In this video I'm going to share with you 31 tips to get better at writing for strings.
These are things I've picked up over the years writing for soloists,
string quartets, string orchestras, for film music, TV music,
production libraries, and even writing string arrangements for over 100 songs.
There's a lot to get through here so let's get right into it
Tip number 1: Give your lines motion.
It can be really demoralizing for a player to get their sheet of music
and see that it's just a page full of whole notes.
It's boring to play, it's boring to listen to, and it doesn't take that much effort to do better.
String instruments are very nimble and it's very easy to play very active,
rhythmic, interesting lines.
Even just taking that whole note and adding a rhythm of quarter notes or
eighth notes will make it much more interesting to listen to and play
And then you can take it a step further by adding figures on the beat, or rest in certain points.
Small little things that will make the line feel musical and not just like a pad.
If you still do want that pad effect you could use rests to give the line a feeling of breath
or really exaggerate dynamics to make it feel more alive.
Tip number 2: Use multiple stops to create interesting background patterns.
Multiple stops are two, three or four note chords that are played under a
single bow and they lend themselves well to very wide open arpeggios,
which can then make for very interesting background patterns.
Like in the previous tip, instead of just holding out a pad of chords
you could oscillate up and down between that multiple stop.
That way you would get harmonic support and an active interesting background at the same time.
Tip number 3: Double check your multiple stops with a player or a chart.
If you don't actually play a stringed instrument it's a good idea to check
that what you're writing can actually be executed.
If you come from a guitar background like I do and you're used to tuning by fourths,
moving to think about tuning by fifths can really mess with what you think of as a proper chord.
So you want to make sure that the multiple stop you're writing
actually fits well under the fingers and is nice to play.
Tip number 4: Leave bowings to the players.
Unless you really know what you're doing with bowing, it's best to let people who've
spent their entire lives playing these instruments decide the best way to bow it.
I would say 99 out of 100 times the correct bowing is going to be pretty obvious.
It's only if you have a really specific need that you should be writing in a bowing,
and if that's the case then you probably already know what you're supposed to write.
Otherwise just let the players figure it out.
Tip number 5: Two bows to a bar is a good rule of thumb.
So if you still insist on doing your own bowings, or you're getting a little more advanced,
the general rule of thumb is to use two bows per bar.
So you think down for two quarter notes up for two quarter notes, or whatever you have.
Something I like to do as I read through my parts is actually kind of act out what it
would feel like to bow it, and where do I feel this kind of up and down motion.
But referring to the previous tip, save this for later.
Tip number 6: Don't overdo the high notes.
A lot of times when people think of high soaring
violins they think of this really high extreme register.
But the violin is actually a pretty small instrument and when you get way up there
the sound is really weak and small.
Unless you have a full symphony orchestra behind you,
just a soloist by themself is not going to be able to give you a full symphonic sound.
It's best to really save those high notes for when you really need them.
But usually if you come down an octave or two you can still have this sense of being a high pitch
but your instrument will have a lot more force and body.
Tip number 7: Support your high notes from below
So for those times when you still really do need those
really high notes the best thing to do is to double an octave down.
A lot of times you might want to have your Violin I section play
at one octave and then have a soloist playing that high octave.
That way you get that really high shimmery sound that you want but
it's supported with the body of the lower octave.
And that lower octave isn't usually distracting, it's the high octave that people hear.
Tip number 8: Scales and arpeggios are your best friends.
So musicians practice scales and arpeggios throughout their entire career.
Sometimes since they were three years old.
There are a few things that they are better at than scales or arpeggios.
So when you're writing a piece that you need someone to read through and play well the
first time, it just makes sense that you want to put things that are going to be easy to play.
So for example if you have a run up into an accented note it just makes sense to use a scale
that just flows under your player's fingers so they can just effortlessly get into it.
And the same goes for arpeggios.
If you use those for background lines you can have
very interesting moving harmonic lines that are also actually very playable.
If you look at any score from John Williams and you look at
the string parts, you will see them just covered in scales and arpeggios.
And especially the faster your lines are the more you should be relying
on these ingrained patterns so that your player doesn't have to think.
It will just flow out of them.
Tip number 9: Use your available colors.
The strings are capable of so many interesting sounds,
it's a shame that people tend to rely on just the plain sustained patches.
Even without having to use some of the more advanced extended techniques,
you should still be regularly using pizzicato when you want something percussive or plucky,
or tremolo when you want it shimmery and mysterious.
Because all the instruments of the string orchestra sound the same,
you should do what you can to keep the sound fresh and interesting as your piece goes on.
You should definitely get an orchestration book to see what the different options are out there.
I really like The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler because it comes with CDs and
you can actually hear what the techniques sound like, but there are plenty of options out there.
Tip number 10: Choose a good key.
Now of course any good player is going to be able to play in any key,
but there are certain keys that are more suited to the strings.
And a good rule of thumb is to think of what the open strings on the violin are: E A D G
Those are all great keys for the strings.
In general you want to lean towards sharps and away from flats.
