I really liked the video lessons by Todd Ehle - especially since they're free!

The Mel Bay book You Can Teach Yourself Fiddling is pretty much your basic fiddling primer, but perhaps moves ahead a bit too quickly. The author (Craig Duncan) seems to have a number of books that are pretty much the same thing repackaged. (I've got a several of them).

The Complete Idiots Guide to Playing Fiddle is a good overview, and Violin For Dummies isn't too bad - both can be previewed at Amazon.

I thought Picture Yourself Playing Violin was a bit disappointing - aimed at much younger players, and probably more "classical" than you're looking for.

Be sure you get a shoulder rest! I spent a lot of time struggling to hold the violin properly, and when I finally got a shoulder rest, it made a world of difference.

I agree with Bob - I've only seen their guitar videos, but the videos from Homespun Tapes look pretty good.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?