WI: Electric Violin/Viola?

This is a real dumb question, but it's just something I had on my mind for a more alternate world-ish story I'm planning out in my head.

I had the idea of an instrument used in rock music in the alternate world, an allegory for the electric guitar, except more violin or viola like. How would an "Electric Violin/Viola" sound?

All you'd need to do to find out is do the things done to guitars to make them electric guitars. I'd imagine this might have been tried.
 
This isn't a WI- electric violins already exist.

I suppose the WI could be if they were used more.

I think one trouble with using a violin in a rock band is that it's harder to sing while playing one- drums, bass and guitar all leave your band members free to sing lead or provide backup vocals where necessary. Having a member on electric violin makes you lose a bit of this flexibility.
 
This isn't a WI- electric violins already exist.

I suppose the WI could be if they were used more.

I think one trouble with using a violin in a rock band is that it's harder to sing while playing one- drums, bass and guitar all leave your band members free to sing lead or provide backup vocals where necessary. Having a member on electric violin makes you lose a bit of this flexibility.

Bands typically have one person singing and others playing instruments. What about the cello? It sounds deeper despite looking kinda big and dumb, no offence to cellists.

By the way I never knew that, sweet.
 
Violins tend to be played when the singer isn't singing. Or it's played in a quiet, simple riff when there is singing. And like others said, they already exist. You can easily hook up a distorter too. They're quite popular in celtic and folk-rock.
 
There is IMO a brilliant version of the Kinks' 'I'm tired of waiting', by the US rock band the 'Flock', who used electric violin in it.

Not heard of it? Well that's advantage of age - more experience - it was done a few decades ago!!
 
As a violinist, I can say that it is very hard to sing and play at the same time. You can do it, but it's pretty hard to do. In addition, violin is much harder to pick up than the guitar, which may influence why it is not as popular.
 
There is IMO a brilliant version of the Kinks' 'I'm tired of waiting', by the US rock band the 'Flock', who used electric violin in it.

Not heard of it? Well that's advantage of age - more experience - it was done a few decades ago!!

Advantage of age????
Damm, must be too old... only a few decades ago. Hmmmm, now I understand.:D
 
As a violinist, I can say that it is very hard to sing and play at the same time. You can do it, but it's pretty hard to do. In addition, violin is much harder to pick up than the guitar, which may influence why it is not as popular.

A lot of bands simply have a lead singer and others who play instruments.
 
I was thinking more of Okkervil River, and even Arcade Fire (not folk or celtic). Okkervil does one of the best renditions of "Omie Wise" I've ever heard. Quite intense.
 
a ton of (at least american) punk bands of the 90s to now use amped violins, Tem Eye Oski from little rock bein the best, in my opinion. amped accordians are fun too (Deuce Boldly from minneapolis... tho my favorite music what if, is if the mainstream music (ie the corporate stuff) was good.

 
I'm not sure the arguments about violins being 'more difficult' to sing with are a good enough reason - musicians, especially those working in popular forms such as folk or blues, can adapt the way they play their instruments to suit their personal styles and techniques.

The major drawback the violin has compared to the guitar is the difficulty in getting it to produce chords - although it has four strings, the way they're arranged make it almost impossible to play more than two at a time. That isn't a problem in a symphony orchestra, or even a traditional ceilidh band, where there are other instruments to supply backing. In a rowdy boozer, however, a traditional violin, no matter how well amplified, simply won't be able to cut it - the sound will be far too thin.

However, all is not lost. Say, in the early years of the 20th Century, a violin maker in the United States, noticing the huge increase in popularity of the guitar, decides to redesign the violin to appeal to this new market, in the process arranging the strings in such a way as to allow the playing of chords. This new 'American Violin' takes the country by storm, and when, in the 1930s, popular makers such as Gibson and Epiphone begin fitting their models with electric pickups, they usher in the future of music...

On an entirely unrelated note, if you want to hear how violin- or viola-based music can sound, keep an ear out for Seth Lakeman and Jackie Oates, both of whom are fantastic, in my opinion.
 
That sounds really interesting.:cool::cool: Any thoughts on how it would be done?

Well, I'm no instrument builder, but if I were doing it, I'd flatten the fingerboard curvature and make the bridge completely level, which would allow all four strings to be bowed/plucked/strummed at once. In order that playing didn't become an agony for the violinist, the playing position for the 'American Violin' would probably change from between the chin and the shoulder with horizontal bowing, to being held against the front of the shoulder with the bow moving vertically across the strings. The problem here is that it's now much more difficult to bow single notes, so either lead lines would be plucked, or the lead position in a band would be taken by a traditional fiddle.

I'm not saying that such an instrument, if produced, would supplant the guitar entirely - or at all - but it could well end up occupying its own niche in popular music. And if any of you think I'm making too much of a stretch with this, take a look at the history of the mandolin on Wiki.
 
I'm not sure the arguments about violins being 'more difficult' to sing with are a good enough reason - musicians, especially those working in popular forms such as folk or blues, can adapt the way they play their instruments to suit their personal styles and techniques..

It's a very good reason. You hold the violin by clamping it between your shoulder and chin - it would be extremely difficult to sing while playing it - and as the instrument is right at your ear, it would be very hard to hear what you're singing, so the results would be grotesque. Most violinists have reduced hearing in the ear on the side they hold their instrument, also.

You could probably sing while playing the cello, but it would still be very difficult to concentrate on both. Playing the guitar is relatively simple - you strum it while holding positions on the fret board. There are more active solos, but you'll note that people don't sing while they're doing a guitar riff.
 
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