Playable chords for string instruments?

Is there such a thing as a "playable chords for string instruments" chart?

I've just started writing a string quartet, but I don't know that much about the physical limitations for the string instruments, when it comes to playing more than one note at a time (one one instrument, is what I mean).

I could go to the public library and check a bunch of scores to create a chart of my own, like "cello chords I've seen professional composers use", but first I wanted to check if there is already such a resource somewhere that you know of.

I don't know if there are any resources for this, but the number of playable chords is very large and depends on the players. Plus, the playability depends heavily on context and speed, and varies from player to player (especially since there are really degrees of playability). The best advice I could give you is to get a good book on string instrumentation or to ask a string player (of which there are numerous here). Also, get a string instrument yourself if the money is there and try them out, just to get a sense of what we do. (Visualizing the instrument sometimes also help - remember, for violins, violas, and cellos, strings are generally tuned in fifths.) One you get the basics, it's mostly a matter of common sense.

Adler's The Study of Orchestration has a massive section of available stops to play on the strings.

^Yeah. Get that book. Still, realize that it depends heavily on the player and the context. This is one thing that even composers who play string instruments frequently do poorly.

Generally remember that even with the difference in string players hand spans (every player has different hands!), another good thing to remember is that a string player can not play 4 notes consecutively. The bridges on almost all violins, violas, cellos, and basses, are curved. So the player will break the stop up during one bow stroke (lower strings first than upper strings for down bow, upper strings first than lower strings for up bow). A good reference piece would be any of the Bach solo pieces for Violin or Cello.

It's possible to sound 3 notes simultaneously and sustain all 3 together BUT ONLY if this is at a very loud dynamic; the bow will therefore be, in this case, moving fast at a point more distant from the bridge than usually employed - to compensate for the curvature, in reality to be able to press the middle string down to the plane of the outer strings. Certain chords would work better than others in this case; one where the middle of the 3 strings is stopped therefore lowering the contact point with the bow relative to the other strings.

Even if it was possible to use the technique described above, many players on seeing a 3 note chord might still choose to break the stop up in the manner described by jawoodruff.

Double stops are very common in all strings (apart from the double bass, where the options are very limited due to the large distance between notes in the low register). The easiest ones are the one with an open string and a stopped (adjacent) string.

Triple stops and quadruple stops are also common, but they are (our of necessity due to the construction of the instrument) arpeggiated, as it's impossible to sound all 4 strings together. With 3 strings it's possible, if you apply a lot of pressure on the bow, but again it's not recommended - it always depends on the kind of players you have at your disposal. Some people have used techniques such as bowing below the strings in order to get a double stop between the lowest and highest strings of an instrument, to add one more extra possibility to the gamut of "chords" on the string instruments.

However, instead of just asking for a table I would highly recommend you learn the open strings of each string and how the strings are played (fingering positions). Then you would be able to just figure out whether a double-stop is possible or not, because you'd know whether the player would be able to play it or not.

For example a double-stop asking for a G below the treble clef and a B below the treble clef would be impossible on the violin, because both these notes are only able to be produced on the G string.

But instead of just memorising which ones are possible and which ones are not, it will be a lot better to just be able to figure out on your own -on the spot- whether they are playable or not.

Adler's book has a small section on fingering and how the string instruments are played, so you can read some off there, but it'd be best to speak to a string player too. The Adler also has a table with some possible double, triple and quadruple stops, but its incomplete, mostly because there's probably a ridiculously high number of double/triple/quadruple stops for each instrument (keeping in mind quarter tones and bendings of the tones as well), so he can't list them all (which is another reason why you should learn who to figure out whether they're playable or not, because you'll never find a complete table).

Also, you can get three sounding notes easily with pizzicato (and 4 as well, I guess), but it's not going to be as loud.

Interestingly, Adler says the following: "The bow used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was more curved than it is today, and it was possible to sustain four-note chords more readily. The wood in the middle of the bow curved outward, away from the strings, unlike the wood on the modern bow, which curves slightly inward, towards the strings" (Adler, Samuel. "The Study of Orchestration (3E)". (2002) W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York)

Just so we're clear here, MODERN bows for string instruments make it impossible to sound 4 strings at once.

However, older bows had considerably looser horsehair, and a slightly greater distance between the wood and the horsehair. Meaning that a quadruple stop in Bach's time could, in fact, have played all four strings simultaneously.

Three strings can be sounded simultaneously in loud dynamics, as has been mentioned here, but really, we've grown so accustomed to the sound of the arpeggiated string chord, that it would sound funny any other way THAN arpeggiated.

Take into consideration that if you are writing a triple or quadruple stop, there are many conceivable ways of performing it, some more or less idiomatic for the instrument.

Also, If you have Sibelius 5, there's a plug-in called 'check multiple stops' which can give you a general idea of whether a stop is 'easy', 'difficult' or 'impossible'. So its a good starting point at least, depending on its reliability.