Why is it called a 'double stop'?

[boneyguy]

Originally Posted by Mjark

My only point is this is a term that applies to most stringed instruments, those with necks at least. A string is stopped whether there are frets or not just by finger pressure on the fingerboard. No big deal...

And so you were pointing out that the nut stops the strings as well as the frets. I get it now. It seems I wasn't following the story. Sorry.

[klasaine]

Initially I thought it had to be two notes on adjacent strings with the same finger and consequently the same fret. But obviously now (or maybe always?) it can be any two notes on adjacent strings - any string inst. Frankly I don't think it's really a 'technical' term - ? Do they list it violin exercise books? I'm asking, I don't know.

*I would also agree that open strings probably don't count.

[Mjark]

Originally Posted by jbmando

Well,this is a guitar forum. I figured we'd all know we were talking about guitars, which have frets. My point is that open strings don't count as being stopped.

I don't see the difference myself. You could play the same figure with one open string and one "stopped" as you can with both "stopped" What benefit arises from calling them two different things?

Just for the sake of discussion, this is one big digression at this point I think.

[klasaine]

I do think it has to do with physically 'stopping' the string - otherwise there probably wouldn't even be a term for it - ?

[boneyguy]

Gentlemen, if I may summarize at this point: It seems to me we have basically divided into two camps.

1. The word 'stop' refers to the physical action of the finger pressing down on or 'stopping' the string.

2. The word 'stop' refers only to the string being stopped by either the nut or a fret and the fingers involvement is not mandatory.

If you will allow me several days to ponder this conundrum I assure you I will have my decision by the middle of next week. I suggest that we keep busy in the meantime with diligent practice with a relaxed but attentive demeanor.

Well then, until next week.

[Mjark]

Eagerly awaited your honor.

[Mjark]

There are double stop exercises for violin, 3rds, chromatic 3rds, 6ths, chromatic 6ths, octaves…it seems unlikely to me they wouldn’t use open strings.

[jbmando]

How can a fret stop a string without a finger? And don't say with a capo.

[klasaine]

Two pro 'string' players just told that, at least for violins, cellos, violas and double bass - a double stop can include an open string. Who'd a thunk it?

[waparker4]

Originally Posted by jbmando

How can a fret stop a string without a finger? And don't say with a capo.

This sounds like a Zen koan. Ooh, I've got it! A fret can stop a string with a thumb.

To me the definition of stop that makes the most sense in this respect is "to interrupt, arrest, or check" as in the finger stops the vibrations in the string from reaching the nut.

The word "stop" comes from the Latin "stuppa" which is related to the idea of "stopping up" something, i.e. a leak in a pipe... so your finger is stopping up the string. sort of..

You can also have a stopped harmonic where the finger stops the string at a note and the harmonic is played an octave (or wherever ) up.

Frets have little to do with the term since violins don't have frets.


Anybody picking up what I'm putting down? This all comes from within

klasaine, would a single open note count as a stop? Seems to me not.

[boneyguy]

Well call it divine intervention or just raw brain power but I think I've solved the conundrum days ahead of schedule. Below is my final decision on the matter. Your welcome.

Originally Posted by klasaine

Two pro 'string' players just told that, at least for violins, cellos, violas and double bass - a double stop can include an open string. Who'd a thunk it?

[Mjark]

Originally Posted by klasaine

Two pro 'string' players just told that, at least for violins, cellos, violas and double bass - a double stop can include an open string. Who'd a thunk it?

Only me.

[klasaine]

See, the Majority can be wrong.
Though it's probably just the majority of 'guitar' players.
I asked 3 string players and they all said exactly the same thing. They also all said, "good question". Due to the open string thing.

[jbmando]

Nah, they're wrong. It ain't stopped if it's open.

[gtroates]

Hey guys, as a former pro violinist who went to music college myself, I own a music dictionary which goes into much greater detail about it than Wikipedia.
The great thing about good published non-web based academic dictionaries is that they back up their entries with credited sources. Double stops are covered in as much detail as needed by my pocket "Clark's Music Dictionary" which states:

[Double stop. The playing of two or more tones (in which case the terms triple or quadruple stop may be used) at the same time on the violin and similar instruments.]

It was described and illustrated in Sylvestro di Ganassi's "Rigola rubertina" published in Venice in 1542.

Contrary to my memory of violin lessons, the Harvard Dictionary of Music clarifies it to include non adjacent strings even if that makes the notes sounded by the bow in rapid succession rather than simultaneous, so I'll defer to the academic source on this one.

I hope that clarifies its origin as a term to the OP, not much more to say about it.

[BoogerRooger]

Isn't it something to do with darts?

[Mjark]

You must have to really jam the bow down hard to hit 3 or 4 strings on a violin or maybe that refers to playing pizzicato.

[brewwagon]

Originally Posted by BoogerRooger

Isn't it something to do with darts?

wayne perkins solo in bob marley's concrete jungle

It's 1972 and the Catch A Fire album was still in production.

In the Island Basing Street basement studio known as the fallout Shelter, the basic tracks were incredible (say's Chris Blackwell) but his additional production gave the album an international pop passport, via overdubs of sounds familiar to rock ears, guitar licks of Alabama's Wayne Perkins being the most effective.

They called Wayne Perkins the "White Wailer" and today the man who gave "Concrete Jungle" that wicked, wicked solo, ruefully reveals that he never really got credit for his contribution. He is also disappointed that repeated requests for a gold record have been ignored.

Perkins had been working on his own project (a second album) for Island when Chris Blackwell stopped me on the spiral staircase going up to the top studio (the main room). He said there was a Wailer project he wanted me to play on. I said, "Who are the Wailers". Chris "said they play reggae" and I said, "That don't help me". After a brief rundown on reggae, Blackwell told Perkins, "Just get your Fender, Les Paul and your amp, and come on down.

There I was a 20 year old boy from Alabama confronted by these wild looking dreadlocked herb smoking Rastafarians from Jamaica. I had no idea what I was getting into. It was the first time I had ever heard reggae. OK so I heard Desmond Decker but that was like R&B to me.

After listening a while and a bit of "fiddling" around Perkins found his groove, likening reggae to a mix of "the twist and bluegrass". On the third take with the lights down low, he nailed the solo and "all of a sudden the place went wild" but the best was yet to come. Bob Marley came in with a huge spliff and stuck it in Perkins mouth. The rest of the night session went real cool, I & I-man !!!

[gtroates]

Mjark,
Triple stops and quadruple stops are not simultaneously played notes, just as five fingers of a guitarist's plucking hand can't play all six strings at once. The bow plays the notes in rapid succession as the player moves the bow across each string, the illusion at high speed is to sound a multiple stop like a plectrum strums a guitar across all six strings. Many non-violinists may think that the sound stops when the bow is off the string, but violin family instruments are as prone to sympathetic vibrations as any stringed instrument, and the bow vibrates the string but when taken off the string the string will still vibrate until it is muted or dies out. The virtuoso violin works of Paganini and J.S.Bach are full of great multiple stop examples. Pushing down hard on a bow would make a harsh sound as the horse hair and strings would start rubbing up against the bow wood, it's not a pleasant sound.

[Mjark]

I see, that makes sense. Funny, we guitarists call those chords.