Mini Guide: The Contact Point learn to use the contact points to achieve a beautiful sound

What is a contact point?

The contact point describes how close your bow to the bridge is.

You can see the 3 most important contact points on the violin in the picture below.

1 2 3

Every contact point has another sound, that’s why they are also called sounding points.

Let’s learn how the different contact points affect your sound!

Contact Point 1 At contact point 1, the string is more flexible than on the other contact points. Get your violin and feel how the string gets more flexible, the closer you get to the fingerboard. If you bow on this contact point the violin will sound sofer.

To get a beautiful tone on contact point 1, you will need a high bow speed (so moving the bow quickly) and little bow pressure (so try to bow lightly). If you try to play slow or use a lot of bow pressure on this contact point, you will hear scratchy sounds!

This contact point is perfect to use if you want to Create a sof, warm tone (for instance for slow places) Accompany people (for instance when playing a non-solo part in your orchestra or playing background violin when someone sings)

Contact Point 2 Contact point 2 is the ‘default position’. This is the place where you play if you want to get a balanced tone, something in between ‘sof & warm’ and ‘loud and edgy’. When staying on contact point 2, you can still change the tone to become louder or sofer, by changing the bow speed and pressure. If you want to play louder, try to increase pressure or speed. If you want to get a sofer, more gentle tone, try reducing the bow speed or decreasing pressure.

This contact point is perfect to use if you want to Create a balanced tone Both for soloing and accompaniment, dependent on your bowing technique.

Contact Point 3 At contact point 3, you can feel that the string is more ‘stiff’. That’s why the violin will sound louder at this contact point. The notes have more higher harmonics than at all the other contact points, which causes an edgy sound.

To create a beautiful tone on the contact point, you will need to bow slowly with quite some bow pressure. Without this bowing technique, it easily sounds really scratchy at this contact point

This contact point is perfect to use if you want to Create a very intense, edgy sound (for instance in intense classical music) Soloing

Recap

So, let’s review what you’ve learned in this mini-guide in this little table:

Contact points & their qualities on the violin Sound Bow speed Bow pressure Contact point 1 sof, gentle fast low pressure Contact point 2 neutral fast or slow high or low Contact point 3 loud, edgy slow high pressure

Your Turn

Now, it’s time to directly use your new knowledge and translate it into beautiful violin playing!

Try doing the following exercises on your violin right afer reading them:

Exercise 1 Play a simple song at the three different contact points. You might like to stand in front of a mirror to check if your bow is not changing location. Listen to how the sound of the song changes.

Take a song that you already know, so you can focus on listening and playing on the contact points. If you are unsure what to play, you might find some inspiration at my tutorials page.

Exercise 2 Stand in front of a mirror and choose one of the contact points (1-3). Close your eyes and put your bow on the violin. Bow back and forth on an open string until you feel like you are playing at the right contact point. Open your eyes, and see if you were right!