How do I fix a shaky bow?

How do I fix my shaky/bouncing bow? Any tips?

Brightin Rose Schlumpf avatar
Written by Brightin Rose Schlumpf
Updated over a week ago

Are you wondering why your bow shakes when you're playing? Do you need help fixing or ideas of ways to work on stabilizing your bow?

For a bouncing bow, usually the issue has to do with your bow hold, and most likely this would mean you are too tight with your bow hold. The bow is very sensitive to any movement or pressure that you apply to it, so if you are holding the bow incorrectly and too tight, then it’s more likely for the bow to not be drawn smoothly. Please relax your right thumb, make sure your ring finger is on the dot at the frog, and your hand should essentially rest on top of the bow. You can actually practice with a pencil. If you take your bow out of your hands, dangle your right arm/hand with dead weight. When you fit a bow (or pencil) into your hand, it should not look that different from your dead weight hand frame.

People have different opinions about fixing a shaky bow, but in my opinion, there are multiple factors, all of which and any combination can contribute. Make sure that you are getting rid of any unnecessary tension in any of the following places: left/right shoulder and right elbow/wrist/fingers. Also, if you are not using enough weight, then this can contribute to the bow shaking—so make sure you have a good contact point between the bow and string and you are producing a nice full sound. Sometimes adding a little bit of pressure from your right index finger to your bow can help counteract it, but do not do too much.

This is a great skill to work on with your private lesson teacher. If you're not already taking Trala private lessons, click here to get matched with a teacher!

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