Little did some of us know, the violin can play any kind of music such as the popular songs in the 21st century. While violins are widely known to play classical melodies, sonatas, and bluegrass music, just like any other musical instrument, the violin has learned to adapt over time and even made today’s songs richer and more distinctive due to the quality of sound it produces.
If you are into learning violin for quite some time, there’s likely a chance that you’re seeking for new challenges such as playing popular music. There are now violinists who’ve made a name for themselves by recreating popular songs and adding the authentic sound of the violin.
Here are some of the top 5 songs that you can play on the violin whether as a beginner or a professional:
- OVER THE RAINBOW BY ISRAEL KAMAKAWIWO?OLE
Learning this composition can be tricky for the few tries. To get the opening octave right (from low C to high C), you need to practice string crossing so it won’t be hard for you to cross over the D string when you’re aiming for A string from the G string. You can look up on how other violinists use techniques in getting this part correctly and see which one works for you the best.
- ALL ABOUT THAT BASS BY MEGHAN TRAINOR
Beloved by women because of the empowering message it conveys, it would be easy for you to play the song if you’re already familiar with its tune and lyrics. However, if you notice an audible slide from the Bb to b change in the first measure, don’t think that you’re doing it wrong because it’ll just adapt to the mimic vocal line.
- A WHOLE NEW WORLD BY LEA SALONG AND BRAD KANE
To get the composition well, you may try to play it along with the music or while singing to it. The syncopated as well as the quarter note triplet rhythms can be quite hard to grasp around for the few tries so you can look for other techniques that can help you cope fast with the rhythm of the song.
- OLD JOE CLAR BY THE KINGSTON TRIO
This all-time favorite song can be easily played because of its repeated notes. All you have to do is practice first the rhythmic pattern so it won’t be hard for you to play the whole composition smoothly.
- HOTEL CALIFORNIA BY THE EAGLES
The rhythm for the phrases of this composition is varying. If you’re just trying to learn the song you might want to stick with a simple rhythm, but if you want to be challenged, you can try to play it just as how the original music sheet suggests it.
Here are other pop songs that you might want to try.
- Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years
- Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust
- Lady Antebellum’s Compass
- Taylor Swift’s Our Song
- Coldplay’s Paradise
- Clean Bandit’s Rather Be
- Skillet’s Rebirthing
- Lumineers’ Stubborn Love
- Michael Jackson’s Thriller
Other popular songs from the films you may want to try.
- From the film Frozen, Let it Go
- From the film Frozen, Love is an Open Door
- From the film Tangled, I See the Light
- From the film Little Mermaid, Part of Your World
If you are still learning how to read sheet music, you might also want to try watching videos online of those violinists who’ve done covers of some of the popular songs as your guide and reference.