San (散音) are the open-string notes of the guqin. The right hand plucks a string while the left hand leaves it untouched, so the full length of the string vibrates. These notes are the loudest and most resonant on the instrument and often carry the melodic outline in slower pieces.
technique
Open-string notes (san)
散音
Notes produced on the guqin by plucking a string that the left hand does not stop, giving the instrument's deep, resonant low register.
- Type
- technique
- Also known as
- open string, open-string note, 散音
- Updated
- 2026-10-13
- guqin
- right-hand
- open-string
Related knowledge
- Guqin (古琴)
Open-string notes are one of the three fundamental ways a guqin is sounded.
A seven-stringed Chinese zither, plucked with the right hand while the left hand stops the strings or touches them to sound harmonics.
Reading about Open-string notes (san)
Longer pieces on this siteSources for Open-string notes (san)
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · cultural heritage
Supports:
- The guqin as a Chinese zither with a tradition of over 3,000 years
- Seven strings and thirteen marked pitch positions
- The three basic playing techniques: san (open string), an (stopped string) and fan (harmonics), and how each is produced
- The guqin's development as an elite art practised by scholars in intimate settings, not for public performance
- Inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2008, originally proclaimed 2003)