3 Ways to Get a Hand on Your Pizzicato Technique
Sometimes a bowed stringed instrument requires a hands-on approach
The Problem
Difficulty producing a warm, clean pizzicato sound.
Consider This First
The violin may never have the soft and full tones of the harp’s plucked strings, but it can produce beautiful pizzicatos if the finger performs its magic on them. Some players have difficulty mastering this technique, but it should be one of the easier aspects of playing, since there is a direct connection to the string. After all, there is no awkward object like a bow or a pick to manage and manipulate.
And while some bows are a lot better than others, your index finger is as good as anyone else’s.
The mantra for pizzicato is to use the fleshy part of the index finger, not the fingernail, and don’t pluck too close to the bridge. The fingerboard region is meant for pizzicato—you want to avoid getting the oil from your fingers on the bowing region of the strings, since this will interfere with the rosin and can cause slippage of the bow.
The bottom line: rosin and pizzicato do not mix well.
With the desired sound in your ear, and a natural sense of the finger and hand’s direction, any pizzicato can sound as beautiful as the finest plucked strings on a piano.
The Solution
To keep your plucks from becoming twangs, here are three tips on avoiding obstacles:
1. It’s at Your Fingertips
Engage the string with your index finger, rather than plucking too fast. Remember that you want the string to vibrate perfectly, not implode upon itself.
2. Keep the rhythm steady
Don’t compress the rhythm because of the anxiety of moving from arco to the fingerboard in time. The first pizzicato is the most vulnerable, so don’t get to the string too early or too late—timing is everything.
3. Treat each string individually
It takes a different type of care to engage the G string. And don’t overdo the E string—its thinness has drawbacks, but it can still sound pretty. One more thing: as the fingers of the left hand make the string shorter, take into account the new acoustical considerations. You don’t have to know physics, but you need common sense when adjusting the amount of force exerted while plucking a shorter string vs. an open string. Experiment on your own to get the right feel.
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