So if you have the choice between F# and Gb go with the F#.
As I said, any key should be playable but anything you can do to make your
music more readable and player-friendly will help.
Tip number 11: Share the spotlight with every instrument.
There is a tendency to just use the Violin I as the featured instrument
the whole time and Violin II, Viola and Cello just gets supporting roles.
To keep your players more engaged and your listener more interested
you should be passing around that focus between your different instruments.
So don't just rely on Violin I the whole time.
Every stringed instrument is capable of playing the
melody and so they should be given that chance.
Tip number 12: Start with four-part chorale writing.
So a lot of times the way I'll start an arrangement for an already existing song
is to plot out the chords in four-part corral style in whole notes.
Then I'll go through and carve interesting rhythms and interesting lines out of it.
But by using that four part chorale style as my basis I know I'm going to have good
voice leading going in, which is going to make the overall effect that much better.
Tip number 13: Use the rule of three.
So something interesting I noticed when studying Mozart's string quartets is
that he almost never has more than three ideas happening at a time.
Three seems to be his maximum.
So he might have the melody on Violin I, the bass line on the cellos, the second
violin and the viola are going to be working in lockstep together on some sort of middle part.
They might have different pitches but they're functioning as a single unit.
And this number three I think works really well for giving us always
something interesting to listen to without it getting too overly complicated and difficult.
And there are times where he has the whole quartet functioning as a single unit, or as only two
ideas, but three seems to be the maximum number of ideas that he ever wants to balance at one time.
Tip number 14:Be careful of extra wide leaps.
So there were some times in some of my early arrangements where I would end a big section
really exciting and high and then need to start the next one immediately very low,
and I didn't take any thought into how awkward that would be to play.
So we would always have to stop the recording and start again in the next section.
This is not a problem if you are working section by section overdubbing with a soloist,
but if you were to give this to an ensemble it would be really
awkward and it's not something you want to do.
Some of the easiest solutions would be to put a rest, either at the very end or very beginning
of that break, or find some way to get a middle line that will fill in the gap.
But either way try to avoid these things that are physically just really awkward to play.
Tip number 15: Marry a violinist.
OK, this might be a little easier said than done but it worked out for me.
Tip number 16:Possible does not always mean playable.
So you might see some really interesting cool technique in an orchestration book,
or you might pull out some crazy Paganini lick that you heard,
but it doesn't always mean that it's going to be super user-friendly when
you give it to your player and expect them to just execute it without ever practicing.
Just because something "can" be done on one of these instruments
doesn't mean that it can be done in the amount of time that you have in your session.
Tip number 17: Take advantage of the low registers.
So the deepest lowest strings on all the stringed instruments are really rich and full
So when you want a very full bodied sound you should be conscious of how
those low strings have this extra deep resonance.
Of course just be careful not to go too low that you're out of range.
Tip number 18: Don't let the bass bring you down.
So those low registers can be very emotional when used in melodies, but when you're just
layering down thick whole notes in the bases it will drag your whole piece down.
The double bass has such a full sound that it can very easily
eat up the space in your orchestration and make the whole thing turn to mud.
So if you look at a lot of John Williams orchestrations,
he's rarely just giving whole notes down to the bases which are dragging everything down.
A lot of times he'll have the bass part in pizzicato,
or it will be on an offbeat, or there is some sort of short rhythmic pattern.
Something that keeps it from just slogging everything down to the bottom.
Tip number 19: Be aggressive with dynamics.
Something I don't think people do enough is push the extremes of dynamics.
I see so many parts that say mezzo forte but mezzo forte kind of means nothing.
You might as well not be putting a dynamic mark at all.
If you want quiet, put piano.
If you want loud, put forte.
But really push those extremes even further.
Don't be afraid to swell from pianissimo to fortissimo in a single bar.
Really exaggerate the dynamics because that's where the life
in your performance is going to come from.
Tip number 20: Write for the situation.
So are you writing a piece for a full orchestra and they're going to have weeks of practice,
or are you just bringing somebody in for a 15 15-minute session?
Actually be aware of the context you're writing for when you're writing so you
know if it's appropriate, if you should be using these lesser-known extended techniques,
or if you should be keeping something very simple and readable that a player can just get through.
And of course if it's MIDI do whatever you want.
Tip 21: Use different textures.
So before I talked about using different sounds,
like bowed or pizzicato, but there are so many opportunities just to use different textures.
By moving through many different textures and ways that the strings can express sound
you'll keep your piece much more interesting.
So in one section you might have block swelling chords,
and another section might be very flowing legato, and another one is short staccato on offbeats.
Just appreciate that there are so many different textures and sounds you can create.
You shouldn't just be holding out whole notes on top like a lot of people do.
Tip 22: If you have something in mind, write it.
You shouldn't rely on your players to do your writing for you.
For example, writing out whole notes and then saying "Make it fiddly. Make this country."
Don't do that.
If you have something in mind, if there is something you want, write it
And if you know there's something you want and you're not sure how to write it,
you're going to need to take the time to look it up, to figure out what it is.
