绰slide up into the note
Pinyin: chuòOther readings
Vibrato and glidesThe left finger slides up from below the position (the lower-pitched side) onto it, so the note enters from below.
How it is played
Place the left finger slightly below the target (toward the tail); after the right hand plucks, slide up at a slant with firm pressure and stop on the position. The slide is usually short: start further away in slow passages, closer in fast ones. A yin or nao often follows.
How it sounds
The note does not appear directly but slides in from slightly below, giving a soft, reserved attack with no hard edge.
In the classical handbooks
指自下而上按絃曰綽，指自上而下按絃曰注。Gist: Pressing the string from below upward is chuo; pressing from above downward is zhu.
由位下少許斜勢按上至位，乘此彈得聲曰綽。Gist: From a little below the position, press up at a slant to the position and pluck on the way: this is chuo.
凡綽須要轉聲，不要慢而輕。Gist: Every chuo must turn the sound; it must not be slow and light.
Where sources disagree
How far away the slide starts, and whether it must stop exactly on the hui
- Only from a little below (chuo) or above (zhu) the position, sliding at a slant onto it. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies)(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- The starting distance depends on tempo: for a slow note start further from the hui, for a quick one start closer. Source: Chen Zhuo’s fingering (Tang dynasty; in Qinshu Daquan (Great Compendium of Qin Writings), vol. 8）(opens in a new window)
- Sometimes chuo and zhu must overshoot the hui slightly for the note to be in tune; this is a matter of the yin and yang of the hui positions. Source: Wuzhizhai Qinpu(opens in a new window) · View the original page
Easily confused with
- 注zhù· slide down into the noteZhu goes the other way, sliding down from above (the higher-pitched side) onto the position.