How to smoothly switch between strings with your violin bow

Switching between strings, which is commonly called string crossing, can be challenging on the violin. In this post, you'll learn how to cross strings correctly and why you may be hitting other strings during your string crossings.

How to switch strings

The first step in preventing "noisy neighbors" is to be sure you're performing string crossings correctly. When moving from a higher string to a lower string, like going from E string to A string, the wrist leads the movement, and the elbow follows. It's also important to note that the shoulder should not raise. When moving from a lower string to a higher string, like going from A string to E string, the elbow leads the movement and the wrist follows. No matter what string you're playing on, the elbow should always be positioned slightly lower than the wrist.

Elbow levels

If you're intending to play on a single string and you're hearing noisy neighbors, one of two things (or both!) may be happening. The first is that your elbow is not in the right position for the desired string that you're playing on. For example, if you're playing on the A string and hearing E string, your elbow is too low, but if you're playing on the A string and hearing D string, your elbow is too high.

Bow in a straight line

The second thing that could be happening is that your hand is not moving in a straight (or diagonal, depending on how you look at it) line. If your hand is waffling or waving up and down, you are going to hit the neighboring strings.

Get rid of bow squeaks

If you're hearing noisy neighbors or annoying bow squeaks while crossing strings, two different things may be happening. The first is that you may be moving your arm too much when crossing strings. If you are playing a slur from D string to A string, and you hear a bit of E string sounding, that's a sign you moved your arm too far down during that string crossing. The second is that you may not be moving your bow quickly enough to the next string. If this is the case, then for a split second your bow is actually on two strings at once, but one of the strings isn't fully caught by the bow hairs, thus creating a squeak.

Tips for big string crossings

When crossing over 2-3 strings, be sure that your bow is completely stopped while you're performing the string crossing. If the bow is still moving, you will hear the strings that you're crossing over sound. Additionally, do not put any extra pressure into the bow as you're switching between strings. This will cause an extraneous crunching noise.

How to practice string crossings

My two favorite ways to practice string crossings are to take the left hand out (ie just play the combination of strings that you would in the passage but without the notes) and to put a brief pause before each string crossing to give me extra time to make it clean.