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Post by luc17 on Apr 21, 2016 21:54:57 GMT
Hello,
I received my Erhu a few days ago and got it all set up; I placed the bridge and the sponge in the correct place, I tuned the strings to D and A and I rosin'd the bow.
After this I learned how to bow, and to my surprise, I managed to play D and A. I then proceeded to play a D major Scale and as soon as i placed my left-hand finger on the strings, it came out with a screeching noise. I tried moving the position of my hand and down but it all just sounds screechy. I've made sure there is enough rosin on the bow and i've tuned it as well, is there anything i'm doing wrong? could someone help?
thank you.
p.s. When I press on the strings, to play an E, Do I press both strings because they are so close together?
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jess
Intermediate
Posts: 26 
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Post by jess on Apr 22, 2016 13:45:36 GMT
Hi, Yes, your left hand fingers press both strings at the same time, regardless of which string you want to play. Your right hand controls which string is being played, and it sounds like you can already do this. Check out this video to see correct hand position and fingering: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5XM69MH3XIGood luck! Jess |
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Post by luc17 on Apr 22, 2016 16:23:57 GMT
Wow!
Thank you very much, it's very helpful!
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Post by luc17 on Apr 23, 2016 11:02:15 GMT
Hi, Yes, your left hand fingers press both strings at the same time, regardless of which string you want to play. Your right hand controls which string is being played, and it sounds like you can already do this. Check out this video to see correct hand position and fingering: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5XM69MH3XIGood luck! Jess I've tried to play the notes of the D major scale, but they come out all scratchy and high pitched, and no matter what I do, I can't get a good sound out of it |
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Post by Minh on Apr 24, 2016 3:06:14 GMT
What if you try to put less pressure on the bowing, would it still produce those scratchy and high pitched sounds?
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Post by davidmdahl on Apr 24, 2016 8:01:01 GMT
First, check the strings to make sure that they have not crossed each other. This sometimes happens when a string is replaced. It is easy to wrap a string around the other. If this happens at the qianjin, it can be hard to spot.
Problems from strings can come from several situations. If the qianjin is not tight enough, or the pad/sponge is not adequate, the sound will not be good. The qianjin should pull the strings to the neck leaving about the width of a thumb. Check Youtube videos for instructions on winding the qianjin. That will provide a good check on yours.
Often times the foam pad that comes with an inexpensive erhu is not adequate, or maybe so old that it is crumbling. Try a cutting of dense felt and fold it to what seems to be an appropriate thickness. It may take some experimentation to get the right amount of felt. If too long, the thickness may make it hard to tuck under the strings.
Assuming that your erhu is set up okay, your technique may not be good. Good sound on the erhu is a balance of bowing speed and pressure. If you push too hard against the strings with the bow, and the speed of the bow is not enough, the sound will not be good. You will likely need to experiment with bowing to find what works. Check videos on Youtube for help with holding the erhu and bow correctly. If you can post a video of yourself playing your erhu, we may be better able to advise you.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by luc17 on Apr 24, 2016 20:26:07 GMT
Thank you!
That is a lot of information so i'll have to check each one to see what it is but it probably is just my technique.
Thank you guys for your help, you have helped me a lot!
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Post by luc17 on Apr 24, 2016 20:27:01 GMT
What if you try to put less pressure on the bowing, would it still produce those scratchy and high pitched sounds? I'll try with different pressure next time! Thank you |
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Post by sanmenxia on Apr 24, 2016 20:27:03 GMT
It sounds like you might not be pressing on the string hard enough. Is your finger only touching but not pressing against the string?
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Post by luc17 on Apr 25, 2016 22:10:20 GMT
It sounds like you might not be pressing on the string hard enough. Is your finger only touching but not pressing against the string? How hard do I have to press? Is it very hard or is it quite soft? |
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Post by davidmdahl on Apr 26, 2016 5:07:42 GMT
It sounds like you might not be pressing on the string hard enough. Is your finger only touching but not pressing against the string? How hard do I have to press? Is it very hard or is it quite soft? Certainly not very hard. Just press on the string what is necessary, and no more. If you are used to playing other stringed instruments like guitar, then press a lot less on erhu. If you are getting a wispy or otherwise bad tone, then press a little more and see if the sound is better. I suspect that too much pressure is more usual than not enough. It is tricky to give advice on correcting a bad tone on erhu since there are a number of things that could be the root cause. Everything on the erhu has to be in reasonably good adjustment, including how the strings loop off the end of the pegs, the distance between the strings and the neck at the qianjin, the position of the bridge, and the position and thickness of the pad. Sometimes, very old or defective strings will make the erhu sound bad no matter what else you do. The way the erhu is played has a lot to do with the sound, including the angle of the bow to the front of the erhu, bowing speed, and bowing pressure. A good teacher can spot a lot of problems and correct the setup of the erhu, and help the student to learn correct technique. Best wishes, David |
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Post by luc17 on Apr 27, 2016 21:20:57 GMT
Here is a video of me playing a D major scale, some of the higher notes sound quite scratchy because I didn't bow hard enough. But the thing I wanted to highlight was the note E, the lower one, where I can't play it well no matter how much pressure I put on the strings whether it be a little or a lot. youtu.be/1y9xOUKT9Ns |
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Post by Minh on Apr 28, 2016 2:33:18 GMT
That sounds like a lot of pressure on the bowing part and not enough movement, if there is lots of pressure, you can move the bow faster.
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Post by davidmdahl on Apr 28, 2016 3:49:17 GMT
You have tuned to the correct notes, but an octave too low. The strings are acting wonky because they are way too loose. Tighten the strings so that the pitches are the D and A an octave up from where they are now. Here is a video that demonstrates the correct method of playing the scale. The erhu in the video is actually tuned to Db/Ab, so it will be flatter than normal, but closer to what you should tune to. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5XM69MH3XIDavid |
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Post by luc17 on Apr 30, 2016 12:24:36 GMT
You have tuned to the correct notes, but an octave too low. The strings are acting wonky because they are way too loose. Tighten the strings so that the pitches are the D and A an octave up from where they are now. Here is a video that demonstrates the correct method of playing the scale. The erhu in the video is actually tuned to Db/Ab, so it will be flatter than normal, but closer to what you should tune to. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5XM69MH3XIDavid Wow! ok I had absolutely no idea that I was doing that, Thank you for your help! |
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Post by paulv on May 2, 2016 17:54:58 GMT
Here a tuner you can download -- it runs on a PC, and if you're running Win 8.1 run the program as Admin once you have it installed. I've been using this tuner for several years. Besides initially tuning your erhu, you can see if you've hit the right note. www.aptuner.comA good metronome I use is www.earpower.com -- definitely need to run this as Admin in Win 8.1 Regards, paul... |
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