Purchasing your first violin can be challenging. Determining the right size violin to buy is extremely important to ease of playing. If your violin is too small, it might be impossible to NOT play over the fingerboard, which means you are going to hit other strings no matter how hard you concentrate. Violins that are too large for a player make the left hand stretch beyond what is comfortable.

Violins come in a variety of sizes measured in fractions, ranging from a full size 4/4 violin all the way down to a tiny 1/16 violin. There’s also a 1/32 size, if your child’s arm length is below 14 inches. In my opinion, 1/32 size is a few steps away from a toy. If your child needs that size, my advice would be to save your money, buy your child some piano lessons, and then purchase a 1/16 in a few months. Your child will get much more benefit out of the piano lessons since they will show up to violin lessons already having a basic understanding of music and we can focus on learning the violin.

If you are an adult with average arm length and hand size, you will probably want a full size, 4/4 violin. However, if you are an adult with smaller than average hands and arms, or a younger child, you will definitely want to measure yourself to find the right size violin. There is a size in between 3/4 and 4/4. It’s called 7/8 and it’s somewhat rare. I have pretty small hands and I’ve always wanted to try a 7/8. I recently purchased one from Gliga violins. It’s a great size for teenagers who are still growing or adults with smaller hands and fingers.

Use this chart to determine the correct violin size for you. Measure from the neck all the way out to the middle of the left hand palm.