You can waste a lot of time by asking your player to do something that's in your head
but not on the paper and just hoping they get it right.
Tip 23: Learn to play a stringed instrument.
So for like 50 bucks a month or less you can actually rent a stringed instrument
and really get a feel for what the instrument is like.
How wide is the bow?
How spaced out are the notes?
What does it actually feel like to play this instrument?
So a couple years ago I actually took some cello lessons.
And I never got any good, but that wasn't the point.
The point was to just experience the instrument and actually get a feel for it.
To understand what it's like to play.
And I do think my cello writing got a lot better right after doing that.
Tip 24: Listen to the great string arrangements.
So there is a grammy awarded to the Best Arrangement Instrumental and Vocals,
and if you go to the Wikipedia page it actually lists all the nominees and winners over the years.
You can use this like a "best of" list for arrangements, many of which include strings.
For example looking at this I see Paul Buckmaster
who won for his arrangement on Train's Drops of Jupiter.
But he's also worked on iconic recordings like Elton John's Your Song David Bowie's Space Oddity.
All these great things, when you think of what's a great string arrangement it's here.
Tip 25: If you're overdubbing the same player, have them use different techniques.
So a lot of times when we're overdubbing violin we'll do one take with vibrato,
we'll do a second take without vibrato.
Because a single player tends to play lines the same way every time they play them,
so just changing this one technique can make it feel like multiple people are playing the line
and kind of give the illusion of a section instead of just a soloist.
Tip 26: Have your player use more than one instrument.
So if it's possible, when you're doing overdubs ask your player to bring another instrument.
That way they can do a second take on the second instrument.
And again it will have that effect of more people, more people playing your lines.
So when we're over dubbing violins a lot of times what
we'll do is combine this with the previous tip.
We'll do four takes.
We'll do two on each violin, one with vibrato and one without vibrato.
And all of a sudden now we've got a section of four live players.
Tip 27: Blend your live players with samples
So this is a way to get the best of both worlds when you're on a budget.
You get the full-bodied rich sound of your string samples but also the
life and the natural feel and the performance of your live players.
Be sure to pay attention to how your samples are panned
and eq'd so that you're able to match that with your players.
And you should probably turn off the reverb on your samples and use the same reverb on
both the samples and your live players so it feels like they're in the same space.
Tip 28: When arranging, the fewer instruments the better.
So sometimes someone will give me a song and ask me to write a string arrangement for it,
and it's already got drums and bass and guitar 1
and guitar 2 and piano and vocals and just all these different instruments.
And I wonder "What are you asking me to add here? There's no room,
there's no space for anything else!"
So ideally when you're going to write an arrangement you want
to be dealing with as little clutter as possible.
The best situations are when I get a song that is just piano and vocals,
or acoustic guitar and vocals, because then I actually have a canvas to work on.
I have some space to really write an arrangement around.
Tip 29: If the track is busy, stay thin.
So sometimes you don't have a choice.
You get given the song, it's got 100 instruments on it, and they still want you to add strings.
The worst thing you can do is add violas and cellos in the middle line on whole notes.
Then you're just creating mud.
You're going to be clashing with all these other rhythm instruments.
Probably what you're going to need to do is just focus on the violins on a top line
that is in a register that has some space,
and using your other instruments for accents and fills and kind of just punching things u.
Bbut mainly what you want to avoid is just having too much busyness and mud, because your
arrangement is just going to end up getting killed in the mix or thrown out altogether.
Tip number 30: Arrange to the form.
So I talked before about how you should take advantage of
the way strings can make different sounds and have different textures.
And a really good idea is to focus section by section on a certain sound.
So you might have one section that's going to be pizzicato,
you have another section that's very sharp short chords.
This helps accentuate the form, makes your arrangement feel very organized.
It's also easier to write this way because you can think clearly.
Then you go through to the transition points,
and that's maybe when you get a little more fluid blending from one texture to another.
But I have had the most success where I'm able to focus section by section.
So for example maybe the intro we have tremolo chords.
Verse 1 stay out completely.
Verse 2, a cello solo underneath the vocal line.
The chorus could be chordal pads.
The bridge is sharp staccato chords.
That's the kind of thing I'm talking about as far as arranging to the form.
Tip 31: Use the strings as a sweetener.
So don't just waste your arrangement doubling parts that already exist.
Somebody else is already playing them, you don't need to do it too.
Take advantage of the gaps and the spaces where there's still room to write.
Maybe this means you use the strings as an echo to the vocal or for fills,
or you listen for a register that actually has some space,
which is usually the high register but could be the medium or low depending on the situation.
Find the gaps around the other instruments so that your string arrangement can actually be heard OK.
So there you go.
Those are my 31 tips for writing for strings.
If you could pick just one tip that you wish I went into more detail about
or could elaborate on please let me know in the comments.
After that check out this video here which is my analysis of Wanda's Theme from WandaVision,
and this video here about the Period Form which is one of the
basic formulas getting you started in composition.
I'll see you next time!