learning to play violin without lessons?

Wow that is a tough question. The violin is really hard (I know from hearing my mother practice {with lessons} as an adult). But nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it . Try googling or, there is this amazing store in NYC called "Patelson’s" which seems to have every piece of sheet music ever written. Try patelsons.com and see if they have they type of instruction manual you seek.

Since you are an absolute beginner maybe pony up for lessons until you feel comfortable going out on your own.

Good luck to you!

P.S. I’m sorry I was referring specifically to classical technique.
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Yes and no.

I taught myself to play American traditional old-time fiddle by ear without formal lessons starting about 17 years ago. Now I’ve been in a couple of old-time bands and I’m currently in a bluegrass band, so yes it can be done.

In fact, most of the fiddlers I know are self-taught.

However, the classical violinists I know have all had at least some lessons. Classical violin playing is much stricter in terms of what is considered "proper technique" (how to hold the violin and bow, the correct way to pull the bow across the strings, how to note the strings, etc) , where if you don’t learn to do it "the right way", you will find that your improper technique will hold you back and keep you from advancing as far as you otherwise could have. IF all you want to do is learn classical violin for your own personal playing enjoyment, then maybe that doesn’t matter so much. If you want to maybe someday play with an orchestra (even an amateur community group), I think you’ll find your lack of proper classical technique will be an obstacle for you. If you want to play classical music, you should take at least a few lessons.

OTOH, folk fiddling styles like old-time, bluegrass, Cajun, Irish, New England contradance music, etc have traditionally been taught in a much looser, less formal method, where correct technique is whatever method YOU come up with that works for you and allows you to play what you want. So teaching yourself fiddle is much easier than classical violin.

The key to learning fiddle is to listen, listen, listen as much as you can to the specific style of music you want to learn so that you can internalize the sound, the rhythms, the phrasing of the music and the way fiddlers within that tradition ornament or "decorate" the melodies with slides, grace notes, rolls, etc. Its like learning to speak a language with different regional dialects or accents — Irish fiddlers "speak" their music with a different "dialect" than Appalachian old-time fiddlers, who have a different musical dialect than bluegrassers or French Canadian fiddlers, etc. so LISTENING carefully to the music you want to play is critical.

Brian Wicklund’s "American Fiddle Method" Volumes 1 and 2 are excellent resources to get you started in fiddle playing — each book comes with video lessons on DVD and a play-along CD:

http://www.brianwicklund.com/american_fiddle_method.html
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self taught fiddler for 17 years

Yes & No,

I do think it is possible that you can gain a pretty good insight into how to play a violin and get an idea if playing the violin is something for you, by having a look at people telling about how THEY play the violin in ‘Video Messages’ on ‘YouTube’.

You have to try out some suitable ’search keywords’, like ‘Playing the Violin’ etc. etc. and soon you will find people telling you all about how THEY play the violin. Looking at a few different people that play the violin. That way you can instantly get a pretty good idea about a way that you clould play the violin in a way that works for you.

Although it does help if you experiment a lot practice a lot and it does help a lot if you have some talent for it, something that you will discover soon enough.

You can find ‘YouTube’ at:

http://hpshappymucic.blogspot.com

All the Best,
To your Happy Inspiration,
HP
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It’s not a good idea. You can very easily learn something wrong that will hurt your progress. Also, I’ve seen quite a fair deal of people learn their posture/playing position wrong and end up with back, shoulder or hand pains from it. I promise, you don’t want that to happen.

Learning without a teacher means you’ll be doing a lot of guesswork. There’s no one to show you what to do and what not to do(and those ‘how-to’ videos actually aren’t much help as they’re not looking at YOU and specifically helping YOU). It’s hard to get an idea of what you’re doing when there’s no one there to show you or correct you. It’s going to be a lot harder to learn an instrument that is already difficult without help.

Learning with a teacher is, in my opinion, the better option. That way you have someone to point you in the right direction. They will start you out and teach you the basics, then have a graduated plan for your improvement. Also, you ought to have opportunities for performing in recitals and possibly some kind of community orchestras or groups. A teacher can easily stop you and show you what you’re doing wrong and correct you so that you can achieve the best playing possible.

As for the big "classical vs. fiddle" debate(As Rachel touched on), the majority of working, performing, successful fiddle player DO have years of lessons, especially when they were just starting. It’s easy to learn ornamentations and new tunes by listening, and you can pick up some style techniques, but most performing fiddlers do have some kind of lessons background. There’s the occasional fiddler that works but has never had a lesson, but I’ve found them to be rather rare.
Classical musicians definitely have had lessons, as well. Playing classical music is just as challenging as fiddling.

Basically, lessons are a good idea. BUT, if you insist on trying to go it alone, the "All For Strings" book series is one I use to teach my own students, and "Essential Elements" has a pretty good book series for strings.
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I’m a fully professional violinist/fiddler, and I teach classical and fiddle lessons.