Why learn them
String techniques (articulations) change the timbre more than any plugin: the same chord can sound warm, nervous, spectral, or percussive. In virtual libraries each technique is a different sample, selected with keyswitches: knowing their Italian names is essential.
Bow techniques
- Legato: several notes in a single bow stroke, without interruption. Indicated with a slur.
- Détaché: one note per bow stroke, detached but not short; the “default” in fast passages.
- Staccato: short, separated notes, with the bow on the string.
- Spiccato: the bow bounces off the string; light and bright, medium-fast tempo.
- Sautillé: a very fast natural bounce in the middle of the bow.
- Martelé: a strong, articulated attack, the bow “bites” the string.
- Marcato / accent: an accented, sustained note.
- Portato (louré): slightly separated notes within the same bow stroke.
- Jeté / ricochet: the bow is thrown and bounces several times on its own.
- Col legno battuto: the string is struck with the wooden stick of the bow; a percussive, dry sound (Holst, Mars from The Planets, 1914–1916).
- Col legno tratto: rubbing with the wood; a thin, noisy sound.
Contact point
- Sul ponticello: bow very close to the bridge; emphasizes the high harmonics, a glassy, metallic sound. Combined with tremolo it is the classic sound of suspense.
- Sul tasto (flautando): bow over the fingerboard; a soft, dull sound, similar to a flute.
- Ordinario (ord.): return to the normal position.
Tremolo and trill
- Unmeasured (bowed) tremolo: very rapid bow strokes on the same note (three slashes on the stem); creates agitation, shimmer, or tension.
- Measured tremolo: repetitions in a precise value (sixteenth notes, thirty-second notes).
- Fingered tremolo: rapid alternation between two notes within the same bow stroke.
- Trill: rapid alternation with the upper note (a semitone or a whole tone away).
Pizzicato and variants
- Pizzicato (pizz.): string plucked with the finger; a short, round sound. Return with “arco.”
- Bartók pizzicato (snap pizz): the string is pulled and let slap against the fingerboard; dry and violent.
- Left-hand pizzicato: marked with “+”, for virtuosic passages.
- Pizzicatos in the high register of the violin have little duration; on the double bass they are very resonant (jazz).
Harmonics
- Natural: the open string is lightly touched at a nodal point. At the midpoint of the string you get the octave; at a third, the octave plus a fifth.
- Artificial: one finger presses the note, another lightly touches the string a fourth above; it sounds two octaves above the stopped note. Touching at the fifth gives the octave plus the fifth above the stopped note.
- A pure, flute-like, ethereal sound; used for distant beds and magical moments.
Other techniques
- Con sordino: a small mute clipped to the bridge, a veiled, intimate sound. “Senza sordino” to remove it.
- Glissando / portamento: sliding between two notes; portamento is expressive and Romantic, a long glissando is an effect.
- Bow pressure (overpressure): the bow pressed until it produces noise; contemporary music and horror.
- Down-bow (⊓, frog) and up-bow (V, tip): down is stronger and more accented, up is lighter.
- Divisi, double stops, rolled chords (three or four strings): see the lesson on ranges.
Effects by genre and context
- Suspense and horror: tremolo sul ponticello, clusters, glissandi, overpressure.
- Pop ballad: legato with vibrato, mutes in the verses.
- Epic / trailer: spiccato or staccato in sixteenth-note ostinatos, marcato in the basses.
- Disco and Philly soul: high legato with rising glissandi (string swoops), rhythmic staccatos.
In virtual libraries
Typical keyswitches: Long (sustain), Legato, Short (spiccato/staccato), Pizzicato, Tremolo, Trill, Col legno, Harmonics. CC1 (mod wheel) controls the dynamics of long sounds, velocity that of short sounds. For realism: alternate spiccato and staccato and don't always use the same velocity.
Practical exercise
Write 8 bars in A minor (Am–F–C–E) for strings in 5 parts and realize them in four versions: legato with mute, eighth-note spiccato, tremolo sul ponticello, pizzicato. Listen to how the dramatic function of the same harmony changes.
Related topics
Strings: Ranges, Clefs, and Registers, String Arranging in Pop, Orchestration with Virtual Libraries in the DAW, Orchestral Doublings and Blends.