The harpsichord does not fit any of these categories but is also a plucked string instrument, as its strings are struck with a plectrum when the keys are depressed.īowed string instruments, such as the violin, can also be plucked in the technique known as pizzicato however, as they are usually played with a bow, they are not included in this category. In the harp family (including the lyre), the strings are perpendicular to the soundboard and do not run across it. The zither family (including the Qanún/kanun, autoharp, kantele, gusli, kannel, kankles, kokles, koto, guqin, gu zheng and many others) does not have a neck, and the strings are stretched across the soundboard. Most plucked string instruments belong to the lute family (such as guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, balalaika, sitar, pipa, etc.), which generally consist of a resonating body, and a neck the strings run along the neck and can be stopped at different pitches. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. ![]() Qanún/kanun, origin from ancient Mesopotamia Kantele Shown here are 4 Ukuleles, 2 mandolins, a banjo, a guitar, a violin, a Guraitar and a bass guitar. 830) shows an unspecified plucked string instrument. Johann Strauss wrote a Pizzicato Polka and in the 20th century Britten wrote a whole movement for pizzicato strings in his Simple Symphony.Subcategory of string instruments Guitar and lute This illustration in a French Psalter from the 9th century ( c. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no 4 has a whole scherzo movement for pizzicato strings. In the 19th century the Romantic composers often asked for pizzicato. Monteverdi used it in his opera Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. In orchestras composers used pizzicato in the 17th century. This is not the same as jazz bass players who slap the strings at the end of a note (“slap bass”). One special effect can be made by pulling the string hard and letting it go so that it snaps against the fingerboard. Double basses usually play pizzicato when playing with jazz groups. For example: in a waltz the cellos and violas might be accompanying the tune with an “um-cha-cha, um-cha-cha” while the double basses just pluck on the “um” (the first beat of the bar). Double basses often play pizzicato to give extra rhythmic and harmonic support. Pizzicato notes on the double bass sound much more resonant (big and boomy). The player can get different sounds by plucking in different parts of the string. Pizzicato notes sound short and detached (staccato). This is fine so long as the player has time to pick the bow up again when it goes back to arco. If there is a long pizzicato section then it is more comfortable to put the bow down instead of holding it in the right hand all the time. It can take a little more time to go back to bowing again because the player has to get the bow back into playing position. ![]() If the bowed note finishes near the tip the player needs a moment to get the hand ready to pluck. It is easy to play a bowed note and then immediately a plucked note if the bowed note finished near the heel of the bow (the end where the bow is held). Very often players have to change very quickly from bowing to plucking and back again. This is normally when they are deliberately imitating a guitar. Very occasionally violinists may be asked to pluck their instruments holding them down in their laps. ![]() Stopped strings are harder, and the brilliant violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini wrote some virtuoso pieces with extremely difficult left hand pizzicato. It is not difficult to pluck an open string with the left hand. It is also possible to play pizzicato with the left hand (the hand which is normally doing the fingering).
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