Is it possible to learn cello & violin at the same time? which do i choose?

Question

i've just finished my piano Grade 8 & hoping to start my 2nd instrument. i'm torn between the violin & cello. the violin is more portable, less expensive, easier to find music scores & usually plays the melody line. but the cello has a much more mellow tone & is held in a less awkward postion. so is it possible to learn it at the same time? because i heard that it gets pretty confusing that way. or should i start with just 1 instead? if so, cello or violin?

Answer 1

I think the difficulty with learning both at the same time is that the tunings are different, so your brain would have to adapt to different fingerings on each which would probably slow you down and prevent you learning either as quickly as if you did it on its own.

The violin is more versatile if you want to play music other than classical, but if you really want to learn the cello it might be a good idea to start with the violin because it's so much cheaper, just to see if you have a feel for stringed instruments, and if you find the violin relatively easy think about then giving it up in favour of the cello later, but taking violin for now as your second instrument.  

Answer 2

i'd start with cello.

and about halfway through the grades, start violin.

thats easier to harder.. in my opinion....

when i was little (5 years old) i played violin and my friend played cello....

cello was easy for me to play.

then the friend moved.

10 years later i try to play a cello.... i had to work so hard to be able to play correctly, cause i kept going backwards.

when i play cello, at this point, i look like a violinist turned cellist.

Answer 3

I personally think it's easier to start cello as a second instrument. However, being a cellist, my answer is a little biased.

The erhu is held upright like the cello, so your arms won't have to drastically change to play it. The intervals between your fingers for each pitch is different than on the erhu though. I could get notes out of the erhu when I tried to play it a couple years back, but there was a lot of adjusting!

Learning two instruments at the same time is a bit ambitious. You should choose only one, and dedicate all your brainpower to learning that. Good luck to your decision!