Seven-String Violin
Another electric violin variant has seven strings. The range of this instrument goes from a B flat (a whole step below the cello’s lowest string) all the way to the top of the traditional violin range.
These instruments are much rarer than five-string instruments, but as you can hear in the video above, this type packs a full punch if you do solo gigs but want to have a fuller sound, especially in rock genres.
How are violin strings tuned?
The traditional, modern violin has four strings, and they’re tuned G, D, A, and E, from lowest to highest. We tune the strings with both the tuning pegs and the fine tuners. The pegs give us a wide adjustment, and finer tuners make much smaller changes.
The four tuning pegs align with the four strings. See the picture below to note how they line up. If you have your own violin, you can also follow each string up to its peg to check which tuning peg to use for each individual string. For example, you’ll see the E string on the right, and if you follow it all the way up, it wraps around the bottom right tuning peg.
If you’re playing on a five-string violin, the low C string will be the left-most string, and the peg will be on the left, where the G peg usually is; the G peg goes where the D peg is on a standard violin; and the D peg goes above that, past the A peg but on the left.
Learning to tune the violin without breaking any strings (particularly the E string!) is a hurdle for most beginners, but I’m here to help! Here on my blog, I’ve shared how to tune as a beginner, how to tune with the pegs, tuning with the fine tuners, and I even offer a free tuner that you can use whenever you’d like!
Does a violin have frets?
A fret is a raised bar on the fingerboard that shows where a specific note is, and if the string is pressed just behind the fret, you’ll hear the note that occurs where that fret is. Guitars and electric basses commonly have frets through the whole length of the fingerboard.
Standard, acoustic violins do not have frets: the fingerboard is smooth, and violinists learn where exactly to place their fingers to play the notes they need.
Learning where the notes are on the violin is one of the hardest aspects of mastering the violin. Many of us start learning the placements by placing tapes on the fingerboard to remind ourselves where the notes are.
However, some electric violins do have frets. The frets can help players sound more like a guitar, and perform slides and strumming sounds that just aren’t possible on the traditional violin. An important thing to note, though, is that you can’t produce vibrato as easily on a fretted violin.
Learn even more!
Other members of the string family can have a differing number of strings as well, and they all have their own extensive histories. The double bass in particular is very customizable, and has a fascinating history! Let me know in the comments if you’d like to read about the other stringed instruments, too.
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This blog is really helpful, Thank you Alpha Violinist for making such a useful article for beginner and intermediate violin students