What is the musical term for a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of an instrument?
"Pizzicato Pizzicato (; , translated as ""pinched"", and sometimes roughly as ""plucked"") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument: When a string is struck or plucked, as with pizzicato, sound waves are generated that do not belong to a harmonic series as when a string is bowed. This complex timbre is called inharmonicity. The inharmonicity of a string depends on its physical characteristics, such as tension, composition, diameter and length. The inharmonicity disappears when strings are bowed because the bow's stick-slip action is"
"Plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. 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. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum. 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. The"
"at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Flatpicking Flatpicking (or simply picking) is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpicks. While the use of a plectrum is common in many musical traditions, the exact term ""flatpicking"" is most commonly associated with Appalachian music of the American southeastern highlands, especially bluegrass music, where string bands often feature musicians playing a variety of styles, both"
"Fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectrum, commonly called a ""pick""). The term ""fingerstyle"" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a ""style"" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues"
"String instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. With bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates"
"Pull-off A pull-off is a stringed instrument plucking technique performed by ""pulling"" the finger off a string off the fingerboard of either a fretted or unfretted instrument. A pull-off is performed on a string which is already vibrating; when the fretting finger is pulled off (exposing the string either as open or as stopped by another fretting finger lower on the same string) the note playing on the string changes to the new, longer vibrating length of the string. Pull-offs are performed on both fretted instruments (e.g., electric guitar) and unfretted instruments (e.g., violin). They are used to sound grace"
"term ""hammer-on"". Pull-off A pull-off is a stringed instrument plucking technique performed by ""pulling"" the finger off a string off the fingerboard of either a fretted or unfretted instrument. A pull-off is performed on a string which is already vibrating; when the fretting finger is pulled off (exposing the string either as open or as stopped by another fretting finger lower on the same string) the note playing on the string changes to the new, longer vibrating length of the string. Pull-offs are performed on both fretted instruments (e.g., electric guitar) and unfretted instruments (e.g., violin). They are used to"
"Flatpicking Flatpicking (or simply picking) is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with individual fingers, with or without wearing fingerpicks. While the use of a plectrum is common in many musical traditions, the exact term ""flatpicking"" is most commonly associated with Appalachian music of the American southeastern highlands, especially bluegrass music, where string bands often feature musicians playing a variety of styles, both fingerpicking and flatpicking. Musicians who use a flat"
"Downpicking Downpicking, sometimes referred to as down-stroke picking, is a technique used by musicians on plucked string instruments in which the player moves the plectrum, or pick in a downward motion, relative to the position of the instrument, against one or more of the strings to make them vibrate. If down-strokes are played without the addition of upstrokes (as in alternate picking), the tip of the pick never comes in contact with the strings as the hand movies back up to repeat the down-stroke. Guitarists in hard rock genres will often use downpicking to create a ""heavier"" sound than what"
"bend the strings with the left hand to create a wide range of microtonal and tonal ornaments. In traditional music, performers use 2 or 3 fingers (thumb and index, or thumb, index and middle fingers) to pluck the strings. In a number of new compositions, as many as four or five fingers may be used to pluck the strings. In these new works, the left hand may also be used to enable the performer to play two simultaneous parts. Đàn tranh The đàn tranh (, ) or đàn thập lục is a plucked zither of Vietnam, similar to the Chinese"
"Guitar picking Guitar picking is a group of hand and finger techniques a guitarist uses to set guitar strings in motion to produce audible notes. These techniques involve plucking, strumming, brushing, etc. Picking can be done with: Using a single thumb pick with the bare fingers is similar to hybrid picking. Another mixed technique is to play different passages with a plectrum or fingerstyle, ""palming"" the plectrum when not in use. The pros of each guitar picking style are indirectly correlated to the cons of the other. Fingerstyle players use up to four (rarely five) surfaces to strike string independently."
