Cellist needs help!!!

[Metalli Angel]

I have never been classically trained in playing the cello........but I am in fact a very fast learner......I am musically inclined, I've played several instruments in the past but never a stringed one; let alone a classical stringed instrument. I was wondering if anyone had some tips, tricks, secrets to playing the cello.

My biggest area that needs work are my bowing techniques. I was wondering if there were instructional videos anywhere on the web that I could download.

Anyone?

Thanks a million!!!

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Hey!

Get lessons. Even if you only get one or two to get you put on the right track, DO IT. Cello is EXTREMELY difficult.

That said, good luck and I can't wait to hear your music.

 

[Metalli Angel]

Yeah..........therein lies the problem, Matt. With the enormous amount of debt that I'm in....and the fact I work only a part-time minimum wage job creates an extreme roadblock in the idea of me taking cello lessons. And on top of that...I know I am capable of learning this instrument without lessons. Every instrument I had played in the past, I picked up without a single piece of knowledge as to how to play it........and within a few months time I had excelled beyond my expected abilities....even to the point where I was better than most people that had been playing for YEARS.

I found this local black metal band from Smyrna, GA which is comprised of 3 classically trained cellists and a violinist called Delirium. I am trying to contact them in hopes that one of their members would be willing to sit down with me a few times to help me out. But in the meantime I need some resources to allow for my self-training.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

What other instruments do you play?

That would be a good idea, I've never heard of the band but I want to check it out. Sounds like cool music

 

[Metalli Angel]

Yeah they are cool, dark ambient black metal. No drummer though, which doesn't really matter because they pull it off.

I joined the high school band in 9th grade, never having played a brass instrument ever and I picked up the euphonium. By second semester I had made first chair in the intermediate band. The following year they needed a trombonist for a Christmas concert that was 3 weeks away. I also played the marching baritone for 2 years. I learned the trombone and played it perfectly by the time the concert came. The following year they needed an extra trumpet player...which is totally different than the trombone and euphonium.......and I learned that (even after having my braces taken off halfway through). I played the piano when I was younger and was in chorus for 2 years before I joined the band.

Like I said, I'm musically inclined.

 

[genocide roach]

youtube is your friend

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=X8QZxrp8TJ0[/ame]
~gR~

 

[cholo11]

youtube is your friend

True, I just watched a video and was ready to play any violin song. The movement is basically the same than the violin, just change the elbow movement for a shoulder movement and change the wrist movement for an elbow movement.
Forget it if its confusing.

 

[Vimana]

I never found Cello that hard. I used to play it in elementary school.

 

[Metalli Angel]

I've been practicing and it's getting better. The only issue I'm coming across are the speed at which my part is written in one of our songs.....I'll get there eventually.

 

[xeperu]

For cello, I would suggest these two types of bowing when playing arpeggios:

1.Leggato - When you use one stroke of the bow to release several notes, good for melodic phrases because the notes sort of flow into each other. Try this with some notes in a scale and see how it best works for you.

2.Staccato - when you use one stroke of the bow for each individual note, giving a more punching or aggressive sound. Think of it as tremelo picking for the guitar.

Additional tricks:
Pizzicato - basically playing the cello with your fingers like a double bass, I was taught to use my thumb. Works out rather nice.

Vibrato - self explanatory, my favorite part of ending a phrase.

Trill (don't know what it's called in english) - when you cause a vibrato effect between two notes by hammering and pulling off between note A and B. Hard to explain, but easy to show.

Don't be afraid to use chords on the cello as well.