Playing With the Bow (Arco)
Playing with the bow is called arco playing. This is the most common method of playing the violin. As with pizzicato, the best way to begin is to play the open strings. Hold the bow in the manner described previously and place the hair of the bow on the open A (second) string near the frog of the bow.
The bow should be at right angles to the string. Draw the bow slowly across the string all the way to the tip. This is called a down bow, and is indicated by the symbol 
. As you play your down bow, make sure that your right wrist and forearm are relaxed, as this will create the best sound. After you reach the tip of the bow, hold it steady for a moment and then slowly push the bow back across the string until you reach the frog. This is called an up bow, and is indicated by the symbol 
. Once you can produce a good sound on the open A string, try playing each open string with a down bow and then an up bow. Before you started playing your teacher may have applied rosin to your bow. If you are having trouble getting a consistent sound, you may need to rub a little more rosin on the hair of the bow.
To make sure that you sound only one string at a time, you will need to lower your bowing arm slightly when moving from a lower string to a higher string (e.g., open G to open D) and raise the arm slightly when moving from a higher string to a lower string (e.g., open E to open A). When moving between strings, do not lift your bow off the strings, but change the sound to the new string by changing the angle of the bow.
Things to Remember
- It is important to work on bowing technique with a teacher right from the beginning, so that you do not develop any bad habits which will have to be corrected later.
Practice playing the open strings in the order shown in the following diagram. Count 1, 2, 1, 2 etc., as you play, and alternate your bow strokes. Each 1 count will be a down bow with the bow and each 2 count will be an up bow.
