Playing Cello Peices on Bass

[SoleFactionBassist]

Has anyone here played any Cello peices on their bass. If so what were your thoughts on getting a cello sound, I'm playing J.S. Bachs Suite 1 Prelaedium for my year 12 exam later this year and I'm looking for some comments on finger styles I should consider using etc.

[IPolkaLikeThis!]

i read a thing here i think, where a guy tuned his bass in cello tuning, and put a capo on the 12th fret, and then tapped out a Bach cello thingy.

[wonder_steve]

What sort of bass do you have?

I did a year 12 music group exam last year, all the best :thumb:

[fingerstyle]

I did the prelude for my year 12 exam last year. Good choice!

You have no need to tune your bass to cello tuning. J.S. Bach pieces have been played for decades on double and electric bass without changing the standard tuning of the bass, so you have no need to.

I would suggest buying a copy of 'J.S. Bach for Bass' by Josquin des Pres (Mel Bay Publications). That has most of the popular Bach pieces transcribed with notation and tablature for electric bass.

In the case of Bach, it is very important to use 'correct' fingering, and the tabulature helps a lot with this. If you can't get a copy of this book (get it off musicianswarehouse.com.au) I would suggest learning correct double bass fingering and hand positions. There nothing more important in Bach than getting correct fingering to make the phrases sound musical. There's nothing worse than Bach played badly on electric bass!!

In terms of your right hand, you'll want to be sure you start making use of three fingers well. For your left hand, try to stay within position and make good use of all of your fingers.

Remember this is a classical piece so you need to learn about classical technique and playing and apply it to electric bass. Learning classical double bass was a good step for me. Also, its an unaccompanied piece, so work on your tone and dynamics. You have all year so make sure you make good use of your time.

Cheers and good luck!

[tinnitus]

hey man i play the cello, are you playing the whole first suite? or just the prelude, if you play the cello, tune your bass to cello so you can just play it straight off, I can imagine that some parts will be hard to play cause its all based around arpegios and the hand shapes on cello are real conveniant, don't get some shiatty publication of the bach suites, go old school and buy the photocopy hand written by Bach's Wife herself, publications don't know how to phrase for sheet

[Son of Magni]

Using a 5-string makes life a bit easier.

[SixnStones]

technically its possible, but scholars maintain that no-one has ever been able to do it

[EADG]

technically its possible, but scholars maintain that no-one has ever been able to do it


Just to play that piece TS mentioned?

Sheet music please?

[HaVIC5]

Uh, what piece are we talking about here?

And Michael Manring does the 12th fret capo thing. It's pretty wild seeing him go at it - some very odd jumps too.

[EADG]

Uh, what piece are we talking about here?

And Michael Manring does the 12th fret capo thing. It's pretty wild seeing him go at it - some very odd jumps too.


According to the threadstarter, "J.S. Bachs Suite 1 Prelaedium". I have never heard of it before, but I'd love to learn anything that people maintain is "impossible".

[SixnStones]

Just to play that piece TS mentioned?

Sheet music please?

:rolleyes: it starts with s, ends with m, and has ARCAS in the middle

[HaVIC5]

:rolleyes: it starts with s, ends with m, and has ARCAS in the middle
Whoa, lemme get the tabs to that.

[SixnStones]

Whoa, lemme get the tabs to that.

i don't get it, but i am suspicious

[EADG]

:rolleyes: it starts with s, ends with m, and has ARCAS in the middle


Ok, I'm lost here.

[SixnStones]

Ok, I'm lost here.

i was being sarcastic when i said you couldn't play it

[HaVIC5]

So sARCASm is pretty easy then? I thought you just said nobody had ever played it.

[PaulR]

Sarcasm doesn't travel well on the internets at all, does it?

Let that be a lesson to you all.

[fingerstyle]

i have copies of bach suites for cello.. they are the same as the versions i have in the 'J.S Bach for Bass' book..

once again, there is no need to alter your tuning or **** around with capos and rubbish like that. you can easily play it straight off without alteration to your tuning or anything.

the unaccompanied suites are part of the double bass syllabus for year 12 music as well, and i highly doubt anyone would tune their double to cello tuning.

a five string does make the pieces easier as you don't need to shift position as much and make big stretches.

cheers!