The availability of online violin lessons is perhaps the best thing to happen in the violin community for a long time. More people are now able to learn violin because of them. We'll be covering what programs are available and why you should check them out.
Due to the format of these lessons, the companies that produce such courses have miniscule overhead costs. Other self-taught mediums have production costs for DVDs, videos, paper, ink, and the like. To make the venture worth their effort, these costs would need to be forwarded to you, the customer. You're paying only for the value you receive like this. It is now easy for anyone to get access to a quality violin education.
When the overhead costs are minimized, the companies are able to focus more on stuffing more value into their programs. Because of this, you'll often get access to very skilled players.
There aren't any real downside when you compare the online lessons to other self-taught mediums. You get the most bang for your buck.
It gets more complicated if you want to compare them to lessons that you might take in person. Whenever you want to teach yourself something, you need a strong eye for detail. If you don't do something correctly, no one is there to fix the problem. You have to be more motivated doing this as well, because you don't naturally have anyone else invested in your success.
They can be acquired very cheaply, compared to private lessons. There is no comparison in that compartment. If you go with online violin lessons, you can choose the location and times of your lessons. You have the most freedom learning like this, and you never have to drive to your lessons. Having to seek out a qualified instructor or rescheduling lessons are things that you don't need to worry about if you're going to learn like this.
Given the cost, you don't necessarily have to choose just one. You can use these as an additional resource to help you progress more quickly or to go back over any problem areas.
You don't have tons of options for these courses, but the ones available are good enough so you aren't left wanting. Instrument Master and Violin Master Pro are the big two. They are produced by the same company as far as I know, but each program comes from a different angle. Neither will cost you more than thirty bucks.
Violin Master Pro, taught by Eric Lewis, focuses entirely on violin education. He is an esteemed member of the Manhattan String Quartet with a lot of experience. Violin Master Pro covers a wide variety of topics besides just how to play violin in many different styles. Some of these include how to read music, maximizing hand strength, and music theory.
Instrument Master offers very similar benefits, however, it is not taught by someone as noteworthy as Eric Lewis. The main benefit of that would lead you to choose this is that it offers you the option of learning several instruments instead of just the violin.