# Name of violin technique and how it's done



## kclass (Jul 29, 2016)

Hello everyone 

I'm just a lover of classical music, so please excuse my ignorance. 
I was listening to Paganini's second violin concerto, and at the end, the solo violinist sounds like he's plucking the violin strings, but I can't see that clearly. He also appears to be using the bow. I searched on Google and found the term pizzicato, but it doesn't appear that that's what the soloist is doing because the bow appears to be being used. I can't figure out how it's being done for the life of me. Also, Googling "pizzicato" with "Paganini concerto 2" doesn't come up with many useful results which also makes me suspect that it's not pizzicato.

Can anyone help shed light on this please?
:tiphat:


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Welcome to the forum Kclass.

The technique used is left hand pizzicato. In the passage you mention the note before the pizzicato note(s) is sounded by the bow, then the finger (the third) that was holding that note snaps the string sideways while exiting the fingerboard, thus plucking the string and causing a lower note held by the first (or second) finger to sound as a pizzicato note. When this is done on two or three strings consecutively the result is a series of notes rapidly alternating bowed and plucked sounds.


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## kclass (Jul 29, 2016)

It seems incredibly complicated and difficult. 
Am I right in saying that?


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

kclass said:


> It seems incredibly complicated and difficult.
> Am I right in saying that?


I'm not a violinist, but my understanding is that it presents no special difficulties - except to those trying to describe how it works


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

EdwardBast said:


> I'm not a violinist, but my understanding is that it presents no special difficulties - except to those trying to describe how it works


When the notes are going by really fast, it is kind of hard to coordinate which notes get plucked and which get bowed at first.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

It's not easy to get a clean sound with left hand pizz, that's for sure.
Graeme


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