In a recent office hours session, a few students asked me “How do you keep the bow parallel on the strings?”

Here are some tips on keeping the bow parallel to the bridge.

  • Mirror practice
    • Check the bow angle in the mirror. Some students also use the camera on their computer and look at that. While you’re at it, just film yourself. This will provide a lot of useful feedback.
  • Use less bow
  • Use some sort of physical guide
    • A FiddleHed named Ty Smith suggested placing two straws in the F holes like so:
    • There’s a product called Bow Right which offers a similar solution:


Further learning

How to be your own teacher

This micro-lesson is an excerpt from an office hours webinar I gave on February 25, 2020. View the entire live-stream with indexed questions here.

Do you have a fiddle or violin question? The office hours live-stream happens on the last Tuesday of the month. 


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