In the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, how do you play an A below the G string?

Question

I was curios on how that is possible. But maybe I'm reading it wrong. Oh, well.

Answer 1

You can't. The lowest note a standard violin can play is the G-string itself. The first finger on the G-string will produce an A. If you want to further describe it, or scan it and send me a picture via e-mail, I'll try to help out more. But having read through the Tchaikovsky many times, and having played the violin for 40 years I am not quite sure what you are referring to.
BTW, here's a page that talks about the Tchaikovsky Concerto a little bit. http://www.violinstudent.com/history/december/december4.html

Now there are violins that produce notes lower than the G-string. There are acoustic violins with a fifth string, below the G, but even that string only goes down to C. And there are electric violins with up to 7 strings that bring the possible notes down to those playable by a cello. (Take a look at the Viper by Mark Wood!) http://www.violinstudent.com/biographies/mark1

Hope this helps!