TEACHING MYSELF VIOLIN

Yes, I have been teaching myself the violin since about last August. I took 4 lessons with a man that owns his own music store but I found out that I really wasn't doing much wrong. I would ask him a lot of questions and he finally said, "LIZ, JUST PLAY". It was the way he looked at me that brought back memories of my days in the high school band. He reminded me of my band director. All he wanted was to play, hear and be a part of music. I played the flute and was a perfectionist, always thinking I had to be first chair. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that BUT I quickly found out that 30+ years later, I could never be first chair with the violin. I am my own worse critic!!! I had come a LONG way and decided to play everyday, even if it was for just 10 minutes and that brought me along nicely BUT I haven't played AT ALL for the past 3 weeks AND that is BAD!!! I played again tonight and realized that was a very huge mistake that I won't make again. It took me 10 minutes just to tune it and now, afterwards my left arm is really shaking. It reminds me of the old saying, "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips". Except I guess I should say, "When you don't play every day, you don't want to play everyday" and "When you play everyday, you want to play everyday."