Original Bow Buddy Bright Blue 2-Piece Set: Things 4 Strings Bow Hold Buddies Violin/Viola Teaching Aid Accessory

Helpful for our little violin player. This was highly recommended by his teacher.

I am teaching myself the violin again after a 13 year hiatus (I played for a year when I was 9) and I have to say that this is a great product. I've watched several youtube videos on how to properly hold the bow, but I was never sure if I was doing it right or not. This positions the fingers perfectly and builds muscle memory so when I take it off, I still know how to position my hand. It is a little expensive, but it does a great job and I feel that it is worth the price. There is also a youtube video from the makers of it on how to install the bow buddy on your bow, and after I watched that it was really easy to install. Great product, I highly recommend it.

I got this to help my daughter, who is an intermediate violinist who has been playing for several years, mostly in school orchestra classes where not much attention was paid to her bow hold. She tends to hold the bow angled toward her instead of away, and doesn’t extend her arm enough when she is playing in the upper half of the bow, meaning she bows all over the place, often over the fingerboard. I have been trying to help her break these habits but she is a bit resistant to suggestions and it’s certainly hard for anyone to change ingrained behaviors.I got this bow hold buddy thinking, well, it might help somewhat if her bow hold is the underlying issue, but I didn’t have high expectations for it, due to how long my daughter has already been playing. But within five minutes (after some minor complaints about it being awkward, but it really isn’t bad once you have it set up right), she was already playing with long, straight, controlled bow strokes. Amazing! Swapping back and forth with another bow gave her the feedback she needed to hold the non-buddy bow properly. I expect we will do this exercise multiple times in the future but I was surprised how effective a single 20-minute session was.One note: this seems to be a very safe device to install on a bow, but it’s not something you’ll want to install and uninstall frequently because you have to unscrew the bow pin to install it (our bow doesn’t have too many pin removals left in its lifetime). When the buddy is installed, the bow won’t fit properly in the case as the buddy is rather bulky. We are lucky to have two bows so I’ve temporarily assigned one as the buddy bow and left it out of the case, but that might not work for everyone.

I love this frog charactor to help me hold my bow correctly. It is help so very much. I recommend this for people that are beginners.

While on the expensive side I realize the part research and development can add to a product's price. I am an older beginning violinist with EDS. Within the last year I fractured my right hand and middle finger in 2 places. I have never had strong hands or fingers so this teaching aide is a godsend because it gives me a great assist and support in holding the bow correctly. Without it,I doubt if I would continue on with the violin and would have to find a much easier substitute musical instrument. This appliance gives me incentive to just grab the bow and start up as I really like the feel of it and it makes me feel good that I can easily maintain a professional and enjoyable bow grip. The initial period of mastering the violin is the most demanding and this appliance smooths the way and makes eventual success very likely.

I’m in my sixties and arthritis has made it impossible for me to hold a bow properly. My hand adjusted to the grip immediately, with a perfect balance to the bow.Personally, I would prefer that it not be shaped like a frog, I imagine it’s entertaining to children, but if people knew about this product I’d be willing to bet there would be a good market for it in the geriatric set!That said, I almost didn’t order one due to the price. I think $12-$15 would be about right. I know I would order one for each of my bows, but I can’t afford to at the current price.

My daughter had trouble remembering to hold the bow right, so I bought this gadget. It worked well to help her, but very short term. We also bought a new bow because her old one cracked at the screw from trying to tighten the hair too much (hair was too long and just couldn't make the bow right). The way the plastic piece of a bow frog is attached matters. The opening for the thumb wasn't right and was giving my daughter a blister on her thumb. The old bow was smoother in the spot where this gadget frog goes and worked better. So we ended up fixing the old bow just so my daughter can use this set. Another drawback is that once the frog and fish is on, the bow didn't fit in our violin case anymore! So in a way, it turned out well that our bow cracked, we had to buy another one. So we ended up practicing with the frog/fish bow at home, and taking the new one without to lessons.

My 7 year old violinist was having an issue with holding her bow. After using this tool for a few months we removed it when she felt ready and now she is able to hold her bow correctly without any assistance. It is like this device trained her hand. I definitely recommend it.