What inspired or made you want to play the fiddle? Or the violin, or mandolin, or whatever you play? What inspired you to want to create and play music?
Myself, it’s just happiness. Playing awfully, playing nicely, it all makes me feel good inside, especially hearing an E string ring. It’s feeling accomplishment over something I never thought I could do.
For fiddlers, why did you choose it over the violin?
I didn’t- I walked past a music store and it accosted me; twisted my arm behind my back and said, “Mine…Mine”
The desire to capture that magical sound led me to buy a fiddle. My ineptness and incompetence led me to sell it. 
But for the ones that have worked out for me - mandolin, banjo, flute, and whistle - it was still the magic of those sounds.
I’d always wanted to play an instrument. My dad played clarinet when I was young, and there was always dabbling of some type going on in the house, mainly piano. Life happens, and I go through a bad time of my life. At 28, I decided to finally do it. Researched a bunch of instruments and musical styles. Irish fiddle was what grabbed me. I bought a fiddle and an instruction book. A bit later I got a teacher. There is just something captivating and mesmerizing about the music and the way it comes out of this box. Everything about the fiddle is appealing, even the difficulty. And when it is combined with Irish music, enough said.
Hmm…I had always wanted to play, although since my training is classical, it was always violin rather than fiddle. But since it cost quite a bit to rent the instrument, I was unable to actually do it. I went on to other things, the vast majority having to do with vocal training, but I never lost that desire to at least try a violin. I just loved the way it seemed to sing when it was played. Fast forward to recently when my daughter acquired a fiddle of HER own. I went to her lessons (Suzuki method, so I am her “buddy” in her lessons), which were geared toward fiddle rather than violin. I would borrow hers from time to time, just to try it out, and the feeling of playing was wonderful. Then, this past March…on my birthday!..I received a fiddle of my own. It is, by far, the very best gift I have ever gotten, and I have absolutely fallen in love with playing. 
Oh, so you self-taught for a little while? How did that work out for you? I’m inbetween self-teaching and getting a teacher, myself.
izzarina: That’s so lucky, getting such a present!
I have the passion to play the violin, but I worry about my skill. I know I get better, but I’m alone, so I have no encouragement.
Off-Topic question:
Is it damaging to the violin to play two or more strings very quickly(there’s some italian word for this) as a beginner? Last night I discovered sliding my fingers down the board as I jammed(delicately~) across the G and D string and it sounded really cool. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
That sounds like a double stop (playing two adjacent strings at once). It won’t hurt anything at all. Don’t be afraid of your instrument. You can’t hurt it by playing.
Not good. I acquired some bad habits that took months to break. The sooner you get a good teacher, the better.
The two are not mutually exclusive. It’s more a matter of what style of music you prefer and how best to approach it.
Anyone who plays violin might occasionally take a side excursion into something more in the fiddle style, and vice versa. Same instrument.
As for the two strings together? Yes, it’s what you must do in a double stop which for me has been one of the more difficult skills to obtain–not playing the strings together per se, but getting the fingering right in certain chords. Getting it right quickly, that is!
I played viola, actually, as a kid, and my sister played violin. I picked it up again years later (i.e., recently,) and found I sort of missed the whole experience. Then I rescued my sister’s old violin from her basement, got it patched up, and that’s been my instrument ever since. I scarcely do it justice.
I’m a raw beginner so there is no experience speaking here…
I play mandolin, which led to an interest in bluegrass music, which I find works comfortably alongside the interest in ITM and folk. Fiddle is an essential part of ITM and bluegrass, so it seemed like the obvious thing to try next.
The other reason, which is crazy, is that our band would love a fiddle player, but we could never find one. Assuming I ever do get the hang of this thing it’s gonna be like years before I’m of any use to the band in that capacity so, as I said, that’s the crazy reason.