"any given strum. Strums are often contrasted with plucking, as a means of vibrating an instrument's strings. In plucking, a specific string or designated set of strings are individually targeted to vibrate, whereas in strumming, a less precise targeting is usually used. Compared to other plucking techniques, any group of strings brushed in a single sweep by a plectrum could be considered a strum due to the plectrum's less precise string group targeting (however, a plectrum might simultaneously pluck a small group of strings without being considered a strum). In contrast, a musician could utilize a technique with more precise"
"and on some instruments, such as the Chapman Stick. Guitar picking Guitar picking is a group of hand and finger techniques a guitarist uses to set guitar strings in motion to produce audible notes. These techniques involve plucking, strumming, brushing, etc. Picking can be done with: Using a single thumb pick with the bare fingers is similar to hybrid picking. Another mixed technique is to play different passages with a plectrum or fingerstyle, ""palming"" the plectrum when not in use. The pros of each guitar picking style are indirectly correlated to the cons of the other. Fingerstyle players use up"
"usually played with a bow, they are not included in this category. Struck string instruments (such as the piano) can be similarly plucked as an extended technique. Plucked string instruments are not a category in the Sachs-Hornbostel classification, as some of them are simple chordophones and others are composite (depending on whether the resonator is the removable part of the instrument). This is possible due to the Lute family Plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such"
"a mechanical wheel that rubs the strings. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the Classical music orchestra (violin, viola, cello and double bass) and a number of other instruments (e.g., viols and gambas used in early music from the Baroque music era and fiddles used in many types of folk music). All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called ""pizzicato"". A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar, including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even ""tapping"" on the fingerboard and"
"Clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called frailing, is a varied banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction. Traditional picking styles (classic banjo), including those for folk, bluegrass, and classical guitar, consist of an up-picking motion by the fingers and a down-picking motion by the thumb; this is also the technique used in the Scruggs style for the banjo. Clawhammer picking, by contrast, is primarily a down-picking style. The hand assumes a claw-like shape and the strumming finger is kept fairly stiff, striking the strings by"
"Strum In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound. On most stringed instruments, strums are typically executed by a musician's designated strum hand (typically the musician's dominant hand, which is often responsible for generating the majority of sound on a stringed instrument), while the remaining hand (referred to as the fret hand on most instruments with a fingerboard) often supports the strum hand by altering the tones and pitches of"
"downward rather than upward stroke when striking the strings with a fingernail. Frailing techniques use the thumb to catch the fifth string for a drone after most strums or after each stroke (""double thumbing""), or to pick out additional melody notes in what is known as drop-thumb. Pete Seeger popularized a folk style by combining clawhammer with up picking, usually without the use of fingerpicks. Another common style of old-time banjo playing is fingerpicking banjo or classic banjo. This style is based upon parlor-style guitar. Bluegrass music, which uses the five-string resonator banjo almost exclusively, is played in several common"
"Harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard which activates a row of levers that in turn trigger a mechanism that plucks one or more strings with a small plectrum. The term denotes the whole family of similar plucked-keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet. The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century, with the rise of the piano, it gradually disappeared from the musical scene. In the 20th century, it made a resurgence, being used in historically informed performances of older music, in new compositions,"
"string group targeting (such as a fingerstyle or fingerpick technique) to pluck all the strings on a stringed instrument at once and this would still be considered a pluck, not a strum. A strumming pattern or strum is a preset pattern used by a rhythm guitar. For example, a pattern in common time or consisting of alternating down and up eighth note strokes may be written: The pattern most typical of rock and related styles is: The final upstroke is sometime omitted. This pattern is often called ""Old Faithful"", or when played on ukulele, the ""Island Strum"". Examples of other"
"Action (music) The action of a string instrument that is plucked, strummed, or bowed by hand is the distance between the fingerboard and the string. In keyboard instruments, the action is the mechanism that translates the motion of the keys into the creation of sound (by plucking or striking the strings). In a harpsichord, the main part of the action is a jack—a vertical strip of wood seated on the far end of the key. At the top of the jack is mounted a hinged tongue bearing a plectrum. When the key is pressed and the jack rises, the plectrum"
"Sweep picking Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast and fluid in sound. Both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect. The technique was first used and developed by jazz guitarists Les Paul, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel in the 1950s, as well as rock guitarists Jan Akkerman, Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Hackett in the 1970s. In the 1980s, sweep picking"
