Pizzicato String Audible Decay Calculator

Pizzicato string decay: rule and example

Once the finger lets go, the string's vibration dies away exponentially. The governing relation is τ = Q / (π · f), with Q the quality factor and f the fundamental. Take a violin G3 (196 Hz) with Q in the 1500–2500 range: you get audible pizzicato that runs 1 to 3 seconds. Plucked over a much larger, heavier soundbox, a cello C2 (65.4 Hz) holds for 2 to 5 seconds, since both the string and the body are storing more energy. The Bartók pizzicato, or slap pizz, is a different animal: you snap the string back against the fingerboard for a percussive crack with hardly any sustain. What you actually hear is the slap rather than the ringing tone.

Context and applications

Pop and folk violinists pluck open strings to back up chords, leaning on that natural 1–3 s tail to fill the gaps between phrases. In jazz, walking lines on the double bass plucked four-to-the-bar live off a long 3–5 s decay, so the previous note is still humming under the next one. That overlap is what gives a swing groove its foundation. Early-music players running a viola da gamba go the other way, using lighter gut strings with lower Q, which yields a shorter, more articulated pizzicato that cuts cleanly through harpsichord and lute.

FAQ

Why does the cello sustain longer than the violin? Its lower frequency stretches the decay over more cycles, and the bigger soundbox radiates with less damping, which pushes the effective Q up.

Does the contact point matter? It does. Pluck close to the bridge and you get a brighter, shorter sound, with more high harmonics and faster damping. Pluck up near the fingerboard and the note comes out darker and longer.

What is Bartók pizz exactly? The player pulls the string up and lets it snap back down onto the fingerboard. In the score it's marked with a circle-and-dot symbol. Most of what you hear is the slap itself; the steady-state part of the note is barely a whisper.