Violin vs Viola

No, I've not mistakenly typed in a subject line which has seemingly nothing to do with guitar. :P

In fact, this is in relation to a conversation topic between myself and Dr Robert Casteels, the Music Director/Conductor of the NUS Guitar Orchestra. In short, he was asking me if it would be possible for a Prime guitar player - ie. someone who has not played a Niibori-styled guitar before - to pick up say, an Alto guitar within a matters of 4-5 days and be able to perform on stage with this new instrument.

(note: Dr Casteels himself does not play the guitar)

Having played and performed with Niibori instruments for more than a decade, the answer to this question seems simple enough to me. Since the Niibori instruments are essentially nylon stringed guitars (with the exception of the Cembalo set of guitars, which we are not discussing here) with 6 strings, tuned to the same interval-between-strings as the Prime guitar, and all basic classical guitar techniques apply, I was initially quite certain that the entry barrier to such a "conversion" wouldn't be too high.

So I said, "I don't believe there would be a problem... Basically the player just has to adjust to slightly smaller (in the case of Alto/Soprano guitars) or larger (in the case of the Bass/Contra bass guitars) frets, that's all! "

Dr Casteels then gave me an incredulous look and said, "But that's like asking a violin player to switch to the viola and perform with the latter in a matter of days (or vice versa)? Sure, he'd probably be able to adapt well to the new instrument since the techniques are similar, but to be able to perform? I think not..."

After some thought, I guess I have to agree with him. Sometimes, when you're too used to doing something, you tend to take things for granted.

Haha.. true of so many things in life. =)