Sylviane writes:

Hello Zlata,

Have you made a movie/video clip about double stop and chords? If not, would you put that on your list for next movie? I am currently playing some songs that require so many double stops, oh my goodness, and it seems like I am having trouble producing the double stop sounds when it’s on A & E strings. Not sure why, perhaps because the E is positioned low that I don’t see where my bow is. So usually when I do the double stop on those 2 strings the first milliseconds I will only hear either A string or E string, then the soonest I hear it I would correct it.

Perhaps you have some useful tips for this double stop action.

Thank you Zlata, have a nice day.
Sylviane

There are three aspects to double stops: you see, you hear and you feel. Hearing is too late, because the wrong sound did already sound. Seeing is not always possible and most of the times not good for your violin hold. Therefore, it is important that you can feel how to play a double stop.

To practice the double stop, place your bow on the A and the E string. Think about how it feels to be on both strings? How does your arm position feel? If you play these notes very slowly and very consciously, you know where you have to be. You have to know how to position you arm without being on the wrong string, even for a millisecond.

A second exercise to practice the double stop is to imagine that you are playing on one imaginary string that is in between the two strings that are included in your double stop. Imagine this in your feeling, not so much in your ear or eye.

Practice this often to really get the double stop in your muscle memory!

Love,
Zlata

PS: Do you want to see YOUR question answered in a Violin Lounge TV episode? Post a comment below!