Yes violin is harder to play in the beginning, but in the end, the guitar in my opinion is a more difficult instrument to play well. This is because with the violin there are less strings, and a few ways to play the instrument. However the guitar has far more ways to play the instrument to produce different sounds and increase difficulty. You can bend the strings, slide, use a "slide" for a steel guitar effect, whammy bar, pull offs/pull ons, harmonics, pitch harmonics, pick sweeping, tapping, finger styles, slap, chicken picking. Each technique acquired is like learning a different instrument, now combine them all together, that takes a lot of practice.