Quadruple Stop

What it is

A quadruple stop is a chord using all four strings of the violin. Our chord finder is free and useful here. More of this kind of thing is in the left hand section.

Unlike double stops, and unlike triple stops in some circumstances, quadruple stops cannot be sustained simultaneously. The bridge curvature across all four strings is too great for the bow to contact them all with usable pressure.

Every quadruple stop is therefore rolled or broken. This is not a stylistic choice but a physical necessity.

How they are played

The bow sounds the lower strings first, then travels across to the upper strings. How this is shaped depends on the music.

A fast roll. The four notes sound in quick succession, close enough that the ear perceives a chord. Used where a simultaneous chord is the intent.

A broken chord with a sustained top. The lower three notes are played as a quick figure and the top note is held. Very common, and the standard approach in Baroque repertoire.

A deliberate arpeggiation. The chord is spread slowly and audibly as four separate notes, used where the composer wants the individual pitches heard.

Two plus two. The lower two strings are sustained briefly as a double stop, then the upper two. This produces a fuller sound than a single roll and is common in Romantic repertoire.

Rhythmic placement

The same convention as triple stops applies. The top note, usually the melody, lands on the beat, with the lower notes preceding it.

Because a quadruple stop takes longer to roll than a triple, the displacement is greater and the planning matters more. A player who begins the roll on the beat will place the melody note noticeably late.

In a passage of consecutive chords this compounds quickly, and the tempo sags. It is one of the most common problems in performances of the Bach solo works.

The bow

A quadruple stop uses a lot of bow. The roll travels across four strings, which requires arm movement, and the sustained note afterwards needs bow left over.

Planning is essential. Students frequently reach the top note with an inch of bow remaining and the chord's resolution is thin.

Bow pressure varies through the roll. More is needed on the lower strings, which are thicker and require more energy, and less on the upper strings.

Down-bow is the standard direction, because the roll travels naturally from the heavier part of the bow toward the lighter, and because gravity assists.

The left hand

Four fingers, or three fingers and an open string, must all be in tune simultaneously.

In practice many quadruple stops include at least one open string, which helps considerably, and composers write them that way for exactly that reason.

Hand shape is the limiting factor. Some four-note chords are physically impossible on violin, and composers who write for the instrument know which. A chord that requires four fingers spread across four strings at a wide interval simply cannot be played.

What goes wrong

Rolling too slowly. The chord becomes an arpeggio and loses its harmonic impact.

Melody note late. Covered above.

Running out of bow. Very common.

Uneven volume. The lower strings dominate because they received more pressure, and the melody note is buried.

Intonation. Compounded from triple stops. Three intervals must all be in tune.

Tension. Four-note chords feel difficult and students grip, which makes everything worse.

Where you meet it

Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, which contain the most famous and demanding quadruple stop writing in the repertoire. The opening of the D minor Chaconne is built on them.

Romantic and modern solo repertoire.

Orchestral writing, occasionally, at climactic moments where maximum sound is wanted.

Students meet them at the advanced level and usually first in Bach.

How it is taught

We start with the left hand silently, placing all four notes and checking intonation without the bow.

Then the roll, slowly, so the bow path is clear.

Then roll speed and shape, deciding which of the approaches above the passage wants.

Then rhythmic placement, with a metronome, because this is where most students fail.

Then bow distribution.

Then the stylistic question, which in Bach is a substantial subject in its own right and where performers differ considerably.

The Chaconne problem

Bach's D minor Chaconne opens with a series of chords and is among the most recorded pieces in the violin repertoire. Comparing recordings is instructive, because performers differ enormously in how they roll them.

Some roll fast and hard, producing an almost simultaneous chord. Some spread them slowly and let the individual pitches speak. Some sustain the lower pair before moving to the upper.

All are defensible. The variety demonstrates that quadruple stop execution is an interpretive question rather than a purely technical one.

A student learning the piece should listen widely before deciding, rather than adopting whichever approach their edition happens to imply.

Practising them

Left hand silently, all four notes, checked.

Bow alone on open strings, practising the path across four strings and finding how much bow the roll consumes.

Combined, slowly, with attention to the melody note landing on the beat.

Then bow distribution, planning where the roll starts and how much bow remains for the sustained note.

Then dynamic shaping, so the melody note is the loudest rather than the quietest, which requires deliberate attention since it arrives last and with the least bow.

Soul Music Lessons teaches private and group violin lessons in Alpharetta, Duluth and Milton. If left-hand work like Quadruple Stop is what you are working on, book a no-commitment evaluation lesson and bring it to the first session. Call 470-789-2422.