I play the violin sometimes. Do you know how to play?
I don't.  I know a couple people who play, and I played bass for about a year when I was younger, but I'm not much of a musician.
Ah, well most people aren't. And, everyone has different tastes in both music and the instruments that are used. Violins are the smallest and high-pitched in their family
I usually assume violins are used for classical music.  Do they show up in other types of music much?
strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno). 
Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments and in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music and in jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used
Gibson, "I'm not a trained musician. I never took music in school. I dropped out of school in 9th grade. I don't know how to read and write notes. I don't play with any proper technique; I just grab instruments and play them. Everything I learned to play, I figured out myself. So I'm not the best musician, but if you give me time, without people coming around, pressuring me ('We have to finish this record by the GMA')