Editing Pizzicato (section)

==Bowed string instrument technique==

===Practical implications===
If a [[Violin family|string player]] has to play pizzicato for a long period of time, the performer may put down the bow. [[Violin]]ists and [[Viola|violists]] may also hold the instrument in the "[[banjo]] position" (resting horizontally on the lap), and pluck the strings with the thumb of the right hand. This technique is rarely used, and usually only in movements which are pizzicato throughout. A technique similar to this, where the strings are actually strummed like a [[guitar]], is called for in the 4th movement of [[Rimsky-Korsakov]]'s ''[[Capriccio Espagnol]]'' (Scena e canto gitano), where the violins, violas, and cellos are instructed to play pizzicato "quasi guitara", the music here consists of three and four-note chords, which are fingered and strummed much like the instrument being imitated.

===Other pizzicato techniques===
{{Further info|Bowed string instrument extended technique#Plucking techniques}}
Another colorful pizzicato technique used in the Rimsky-Korsakov piece mentioned above is two-handed pizzicato, indicated by the markings ''m.s.'' and ''m.d.'' (for ''mano sinistra'', 'left hand', and ''mano destra'', 'right hand'); here, the open E string is plucked alternately in rapid succession by the left and right hands.

{{Image frame|content=<score>{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
    \relative c'' {
        c4-+^\markup "pizz."
    } }
</score>|width=125|caption=The music notation for left hand pizzicato}}

One can also use the left hand fingers for pizzicato, either when they are not in use or as they are leaving their previous position. This allows pizzicati in places where there would not normally be time to bring the right hand from or to the bowing position. Use of left-hand pizzicato is relatively uncommon and is most often found in the violin solo repertoire; two famous examples of left-hand pizzicato are [[Paganini]]'s [[24th Caprice]] and [[Sarasate]]'s [[Zigeunerweisen]]. Left hand pizzicato can also be used while bowed notes are being held, an effect appearing primarily in repertoire of the late 19th century and beyond. Examples of this technique can be found in the works of [[Henryk Wieniawski|Wieniawski]], [[Alban Berg|Berg]] (''[[Violin Concerto (Berg)|Violin Concerto]]''), [[Stravinsky]] (''[[Three Pieces for String Quartet]]'') and many others. 

[[Maurice Delage]] calls for slurred pizzicati in the cello part of his ''Quatre poèmes hindous'' for soprano and chamber orchestra. This is achieved by playing one note, and then stopping a new note on the same string without plucking the string again. This technique (known as "[[Classical guitar technique#Right hand technique|hammering-on]]" on guitar) is rarely used on bowed instruments.

{{Image frame|content=<score>{
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
    \relative c'' {
        c4\snappizzicato
    } }
</score>|width=125|caption=Musical notation for Bartók pizzicato}}

A further variation is a particularly strong pizzicato where the string is plucked vertically by snapping and rebounds off the fingerboard of the instrument. This is known as ''snap pizzicato'' or ''Bartók pizzicato'', after [[Béla Bartók|one of the first composers]] to use it extensively (e.g. in the 4th movement of his [[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|Fourth String Quartet]], 1928). [[Gustav Mahler]] famously employs this kind of pizzicato in the third movement of his [[Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)|Seventh Symphony]], in which he provides the cellos and double basses with the footnote "pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood" in bar 401.

On the double bass, this style of snap pizzicato, or "slapping", was used in jazz since the 1920s and later used in rockabilly. Because an unamplified double bass is generally the quietest instrument in a jazz band, many players of the 1920s and 1930s used the slap style, slapping and pulling the strings so that they make a rhythmic "slap" sound against the fingerboard. The slap style cuts through the sound of a band better than simply plucking the strings, and allowed the bass to be more easily heard on early sound recordings, as the recording equipment of that time did not favor low frequencies.

Bartók also made use of pizzicato [[glissandi]], executed by plucking a note and then sliding the stopping finger up or down the string. This technique can be heard in his ''[[Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta]]''.

[[Roman Kim]] made pizzicatos using his mouth.