A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument, for example a violin, a viola, a cello or a guitar. In performing a double stop, two separate strings are depressed (stopped) by the fingers, and bowed or plucked simultaneously. This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... A violin The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... The viola (in French, alto; in German bratsche) is a stringed musical instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the higher violin (soprano register) and the lower lines played by the deeper cello (bass) and double... A cello The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello (the c is pronounced /tʃ/ as the ch in church), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... The acoustic archtop guitar, used in Jazz music, features steel strings. ...

Likewise, the triple stop (three strings) and quadruple stop (four strings). Collectively, double, triple and quadruple stopping are called multiple stopping.

On instruments having a curved bridge, it is difficult to bow more than two strings simultaneously. The style of bow used until around the end of the 18th century, particularly in Germany, had the wood curved outwards (away from the hair), which made it somewhat easier to play three notes at the same time. However, most treatises written around the time make it clear that composers did not expect three notes to be played at once, even though the notes may be written in a way as to suggest this. Playing four notes at once is almost impossible, even with older bows. The normal way of playing three or four note chords is to sound the lower notes briefly and allow them to ring while the bow plays the upper notes (a broken chord). This gives the illusion of a true triple or quadruple stop. In forte, however, even with a modern violin and bow it is quite possible to play three notes at once, especially when played a little more towards the fingerboard. Obviously, with this technique, a little more pressure than usual is needed on the bow, so this cannot be practised in softer passages. Of course, great skill is needed for the violinist to keep a beautiful sound. This technique is mainly used in music with great force, like Russian music. In popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... This article will be merged with Italian musical terms at some point in the near future. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The fingerboard, also known as a fretboard, is a part of most stringed instruments. ... In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... Russia is a large and extremely culturally diverse country, with dozens of ethnic groups, each with their own forms of folk music. ...

A 20th century invention by Emil Telmányi called the Bach bow makes use of a system of levers to temporarily slacken the bow hair and allow sustained three or four note chords; this design has no historical precedent and is less authentic than an ordinary modern bow for playing baroque music. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Emil Telmányi (1890-1988) was a Hungarian violinist who invented the Bach bow, designed to play and sustain three or four notes on a violin for Bachs solo partitas and sonatas for solo violin. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 to 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ...

In addition to the style of bow, the curvature of the bridge is an important factor in the ease of multiple stopping. On most classical instruments, the bridge is curved enough to make it difficult to play three strings at once, but on some violins the bridge is shaved down until almost flat, making it far easier to triple stop, as well as to alternate double stopping on different pairs of strings (D-A to A-E for example). The compensating disadvantage is that more skill is needed to avoid playing a double stop when none is called for.

When playing rock guitar styles, the most common form of double stop is a perfect fifth (or its inversion, a perfect fourth), which is one type of power chord. These double stops are often found in distorted, over-driven guitar parts where the tempo is such that the full chord cannot be played or the sound would be too muddied, though they are also common in quieter rock and blues music. Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, a bass guitar, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as keyboards (organ, piano synthesizers) and horns (saxophone, trumpet, trombone) are common in some styles, however, horns have been omitted from newer subgenres... The perfect fifth or diapente is one of three musical intervals that span five diatonic scale degrees; the others being the diminished fifth, which is one semitone smaller, and the augmented fifth, which is one semitone larger. ... In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ... In music, a power chord is, in the broadest sense, a chord that remains euphonious when distorted by amplification. ...

Double stops are also used in tuned percussion, such as on the vibraphone or marimba, and more rarely, timpani. A percussion double stop simply consists of striking both bars or timpani with two separate mallets. The term Tuned percussion refers to any number of percussion instruments that are tuned to and played in a particular pitch. ... Luigi Waites plays a vibraphone, July 29, 1999 The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ... It has been suggested that Balafon be merged into this article or section. ... A timpanist in the United States Air Forces in Europe Band. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... A drum stick or drumstick is an item used to hit percussion instruments, including but not only drums, to produce sound. ...