spot an instrument that is too large.
Practice
How to practise a string instrument so you actually improve
A session structure that works in fifteen minutes or forty-five, and the specific techniques that turn practice time into progress.
How to prepare an orchestra audition
What panels listen for, how excerpt preparation differs from learning a piece, and a twelve-week plan.
Reading & theory
How to read sheet music: a string player’s guide
Everything on the page, in the order it becomes useful: clefs, rhythm, keys, and the habits that make reading fast.
Music theory for string players: what to learn and in what order
The theory that actually changes how you play, sequenced so each idea rests on the one before it.
Technique
How to hold the bow on violin, viola, cello, and double bass
Where every finger goes on each of the four instruments, and the four faults that cause almost every scratchy tone.
How to shift positions on violin, viola, cello, and bass
Why third position comes first, how the guide finger works, and the practice order that makes a shift reliable.
Reading is a start
Arco turns the advice in these guides into a daily path, five curricula, recorded string playback, and progress you can show a teacher.