# Beginner question.. easy :-)



## Hanspwnz

When playing the tune 'Lightly Row', this fella 



 uses the top of his bow a lot. Should it be played like that, or personal preference? Because I don't seem to use that much bow. Also, when playing long notes as this piece require, the bow is sort of jumping / bouncing on the strings, how would I fix that?

Thanks very much


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## Jaws

Hanspwnz said:


> When playing the tune 'Lightly Row', this fella
> 
> 
> 
> uses the top of his bow a lot. Should it be played like that, or personal preference? Because I don't seem to use that much bow. Also, when playing long notes as this piece require, the bow is sort of jumping / bouncing on the strings, how would I fix that?
> 
> Thanks very much


Are you having violin lessons? If so how did your teacher tell you to do the bowing?
If you are not having lessons then the answer to why your bow is bouncing is difficult to answer, there could be all sorts of reasons including you aren't holding the bow properly or you haven't practised bowing full bows enough. You need to have lessons to answer these questions.


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## Zanralotta

Hanspwnz said:


> When playing the tune 'Lightly Row', this fella
> 
> 
> 
> uses the top of his bow a lot. Should it be played like that, or personal preference? Because I don't seem to use that much bow. Also, when playing long notes as this piece require, the bow is sort of jumping / bouncing on the strings, how would I fix that?
> 
> Thanks very much


They guy in the video already uses not enough bow (why do you buy an entire bow, when you keep using only 2/3 of its length?).

The question of how to fix your jumping is rather difficult to answer without seeing you play.
For most beginners, this problem occures when the bow is either gripped too strongly (=your bowing hand is not relaxed enough), not enough pressure is applied (=keep your bow hand relaxed, but press the bow down with your index more) and/or the bowing speed is inconsistent (=keep repeating to slowly bow the entire length of your bow up and down on the same note until you get a feeling for the correct speed).

It could be any or none of these, that's what you need a teacher for...

Good luck!


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## Hanspwnz

Thanks alot!!!!!!!!!!  Fixed!


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