Boost your skills with the best method online.
Become an advanced player the fast and fun way.
Explore your creative potential.
No experience? No worries, this is for YOU!
Your lessons, well organised, a frustration free guide to playing violin.
Beginners Course
Lesson 1 (15 videos)
Here you will start off with the basics.
These are crucial to be able to achieve high levels.
- Violin posture
- Bow hold
- Playing the first notes on the violin
You will start off with the first grip, the first placement of the fingers.
You will also learn to read the first notes on the violin.
Your first improvisation with the notes you have learnt so far ends this lesson.
Time to master the basics videos 1,2 and 3: 1 or 2 weeks.
Time to study the first 8 exercises: 1 or 2 weeks
Lesson 2 (6 videos)
Playing quarter notes.
Quarter notes are played a little faster than half notes.
You will learn to use the proper bowing for quarter notes and train fingers 1 and 2 a bit more.
Time to study the quarter notes on all strings: 1 or 2 weeks.
This lesson also ends with an improvisation, now using quarter notes.
Lesson 3 (7 videos)
Combining half notes and quarter notes.
Also you will learn how to play ties, playing 2 or more notes on one bow.
You will play your first actual song: “Mary Had A Little Lamb”
Ending with improvisation….
Lesson 4 (6 videos)
In this lesson we will cover string changes and the time signature: 3/4.
With that we will combine all techniques we learned so far with fingers 1 and 2.
Lesson 5 (9 videos)
We will start with the 3rd finger.
With this 3rd finger we will be able to play many more songs in the first position.
New notes will take you to learn how to read them and know where they are placed in the score and on the violin.
Of course we will improvise again, adding the 3rd finger.
Lesson 6 (7 videos)
Covering the major scales of G, D and A.
The eighth notes will be covered in this lesson too.
With the eighth notes we will play an American traditional song “Boil ’em Cabbage Down”.
Ending again with improvisation, using the eighth notes and the major scale.
Lesson 7 (6 videos)
In this lesson we will exercise the eighth notes a bit more, but now also with ties.
You can play shorter notes or legato, all up to you.
Gypsy style is introduced in this lesson.
You will be also ready for your first classical song by J.S. Bach.
Lesson 8 (4 videos)
Introducing something entirely different.
As we already started with improvisation, it is time to deal with “swing” now.
Here we will deal with the scoring as it is used in jazz music.
A nice spiritual to follow up on this.
Lesson 9 (6 videos)
Looking at the dotted quarter note.
On page 17 you will see that the dotted quarter note carries 3 eighth notes.
Later we will handle other dotted notes as well, maybe it is easy to always think of the number 3 when you see a dotted note.
You will play a piece from the New World Symphony by Dvorak, a song by Mozart and a beautiful Irish song.
Lesson 10 (10 videos)
We have come to the 4th finger.
This is the finger that will need the most exercise because it is the weakest of the 4 generally.
We will train the 4th finger and try to use it with as little tension as possible when you stretch it to it’s position.
Portato is a bowing technique, (there are many), you will learn and use portato here.
You will learn piece from Bach’s Matheus Passion, using the portato and of course the 4th finger, “Ode To Jy” by Beethoven and a virtuoso piece by Bartok.
Lesson 11 (8 videos)
Practicing the 4th finger again, but now we go a bit deeper.
Putting the 4th finger “out of nowhere” on the fingerboard seems difficult.
In this lesson I will show you how to do it the easy way.
We will train the 4th even further.
You will learn how to play Edelweiss from The Sound Of Music and a serious 4th finger training: “Oh Suzanna”.
Lesson 12 (15 videos)
Starting with the Second Grip.
The second finger will move from against the 3rd finger to against the 1st finger.
We will refer to this as the “low 2nd finger”.
We will also cover the Dorian Scale and syncopation in the process.
Nice styles from Romania, Hungaria and Ireland again in this lesson.
Lesson 13 (9 videos)
Playing Gypsy Jazz while we practice the second grip.
Let’s play along some nice “Hotclub De France” tunes, totally in style.
We will also cover an important note in the jazz, the “Blue-Note”.
The second grip is practiced to the fullest in this lesson too as well as syncopation in “swing” timing.
Lesson 14 (11 videos)
Combining the high 2nd finger (1st grip) and the low 2nd finger (2nd grip)
See how the flat/natural (G-string) and the natural/sharp (D- A- E-string) determines if we
have a low or high second finger.
