Pizzicato

Pizzicato — "plucked" — is the one time in this stage the bow isn't the point. You met the word pizz. in Stage 3 and learned to read it; here's how to actually do it, because a clean pluck is its own small skill.

The basic pluck

Anchor the thumb on the corner of the fingerboard (the side nearest you), so your hand has a base.
Pluck with the side or tip of the index finger — pull the string across, toward the next string, not straight up. Straight up gives a thin snap; across gives a round, ringing note.
Pluck a little over the end of the fingerboard, not up near the bridge — you get more tone there.

80 bpm

How to play it

Bow hand: thumb on the corner of the fingerboard, index finger plucking across. Aim for a full, singing pluck — if it buzzes or sounds thin, you're pulling up instead of across, or plucking too near the bridge.

A broken G chord, plucked. Anchor the thumb, pluck each note across with the index finger, let each one ring. The left hand still fingers the notes exactly as it would for bowing.

The single stray pizzicato

If a bowed passage has just one pizz note in the middle of it, you don't have time to re-anchor the hand. Keep the bow in your hand and pluck with the thumb instead, or with the index finger while the bow stays held. Composers who know the instrument leave you a beat to make the switch; ones who don't, you fake.

`pizz.` and `arco` — and the time it costs

pizz. means start plucking; arco means go back to the bow. Switching between them takes a real half-second — getting the bow settled back on the string, or getting the hand into plucking position. Look ahead for the next arco so you're not caught out.

Left-hand pizzicato

Written with a + above the note: you pluck with a left-hand finger (usually while the bow plays something else, or between bowed notes). It's a virtuoso trick — Paganini built whole variations on it. Recognise the + ; don't practise it now.

Try it

Try

Pluck a one-octave G major scale, up and down, thumb anchored, index finger pulling across, each note ringing fully. Then play a tune you know entirely pizzicato — Ode to Joy works. Then bow the same tune. Feel how different the two right-hand jobs are.

The usual mistake

Plucking straight up and near the bridge — a thin, buzzy, quiet note with no ring. Pull the string sideways, over the fingerboard, and let it settle back onto its neighbour. The other mistake: a stiff, clawed hand — the pluck is a relaxed flick of one finger, thumb resting, everything else loose.