The Free Stroke

The free stroke is used in chords, in arpeggios as demonstrated below, and in single-note situations where the rest stroke is not practical. It differs from the rest stroke in that the finger comes clear of the adjacent string at the end of the movement.

Successive notes played with the free stroke use alternation in the same way. Try playing the exercise that you did with the rest stroke and you will notice the different sound. Good players are able to develop a full sound that almost has the quality of a rest stroke.

The free stroke