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Plucking the string with the finger instead of bowing. Abbreviated pizz.
Printed above the string staff as pizz. at the first plucked note, and in force until arco. Divided sections can show different instructions on one staff (I. arco, II. pizz.), and quasi pizz. in piano or wind writing asks only for the effect. Left-hand pizzicato is shown by a + over the note.
Abbreviations: pizz., pizz
Pizzicato produces a short, percussive, guitar-like tone on string instruments. Use it for rhythmic accompaniment, light comic effects, or stark textural contrast with bowed passages. Mark "arco" to return to bowing. Allow time for the switch — don't write pizz. and arco in rapid alternation without rests.
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, third movement (Pizzicato ostinato) — the entire string section plays pizzicato throughout, creating a sparkling, pointillistic texture.
Pizzicato is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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