The slide, and rolled chords · From Zero to Mozart

Two more things you'll meet on the page. A slide — small notes running up into the main note from below. And an arpeggiated chord — a wavy line that says "roll this, don't strike it all at once."

The slide

Also called Schleifer (German) or coulé (French): two small notes, usually a third below, running up into the main note — L2, L1, then P. It fills a leap in from underneath, with a little scoop.

72 bpm

A slide up into D: B and C quick and light, D the arrival with all the weight. On the page the B and C are small notes; the D is the real one.

Groups of small notes

Sometimes you'll see three, four or five little notes crowded before a beat. That's just an ornament written out — play them fast, leading into the main note, which lands on the beat. Don't count them as strict subdivisions; they're a run-up.

The rolled chord

A wavy vertical line to the left of a stacked chord: play the notes fast, one after another, bottom to top.

72 bpm

A rolled G-major chord written out: bottom string to top, very fast — open G, open D, then B on the A string — and you'd sustain the top note. On the page it's a stack of noteheads with a wavy line beside it (Movement G covers the stack itself).

An arrowhead at the bottom of the wavy line = roll it top to bottom instead.
A square bracket in place of the wavy line = play the notes exactly together, do not roll.

Try it

Try

Play a slide into the D: quick B, quick C, then land on D and let it ring. Hear the scoop. Then roll a G-major chord — bow across open G, open D and the B, fast, from the bottom — and hold the top. It should sound like one thick event, not a slow arpeggio.

The usual mistake

Playing a slide as three even notes — the first two are quick, the target is the arrival. Rolling a chord that's bracketed (the bracket means don't). And rolling too slowly, so a chord meant as one thickened attack comes out as a separate little arpeggio.