Air on the G String original. Later, a spurious story was put about that the melody was always intended to be played on the G string alone. The violin solo part of Wilhelmj's arrangement is sometimes played on the counter-tenor violoncello. As a result of the popularity of the piece, "on the G string" remained in the name of various arrangements whether or not a string instrument playing on its G string was involved. Most of these versions have in common that the original melody of the first violins is played in the low register of a solo instrument, accompanied by a reduction of the
Violin give the benefit of being less intrusive than a shift or string crossing. The lowest position on the violin is referred to as "half position". In this position the first finger is on a "low first position" note, e.g. B on the A string, and the fourth finger is in a downward extension from its regular position, e.g. D on the A string, with the other two fingers placed in between as required. As the position of the thumb is typically the same in "half position" as in first position, it is better thought of as a backwards extension of