Look at the beginning of each staff where you will see the key signature.
The flats or sharps affect the according notes on the whole staff and all octaves.
It is essential to start lesson 14 with this theory. As we will learn this in practice too it will give you a huge head start on the understanding of lesson 14. When do we use a high 2nd finger, when should it be low? All about the theory behind the “1st and 2nd grip”. Learn about the accidentals, sharps, flats and naturals.
You will learn the famous Minuet in G by J.S. Bach, a nice Ardeleana from Romania, Planxty Hewlett, (A Planxty is an Irish song written for harp, but played on violin now), the famous Largo by Handel and finally Pachelbel’s Canon in D.
Lesson 15 and further
From lesson 15 you will learn the 3rd grip, combinations of the grips, new music styles and improvisations, new techniques, new Classical pieces…
We will continue to work on new material for you to grow to the advanced level.
Improvisation Course
Lesson 1 (9 videos)
As introduction we want to share with you the most important skill you should have (or develop): Listening.
We need to know what is going on around us, what does the bass player do, the drummer or pianist…
We will learn to anticipate and respond to that, improvise.
Before you learn to cook you should taste first, learn about the ingredients.
That’s exactly what we will do in this lesson, listen to chords and how one note sounds in them.
The style in this lesson is Latin.
You will learn to improvise in 1 given scale.
You will learn the the chords we use come from the notes of that scale.
This will not be a theory class, it is “hands-on” right from the start!
Absolutely fun to do!
Lesson 2 (13 videos)
We will learn what chords are, from what they are made up of and how we use them.
Chords take care of the “harmony”part of a song, putting chords one after another gives us a chord progression.
We will work with many chord progressions, but in this lesson we start with one of the most basic progressions using the
I, IV and V.
It will all come very clear if you follow every step of Lesson 2.
Master this as the next lessons will all be based on this.
Theory, yes, but as in the previous lesson, all hands on!!
Lesson 3 (7 videos)
We will step into the blues in this lesson.
You will learn how the blues is built up and the chord progressions that are common in this style.
Major and minor and intervals are explained and the chords of every step in the scale is formed.
We will learn a little different approach to improvising as we will anticipate on chords using chord stacks.
The major / minor pentatonic scales and the blues scale will be explained and exercised.
Let’s play The Blues
Lesson 4 (11 videos)
Lesson 4 will be all about pentatonic scales, probably the most important scale to master.
These scales are found in improvisation of ALL music styles, so master this and you will be all set to whatever style you choose.
We will still rely on the Blues in D, there is a special reason for that which I will explain in the lesson.
Lesson 5 (14 videos)
Swing!
For classical players this might be the most difficult part of improvising.
When it is not in our genes, we can definitely work our way to it.
That’s what we will do in Lesson 5, play the swing on country style.
We will get to the jazz part in Lesson 6, let’s first get acquainted with swing on easier chords, the I, IV and V.
If you haven’t reached the level of position playing yet you can download Grey Eagle 1st Position as alternative.
Lesson 6 (7 videos)
Swing, Gypsy Jazz.
One of the most popular jazz styles for violin is of course the Gypsy Swing, which originated from Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli’s “Hot Club De France”.
This style is still growing more and more popular all over the world.
Although there were jazz violinists at the time, Stéphane Grappelli can be seen as a pioneer, adding the violin to jazz, first his “Hotclub de France” style, better known as Gypsy Jazz or Manouche, he also played with many great contemporary jazz artists like Oscar Peterson, Michel Legrand.
He was close friends with Yehudi Menuhin, who admired his style of playing tremendously.
In lesson 6 we will work with a few different songs, while we also learn one of the most important chord progressions in Jazz: II-V-I.
Lesson 7 (7 videos)
The 7th Chords.
Building from the triad (1-3-5) we can add another 3rd, that would give us the 7, (7th note in the scale).
Adding this 7th note gives us the “7th chord”.
You will learn the function of the 7th chord as well as its use.
I will train your ear by listening to the fuction of the 7th chord so you will always recognise it right away.
And of course you will learn how to deal with it in your improvisation.
Lesson 8 (9 videos)
I-V-I (2-5-1)
II-V-I is the most common chord progression, especially in Jazz music.
If you want to improvise in Jazz music this is one of the first things to know.
We will discuss the theory, but as usual we will learn how to improvise on a II-V-I chord progression.
The “Hands-On” way!
