A very characteristic aspect of traditional fiddle playing is the use of double-stops, or playing two strings at once. Here, I’ll explain the 4 types of double stops, and show you how to incorporate them into a tune. The four kinds of double-stop are:
- Double-stops where two open string notes are played together. (Notice in the written music that notes to be played together are vertically aligned).
- Double-stops where one open string note and one fingered note are played together.
- Double-stops when two fingered notes are held down by one finger.
- Double-stops when two fingered notes are held down by two fingers.
Double stops are really effective in folk music playing. Generally, in many North American styles, they are used a great deal, but in Irish styles, a bit more sparingly.
Look at this passage involving a lot of string crossing:
Now try it with double stops:
If played exactly as written, it’ll sound quite heavy. To give the music that lighter touch, let’s analyse it a bit more closely.
To play lightly with those double stops, notice that the F sharp notes will be played very regularly…
but the notes on the A string should be very short, or staccato, like this:
Put together, a more effective way of writing the music might look like this, the regular F sharp notes playing all through the bar, like a drone. And, the A string notes just being dropped onto with the bow for a very short time:
This example applies to the “drone note” being lower than the higher staccato notes. It works the other way round, too.
Here’s another typical section that could come from a reel or hornpipe:
Now with the double stops added:
And now broken down – the A note will be played continuously…
while the notes on the D string should be played staccato, to make the music less heavy:
And put together, this is what it looks like
