On string instruments, a stopped note is a note whose pitch has been altered from the pitch of the open string by the player's left hand pressing (stopping) the string against the fingerboard.
Bowed strings
On bowed string instruments, a stopped note is a played note that is fingered with the left hand, i.e. not an open string.Andrea Pejrolo, Rich DeRosa (2007). Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer, p.99-100. . This assists with tone production, the addition of vibrato, and sometimes additional volume but creates difficulty in that bowed string instruments do not have frets, requiring ear training and accurate finger placement. The lack of frets, as on the guitar fretboard, does allow greater variability in intonation though a bowed string instrumentalist, such as a violinist, "when unaccompanied, does not play consistently in either the tempered or the natural scale, but tends on the whole to conform with the Pythagorean scale"Seashore, Carl (1938). Psychology of Music, 224. quote in Kolinski, Mieczyslaw (Summer - Autumn, 1959). "A New Equidistant 12-Tone Temperament", p.210, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 12, No. 2/3, pp. 210-214.
The open notes of the highest three strings may be played as stopped notes on the lowest three strings, offering advantages and disadvantages: OpenStoppedEasy to playMore technically demandingNo vibrato availableVibrato and multi-expression availableEssentially fixed pitchUnlimited ability to adjust intonationNotes are full and brightNotes are slightly less resonantTone color may be brash, not blending wellTone color is controllable, and may be more uniformPizzicato notes sustain longerNotes are shorter when pluckedEasier to play two notesDouble-stops are harder, but blend better
Fingered tremolos, the rapid alternation of two notes, are best between two stopped notes on one string, in which case it is limited to the interval of an augmented fourth, or between stopped notes on two adjacent strings:Cecil Forsyth (1982). Orchestration, p.356. .
Plucked strings
On plucked string instruments with frets, such as the guitar, the pitch of a stopped note is determined by the left hand pressing (stopping) the string at one of the frets.
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