Col legno

The earliest known use of col legno in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke", from the First Part of Ayres (1605) by Tobias Hume, where he instructs the gambist to "drum this with the backe of your bow".

[1] The percussive sound of battuto has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact.

This is much less common, and the plain marking col legno is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto.

The sound produced by col legno tratto is very quiet, with an overlay of white noise, but the pitch of the stopped note can be clearly heard.

[2] Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further percussive, lighter sound.