Questions about the violin...?

Question

I was wondering... If you don't press the string at the right level, the note will sound off tune, right ?? Is it many millimeters that make a difference ?? There must be a big bunch of sounds between semitones... I'm amazed how one could learn to hold one's finger not looking at the string at the right level and get the right note. Is it hard to learn, a gradual process...? How do you know when you practise at home, whether you are placing your finger at the right spot? Then when tuning... do you tune your instrument yourself ?? This, I believe only could work if you are sure about the 'right spot'... right? Of course you also use a tuner of some sort... electric... right ? or do you do it by ear ???

(I've never had or played a violin)

Answer 1

Of course violin isn't like a guitar which(fortunately for guitarists)have frets which help their pitch so they are always(most of the time haven't heard anyone go off before)in tune...yes even 1 millimeter would affect the pitch of a violin and we violinists have to train our ears to become really keen even to the point of that 1 millimeter difference...yes there is a big bunch of sounds between semitones but none of it is actually a note(unless its really close)its a gradual process for beginner violin as we need to look at the pieces and play at the same time while checking and adjusting our pitch...for beginner violinists they usually use fine tuners to tune so it won't be so sharp or flat but for tuning we actually use the pegs...violinists always carry around an electronic tuner to give a perfect A which is at 440 Hertz...and from then we tune the violin to perfect fifths...so to speak after tuning the A string we would proceed to tuning the D string.E string and G string all in perfect fifths from each other...

Answer 2

every millimeter on the fingerboard (the narrow board where the strings and your fingers should go) of the violin will make a difference in the tone.  many people begin with stickers or some kind of placemarker on the fingerboard so that they know where to put thir fingers as theyre adapting to the violins tones.  after a while, though, i think it sort of becomes second nature to violinists for where to put their fingers.  still, though, especially for the very high notes, its hard to figure out the exact position, so you have to guess a little before you get it right.  you use your ears to figure out whether you should place your finger higher or lower (the closer your fingers are to you, the higher the note sounds).  i dont think its very hard to learn where to put your fingers, even after you remove the stickers, though, since even in my towns middle school orchestra, very few people use them at all.  

for tuning, the violin has 4 strings, G, D, A, and E, each higher than the one before it.  to tune the strings, you tune each string to either your own memory of the pitch, or you use a tuner.  you also tune the strings to each other (if they sound dissonant together, then its not right).  to tune the violin, you can turn either the k***s at the top of the violin, or the tiny silver ones at the bottoms of each string, which are finer than the wooden k***s at the top.  

hope that helps :)