打ring finger inward
Pinyin: dǎ
Right hand, single fingerThe ring finger plucks one string inward, toward the player. Used mostly on strings one and two; it sounds the same as gou.
How it is played
The ring finger enters the string half nail, half flesh exactly as the middle finger does in gou. Despite the name (“strike”), there is no striking down. Strings one and two lie farthest from the hand, so the ring finger is used for convenience, and it leaves the middle finger free for the next note.
How it sounds
Almost identical to gou: even and unforced.
In the classical handbooks
名指向身彈入曰打。用在第一二絃，亦因彈絃去遠取便故耳，與句法無異。Gist: The ring finger plucking in toward the body is called da. It is used on the first and second strings, simply because those strings are far away and this is convenient. It is no different from gou.
打乃名指彈入之名，有誤認打字之義，將名指著力打絃，可發一噱。Gist: Da is the name of the ring finger's inward stroke. Some misread the character 打 (“strike”) and bring the ring finger down hard on the string, which is laughable.
打也，名指入曰打。Gist: Da: the ring finger plucks inward.
Where sources disagree
Whether da means only the ring finger's inward stroke
- Da is specifically the ring finger plucking inward, and sounds the same as gou. Source: Qinxue Rumen (Introduction to Qin Studies), vol. 1(opens in a new window) · View the original page
- One view recorded in the Ming Qinshu Daquan: both the middle and ring fingers may “strike” the string downward toward the soundboard; the two fingers are interchangeable. Source: Qinshu Daquan (Great Compendium of Qin Writings) (via the Guoqinwang technique database)(opens in a new window)
- Yang Zongji points out that in the Tang manuscript Jieshi Diao Youlan there is no clear distinction between gou and da, and the middle, index and ring fingers all occur. Source: 《琴学丛书》 (via the Guoqinwang technique database)(opens in a new window)
Easily confused with
- 勾gōu· middle finger inwardBoth are inward strokes: da uses the ring finger, gou the middle finger; they sound the same.
References
- 管平湖《古指法考》（北京古琴文化研究会 编，中国书店出版社 2019；据 1963 年中国音乐研究所油印本整理，依《琴用指法》《乌丝栏》《太音大全》《琴书大全》考订古指法）Scholarship
- 国琴网指法库「打——大还阁琴谱」(opens in a new window)Qin community
- 国琴网指法库「打——琴书大全」(opens in a new window)Qin community