Lesson 9 and further
From lesson 9 we will continue to work on new lessons for you to grow to an advanced level of improvisation.
What our students say:
"I got dizzy searching the internet and YouTube for violin lessons.
When I found Creative Violin I felt I was in heaven!
Creative Violin is a straight forward website where you will find everything about violin lessons.
All the video’s make it feel I have a teacher standing next to me all the time when I study.
I even started improvising in the first lessons!”
"Xander's Creative Violin Improvisation course is the perfect launch pad for violinists wanting to break into improvisatory playing and the wider field of jazz.
Step by step, carefully and clearly, he guides you through the basics of blues playing, swing, manouche and more, providing charts and backing tracks along the way to enable you to develop the requisite skills.
Doesn't get better!”
“Being 63 I have never played an instrument and was uncertain if I could learn the violin.
Xander’s online classes have dispelled my doubts.
His instruction is clear and understandable.
Thank you for not only teaching me the violin but also making the experience enjoyable with your cheerful and encouraging demeanor.”
My daughter, Anna, is 8 years old.
She started to play the violin in September.
It's amazing to see what she can play already thanks to the Creative Violin method!
It's a constructive method with improvisations, background music and different styles of music.
The accompanying music stimulates to play the violin.
Xander is a great teacher!
He knows how to motivate my daughter!
“Xander is a fantastic teacher !
He gets his pupils to improve their playing rapidly, in a fun and motivating way.
His method, Creative Violin, takes us through different musical styles from classical to country music, trying out well-known musicals, and learning how to improvise along the way.
Thanks to the backing tracks, you not only learn to play in rhythm, together with an orchestra, but can even give a concert for your family and friends!
My 7-years old son Timo is a huge fan.
I definitely recommend this site!”
This course is focused, highly motivating and has increased my skill level considerably in a very short time.
The interactions with the teacher in the improvisation exercises gives one a real sense of ownership of the instrument (not to mention the thrill of playing along with another musician right from lesson one!)
The ability to ask questions during live webinars is also invaluable.
This is by far the most engaging online course and is just as immersive as learning with a teacher in person.
Xander's enthusiasm is absolutely infectious.
Thank you for this fantastic resource.
I follow the lessons for a while now.
For me the great benefit is that I can study when I want.
Another benefit is that because it is an online course I can watch parts that I need to practice more over and over again.
The loop function (AB Looper) makes it possible that you can rehearse a certain part as many times you need.
I went from scratching the violin to actually playing it.
And I am very happy.
Thank you Xander for setting up this course.
Mr. Nichting, Creative Violin, is covering a lot of necessary techniques that I haven't seen in other tutorials or books.
Other instructors seem to just hope we'll figure out these points by trial and error (for example, when to switch from upper arm to elbow motion when bowing).
In a word, he's thorough!
I’ve been playing violin for about a year and half while being all self taught.
I heard about Creative Violin through a Facebook group I frequent and decided to give it a try.
The lessons are well put together and in an easy to understand, logical order.
Xander is a friendly, knowledgeable, and thorough instructor.
Not only are the lessons well developed, but he also puts on free seminars to help grasp the basic and more advanced concepts.
Highly recommended!
I couldn’t read music, was totally new to the violin.
Xander taught me (and still does) with much patience, understanding and much encouragement.
Lessons are at home or via Skype.
Not only the playing techniques, but specially the fun in playing the violin are important.
Xander (Creative Violin) is THE violin teacher to achieve those results.
Xander Nichting is music embodied, he is a solo artist, music director, composer, arranger and violinist.
He composes his own music and writes and produces extensively for other artists.
Xander was the first to graduate from the Conservatory in the Netherlands with his six-string electric violin, and has continued to perfect his musical abilities every day.
At a young age, Xander found music by playing with a local gypsy group .
That group helped hone his interest in jazz and pop music, which formed the basis for his violin work and his style of music today.
As a teacher:
Xander is the author of the new violin method Creative Violin, which has been released in April 2017.
Based on over 30 years in violin education the need for a new method resulted in “Creative Violin”, which guides the student through classical music as well as pop, jazz, country and world music, all styles where the violin has claimed a prominent position.
Even improvisation on violin finds its way to the student, right from the beginning!
The Creative Violin Beginners Course and Improvisation Course have proven to be a quick and very reliable method to learn from.
"I am a perfectionist and want only the best for my students, nothing less!"
Xander Nichting
