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Why are Unison Notes called "Double Stops"?

Eyesee7

Eyesee7

Jul 17, 2005
271
111
#1
I began with classical guitar before picking up the bass, and often had to play two notes in unison. They were never referred to as double stops, in fact I can't remember what they're called other than unison notes. I know you can't call them chords because that requires three notes in unison. So how did two notes together on the bass come to be called "double stops?"
 
#2
It's a string/orchestra term IMHO. It's easy to play multiple notes on a guitar/lute/similar fretted instrument, but it's tough to play more than one at a time accurately on a violin, viola, cello, etc. It's an advanced technique that traditional students go years before learning, so they gave it a name that sounds cooler than "playing two notes at once".


BTW - the word "unison" generally means two people playing the exact same note or phrase at the same time... it doesn't traditionally apply to one person playing two different notes at once.
 
#5
Aaron Saunders said:
Stop comes from stringed instument players before frets existed...when a violin stops an A, he's playing an on the G string (rather than the 2nd fret.)

There are a lot of ways to play chords on the bass -- basically limitless, but there are good places to start. The first would be to just get used to playing triads...so in the key of C, the triad would be C E G.

You can play C, E, and G in ANY octave and any combination. So you could play:
G|--8---|
D|--10--|
A|--10--|
E|--0---|
or:
G|--17--|
D|--14--|
A|------|
E|--15--|
etc.

You can also move these shapes up and down to different keys. So:
C -> C E G
F -> F A C
Bb -> Bb D F
Eb -> Eb G Bb
Ab -> Ab C Eb
Db -> Db F Ab
F# -> F# A# C#
B -> B D# F#
E -> E G# B
A -> A C# E
D -> D F# A
G -> G B D

Play around with those for a while and just try and get different sounds. What will also sound good will trying it with minor triads, and mixing those sounds. The minor triads would be:

C -> C Eb G
F -> F Ab C
Bb -> Bb Db F
Eb -> Eb Gb Bb
Ab -> Ab Cb(B) Eb
Db -> Db Fb(E) Ab
F# -> F# A C#
B -> B D F#
E -> E G B
A -> A C E
D -> D F A
G -> G Bb D

You can mix and match these according to what key you're playing in. The key is based off of the major scale. The major scale is constructed starting on C: C D E F G A B C

So if you're playing in C, you can play:

C major triad
D minor triad
E minor triad
F major triad
G major triad
A minor triad
B minor triad

With the notes all in different octaves, etc. -- if you really play around with this a lot, you can make a lot of great sounds. And this is very, very, very much only the beginning.
Click to expand...
.
 
#6
This is just a guess, but on a pump organ the things you pull out that make the sound are called "stops". They are sort of like manual tone generators. If you pull two stops out at the same time you get two "tone generators" or "voices" playing the same note. It sounds like two people playing.
Same is true, I think, on modern church organs. They still call them stops.
 
#8
I play double and triple stops on fretless regularly and very often on fretted. Notwithstanding the theory put out by PDGood above (which makes good sense), when you finger a note, you are stopping the string from vibrating at a longer length.

So, a double stop isn't just any two notes, it two fingered notes either played together or in sequence with the first note ringing through the duration of the second. Open notes don't count, in other words.
 
#9
A double stop is defined as playing two notes at the same time. If you're playing an open G and a G fretted (or stopped) at the fifth fret at the same time, it's a double stop. Same as if you play that G at the fifth fret and a D on the G string at the same time, it's a double stop. And it's a term used in guitar literature too. A typical "power chord" with just the root and fifth played on the two lowest strings of a guitar is NOT a chord (chord being defined as three or more notes) so it's a double stop.

John
 
#10
FretlessMainly said:
I play double and triple stops on fretless regularly and very often on fretted. Notwithstanding the theory put out by PDGood above (which makes good sense), when you finger a note, you are stopping the string from vibrating at a longer length.

So, a double stop isn't just any two notes, it two fingered notes either played together or in sequence with the first note ringing through the duration of the second. Open notes don't count, in other words.
Click to expand...

Good point. If the string's open you're not "stopping" it.
 
#12
Example of a double stop over an A string drone (imo),

Index 16th Fret D String
Middle 17th fret G String

It's a b5 interval shape,

Slide the shape up one fret (Index 17th Fret D String, Middle 18th Fret G String) under the open A string drone/vamp.

Slide it up from the 1st position in a bluesy feel keeping 8th's going with your right hand thumb on the A string, and use the right hand index and ring together to pick the double stop.
 
#13
I realize I shouldn't have used the term "unison notes" because that sounds more like playing the SAME note simultaneously on different strings (with an open string and fretted string), a technique I've seen in some classical guitar pieces. The times I've heard "double stops" used in reference to bass guitar is with two fretted notes played together, a la Geddy Lee on "Force Ten", "Turn The Page," "Driven" etc.
 
#19
robgo said:
Diads?
Click to expand...
Yes! Just looked that up. Here's what I found on one site:

Guitar Diads or Double Stops

Today we are goingto talk about
2 note chords.

Just as common chords made of three notes
are called Triads the 2 note chords
are call diads.

Two-string play, or more popularly called
double stops.

Another term that you will hear in musical
notation circles is diads.

So, basically double stops are referring
to when you’re playing an instrument
and playing two notes at a time,
while diads is a music theory term
talking about two notes on a musical staff.

Two note chords are also know as harmonies
because two notes played simultaneously
always make a harmony.

Even if the two notes are the same note
they are harmony and called unison harmony.

So what are common Diads or Double Stops.

--------------------

and this explanation from Wikipedia:

A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a melodic percussion instrument (like a marimba) or stringed instrument (for example, a violin or a guitar). In performing a double stop, two separate strings are depressed ("stopped") by the fingers, and bowed or plucked simultaneously (without a string change).
 

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