Can an adult beginner with no music experiance learn the violin.?

Question:

Can an adult beginner with no music experiance learn the violin.?

I am 26 and me and my wife are living in different states due to work. I want to learn to play an instrument and she plays the violin and said she would give me one to learn with.

I have never played an instrument, and do not know how to read music. Can I at this age really learn this instrument? How difficult is it? Will I ever be able to play by ear?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Age is no boundary for learning a musical instrument.

Large hands for a violin, however can be a pain in the butt.

The best thing for you to do would be to get private lessons from an university professor on violin, or a music store as well. These people will be more than qualified and probably the best to teach you, being that you are an older 'budding' musician.

Before getting into lessons, feel free to get a hold of any beginners method book, to get a grasp of notation and fingerings you will see as well.

As for a method of instruction, the 'Suzuki' method is a great way which many string instructors will use, and is used also between other instruments as well. Further, Suzuki relies on teaching by rote, so you learn the music by ear before learning things on paper. That should help you to learn by ear tremendously

The difficulty of learning the instrument, if it is your first wont be too hard once you overcome the initial schematics of learning finger placement, strings and what not.

Best of luck.

Ohh. for your first lesson.
Your strings are going to be: (All plucked on straight beats, 4 per string)
--E: Eek, Eek, Eek, Look at all the....
--A: Ants, Ants, Ants Digging in the...
--D: Dirt, Dirt, Dirt Digging in the...
--G: Ground, Ground, Ground, all the way to...
--(Need a Cello for this one): China.

:)