Beginner in need of guidance

[silverosprey]

Hello all, 

I've always been in love with the sound of the erhu and on a somewhat crazy whim, I've bought one! I've managed to set it up and tune it thanks to the trusty internet, but I've now come to an abrupt halt.
I have absolutely no clue how to play it or where to start and I'm struggling to find videos and explanations that really do start from the very basic beginnings. Does anyone know of some really basic starter guides and/or music books for erhu in English? 
I'm starting to think this might not be something I can teach myself...
Any help is much appreciated!

[edcat7]

Hi Silverosprey and welcome,

Where abouts are you? If you are in the Uk there are erhu teachers around. If getting a teacher is not an option try looking up Eason music from Singapore. They might have a few tips on YT.

Ed

[bookyeti]

I'm a newbie myself. I purchased a beautiful erhu from Eason Music in Singapore and just received it. Eason has a basic online course that walks you through all you need to know to get started on the erhu. It's $100 but well worth it, in my opinion. Also I can highly recommend Patty Chan's book "Playing Erhu: Bridging the Gap" which is in English and very well written with the beginner in mind; I bought my copy on Amazon.

[ed]

Hi silverosprey, don't give up!

I think that many of us on this forum have basically taught ourselves. In my case I did have one year of tuition but since then I have totally taught myself. There are very few ErHu teachers outside of major cities, unless you live in China of course. There are also online teachers.

You need a basic fingering chart and a copy of some simple tunes in Chinese number notation, JianPu. The first you can find on this forum: starvoid.proboards.com/thread/313/helpful-erhu-charts . The tunes are a little more difficult as you need to make sure they are easy enough - but there are lots on the web. Stick to the key of D for the first few months.

Of course you will also need a lot of patience.

Ed H