The viola is similar to the violin in every essential, but, owing to its larger size, it has never been completely standardized in its main dimensions, since, whatever these are, they are bound to tax the human frame and fingers when the instrument is played. A compromise has to be effected between what is the ideal size for the best tonal results and what is practicable to the player in handling. Too large an instrument is simply unplayable; too small an instrument is weakest where it is most wanted—on the lower strings. The problem has never been solved to complete satisfaction, but a characteristic viola tone has been produced that is darker, more weighty, and more sombre than the violin. Most violas have been made at various times with a body length (the most convenient measure of their maneuverability) of 15–18 inches (38–46 cm); probably the majority of the most manageable and successful instruments are midway between these extremes. Cello, or violoncello The left hand determines the sounding length of the string, and thus the pitch of the string, by "stopping" it (pressing it) against the fingerboard with the fingertips, producing different pitches. As the violin has no frets to stop the strings, as is usual with the guitar, the player must know exactly where to place the fingers on the strings to play with good intonation (tuning). Beginning violinists play open strings and the lowest position, nearest to the nut. Students often start with relatively easy keys, such as A Major and G major. Students are taught scales and simple melodies. Through practice of scales and arpeggios and ear training, the violinist's left hand eventually "finds" the notes intuitively by muscle memory.

In some genres of historically informed performance (usually of Baroque music and earlier), neither split-chord nor triple-stop chords are thought to be appropriate; some violinists will arpeggiate all chords (including regular double stops), playing all or most notes individually as if they had been written as a slurred figure. However, with the development of modern violins, triple-stopping has become more natural due to the bridge being less curved. In some musical styles, a sustained open string drone can be played during a passage mainly written on an adjacent string, to provide a basic accompaniment. This is more often seen in folk traditions than in classical music.A 1731 Stradivarius violin spent 25 years in a reclusive American heiress. The instrument was only discovered after she died.

The Violin Explained - Components Mechanism and Sound by James Beament (1992/1997), Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-816623-0The upper limit of the violin's range is largely determined by the skill of the player, who may easily play more than two octaves on a single string, and four octaves on the instrument as a whole. Position names are mostly used for the lower positions and in method books and etudes; for this reason, it is uncommon to hear references to anything higher than seventh position. The highest position, practically speaking, is 13th position. Very high positions are a particular technical challenge, for two reasons. Firstly, the difference in location of different notes becomes much narrower in high positions, making the notes more challenging to locate and in some cases to distinguish by ear. Secondly, the much shorter sounding length of the string in very high positions is a challenge for the right arm and bow in sounding the instrument effectively. The finer (and more expensive) an instrument, the better able it is to sustain good tone right to the top of the fingerboard, at the highest pitches on the E string. a b Harris, Rodger (2009). "Fiddling". okhistory.org. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture . Retrieved 9 February 2018.

The Early Violin and Viola, by Robin Stowell (2001), Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62555-6 Curtin, Joseph (April 2000). "Weinreich and Directional Tone Colour". Strad Magazine. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009 . Retrieved May 23, 2009. In the case of string instruments, however, not only are they strongly directional, but the pattern of their directionality changes very rapidly with frequency. If you think of that pattern at a given frequency as beacons of sound, like the quills of a porcupine, then even the slight changes in pitch created by vibrato can cause those quills to be continually undulating. Like many other instruments used in classical music, the violin descends from remote ancestors that were used for folk music. Following a stage of intensive development in the late Renaissance, largely in Italy, the violin had improved (in volume, tone, and agility), to the point that it not only became a very important instrument in art music, but proved highly appealing to folk musicians as well, ultimately spreading very widely, sometimes displacing earlier bowed instruments. Ethnomusicologists have observed its widespread use in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Self, Brooke (April 9, 2011). "Lindsey Stirling—hip hop violinist". Her Campus. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05.The violin made its first appearance in Northern Italy in the Brescia area. At this time, Brescia was famous for the school of highly prized string players and makers who invented all the string instruments of the renaissance. The word violin first appeared in Brescian documents in 1530. Other instruments from the first decade of the 15 th century did not survive but the violin appears in several paintings from the period.

Some variants are still played today, primarily in communities in the former Byzantine Empire, including, but not limited to, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Serbia. From the 1870’s into the 1920’s, as the global economy shifted from local manufacturing to large-scale factory systems, many violin-makers realized that instruments could be made in huge batches and sold to a wider audience.When played as a folk instrument, the violin is usually referred to in English as a fiddle (although the term fiddle can be used informally no matter what the genre of music). Worldwide, there are various stringed instruments such as the wheel fiddle and Apache fiddle that are also called "fiddles". Fiddle music differs from classical in that the tunes are generally considered dance music, [49] and various techniques, such as droning, shuffling, and ornamentation specific to particular styles are used. In many traditions of folk music, the tunes are not written but are memorized by successive generations of musicians and passed on [49] in what is known as the oral tradition. Many old-time pieces call for cross-tuning, or using tunings other than standard GDAE. Some players of American styles of folk fiddling (such as bluegrass or old-time) have their bridge's top edge cut to a slightly flatter curve, making techniques such as a "double shuffle" less taxing on the bow arm, as it reduces the range of motion needed for alternating between double stops on different string pairs. Fiddlers who use solid steel core strings may prefer to use a tailpiece with fine tuners on all four strings, instead of the single fine tuner on the E string used by many classical players.