Violin very full, sonorous sound which is particularly appropriate to late Romantic music. This is often indicated in the music by the marking, for example, "sul G" or "IV" (a Roman numeral indicating to play on the fourth string; by convention, the strings are numbered from thinnest, highest pitch (I) to the lowest pitch (IV). Even without an explicit instructions in the score, an advanced violinist will use her/his discretion and artistic sensibility to select which string to play specific notes or passages. If a string is bowed or plucked without any finger stopping it, it is said to be an
Jazz violin symphonic approach to jazz fusion made him a popular fusion artist of the 1970s. In 1972, he featured prominently on Elton John's "Honky Chateau" album. In 1977, he pioneered the use of the 5-string electric violin, with a lower C string. He sometimes also uses a 6-string electric violin called the Violectra, with low C and F strings – not to be confused with the violectra he played from the late 1960s to the mid-80s which had 4 strings, but tuned an octave lower. Ponty was among the first to combine the violin with MIDI, electronic distortion boxes, phase shifters,