"forms of down-picking, a technique in which the fingernail of a single finger – either the index or middle finger – is used to strike the individual melody strings in a downward motion, like a plectrum. This action is immediately followed by the player's thumb catching on the top short ""thumb string"" to create a rhythmic back-beat accompaniment. It was the stroke style of banjo that European American performers, who came to be known as blackface minstrels (see minstrel show), initially learned from African American musicians in the early 19th century. (The blackface minstrels popularized the banjo in the 1830s"
"String harmonic A string harmonic is a string instrument technique which uses the nodes of natural harmonics of a musical string to produce high pitched tones of varying timbre and loudness. String harmonics are ""high pitched tones, like a whistle's, are produced when the musician lightly touches certain points on a string."" ""A flute-like sound produced on a string instrument by lightly touching the string with the finger instead of pressing it down,"" against the fingerboard (without stopping). When a string is plucked normally, the ear tends to hear the fundamental frequency most prominently, but the overall sound is also"
"Pick tapping Pick tapping (or pick trilling) is a legato playing technique for the guitar, in which the edge of the pick is used to sharply trill notes on the instrument's fretboard at fast speeds. Whilst trilling can be performed with the fingers of either the fretting or picking hand, using the pick enables faster speeds by means of 'vibrating' (or effectively seizing up) the wrist. The technique should not be confused with regular tapping, which always makes use of both hands and involves playing at least three or more notes. A well-known example is ""Satch Boogie"" by Joe Satriani,"
"to hold the instrument another way.) Right-handed players use the fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings, with the thumb plucking from the top of a string downwards (downstroke) and the other fingers plucking from the bottom of string upwards (upstroke). The little finger in classical technique as it evolved in the 20th century is used only to ride along with the ring finger without striking the strings and to thus physiologically facilitate the ring finger's motion. In contrast, Flamenco technique, and classical compositions evoking Flamenco, employ the little finger semi-independently in the Flamenco four-finger rasgueado, that rapid"
"hand techniques of playing a plucked string instrument. ""Pi"" (琵), which means ""tan"" (彈), is the downward movement of plucking the string. ""Pa"" (琶), which means ""tiao"" (挑), is the upward movement of plucking the string. The present name of the ""Qin pipa"", which is """"ruan"""", was not given until the Tang Dynasty (8th century). During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (武則天) (about 684-704 AD), a copper instrument that looked like the ""Qin pipa"" was discovered in an ancient tomb in Sichuan (四川). It had 13 frets and a round sound box. It was believed that it was the"
"instrumental technique is ""Stringprovisation"" by Ari Poutiainen. The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, cello, and double bass. A violinist produces sound by either drawing a bow (normally held in the right hand) across one or more strings (which may be ""stopped"" by the fingers of the other hand to produce a full range of pitches), ""plucking"" the strings (with either hand), or a variety of other techniques. In jazz-rock fusion styles, jazz"
"side, the same technique results in the same sound. Clawhammer Clawhammer, sometimes called frailing, is a varied banjo playing style and a common component of American old-time music. The principal difference between clawhammer style and other styles is the picking direction. Traditional picking styles (classic banjo), including those for folk, bluegrass, and classical guitar, consist of an up-picking motion by the fingers and a down-picking motion by the thumb; this is also the technique used in the Scruggs style for the banjo. Clawhammer picking, by contrast, is primarily a down-picking style. The hand assumes a claw-like shape and the strumming"
"as to sound them both at once. In pizzicato playing, the string is plucked directly with the fingers or thumb. Pizzicato is often abbreviated as ""Pizz."". Position of the hand is slightly over the finger board and away from the bridge. A player using the col legno technique strikes or rubs the strings with the wood of the bow rather than the hair. In spiccato playing, the strings are not ""drawn"" by the bow hair but struck by it, while still retaining some horizontal motion, to generate a more percussive, crisp sound. In staccato, the player moves the bow a"
"plectra that are attached to up to four fingers on each hand. Ancient picks were made of mundane materials such as bamboo, bone, and animal teeth or by finer materials such as ivory, tortoiseshell, and jade. Traditional playing styles use the right hand to pluck notes and the left hand to add ornamentation such as pitch slides and vibrato by pressing the strings to the left of the movable bridges. Modern styles use both hands to play on the right side of the strings. There are many techniques used to strike notes. One iconic sound is a tremolo produced by"
"commonly used technique for bass. However, notable examples are Stanley Clarke's bass playing on the introduction to ""School Days"", on the album of the same name, and Lemmy who was noted for his use of chords, often playing the bass like a rhythm guitar. The late Bernard Edwards, bass player with the Disco group Chic, was known to use a technique called ""chucking"" to pluck the bass strings with the forefinger of his right hand, in a manner similar to how strings are plucked with a plectrum. Chucking uses the soft part of the forefinger and the nail of the"
"Tapping Tapping is a guitar playing technique where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other. It incorporates the techniques of hammer-on and pull-off, but these are usually only performed by the fretting hand, and in conjunction with conventionally picked notes, whereas tap passages involve both hands and consist of only tapped, hammered and pulled notes. Some players (such as Stanley Jordan) rely extensively or exclusively on tapping. Tapping is also called"