Plucking Techniques for the Cello

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Russell Squires and I’m here today on behalf of ExpertVillage.com. I’m going to be talking to you today about plucking the cello, which is also called pitsacado, which is actually just an old Italian term for plucking. To begin, we take our right hand and place our thumb about two inches above the end of the base board. This gives us a good amount of pressure to pluck each string without losing control of our hand. It’s not unheard of to pluck with all fingers, the most effective though is only one or perhaps two at a time. We can also use our fingers in patterns to make consecutive rows. It’s also not unheard of to take your thumb and strum it across all of the strings, to produce a sound much like a guitar. And that’s Pitscado. "