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crobbins
Senior Member
Username: crobbins

Post Number: 744
Registered: 6-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 9:29 am:   Edit Post

Fall in a standard bass scale?
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 1442
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 9:43 am:   Edit Post

Got this from Wikipedia..thinking of playing some cello stuff on the bass crobbins??..there are plenty of midi files out there which you can download and open up in Cakewalk for the stave

800px-Range_cello[1].png
crobbins
Senior Member
Username: crobbins

Post Number: 745
Registered: 6-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 9:56 am:   Edit Post

I started learning the Bach Cello Suite I Prelude. Still have a long ways to go. I figured it might be helpful for my playing technique.

http://abel.hive.no/trumpet/bach/cellosuite/
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 1445
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 1:26 pm:   Edit Post

that looks a interesting piece to play,all 16th notes..I think I will have a go of that myself, thanks for the link crobbins..a challenge for future
adriaan
Moderator
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 2709
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 1:45 pm:   Edit Post

Steady as she goes, no need to play fast. 60 bpm should be fine, make sure it sounds like a dainty sort of dance.
crobbins
Senior Member
Username: crobbins

Post Number: 746
Registered: 6-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 2:13 pm:   Edit Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6yuR8efotI
bass6
Junior
Username: bass6

Post Number: 23
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 2:50 pm:   Edit Post

The open c is your fourth fret c on your a string. The open g ( on the cello ) is your open g. The open d is your 7th fret d on your g string and the open a is your 14 fret on the g string of your bass. Hope this helps out.
bass6
Junior
Username: bass6

Post Number: 24
Registered: 10-2007
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 2:53 pm:   Edit Post

I see a mistake. The low c of the cello is the 3rd fret of the a string not the 4th.
jimmyj
Advanced Member
Username: jimmyj

Post Number: 243
Registered: 8-2008
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 4:19 pm:   Edit Post

The confusion comes from the fact that bass (or double-bass) actually sounds an octave lower than written. So if you are reading the cello music on a 5-string bass it is actually sounding an octave below the cello.
The Bach suites are great practice material with the exception of the bits in tenor clef (which stop me cold) and #5 which was written for special tuning (!!) Decoding that would take some thinking...
Jimmy J
crobbins
Senior Member
Username: crobbins

Post Number: 747
Registered: 6-2004
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 5:51 pm:   Edit Post

So far I'm just learning one measure at a time.

Has anyone tried tuning a 4 string bass like a cello?

Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C2 (two octaves below middle C) as the lowest string, followed by G2, D3, and A3. It is tuned the same way as the viola, but an octave lower.
jimmyj
Advanced Member
Username: jimmyj

Post Number: 244
Registered: 8-2008
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 7:29 pm:   Edit Post

Good question! Violin, viola, and cello are all tuned in fifths so that means somebody (several hundred years ago) decided the string length of the double bass either made the reach too large, or the top string too thin, or whatever, and they went to fourths.

Double bass string length is generally somewhere between 42-44" and cello is around 27.5". So one would think that a short scale electric bass at around 30" could be played in fifths with a bit of effort... Mandolin is fifths and roughly the same scale as violin but with frets.

I had heard a rumor that Jack Bruce used to do this. I know he was a cello player so it could have happened, but I'm not sure.

And Allan Holdsworth, who also played violin, used a fifths tuning occasionally while playing the SynthAxe. Some songs switched tunings mid-song. He also had a couple guitars strung that way. Yeah, crazy.

Jimmy J
harald_rost
Advanced Member
Username: harald_rost

Post Number: 208
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Monday, December 06, 2010 - 11:42 pm:   Edit Post

Also the Chapman Stick (a Tapping instrument) has the bass strings tuned in 5th with the standard tuning!
Harald
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 1446
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 07, 2010 - 5:53 am:   Edit Post

just downloaded all pdf files, I think I had better get my Royal School of Music Theory book out of retirement and have a read.
Just a quick overview of this stuff would make a great bass solo!
It is actually an alto clef, the tenor one is a stave line higher
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 1447
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Tuesday, December 07, 2010 - 6:24 am:   Edit Post

just downloaded all pdf files, I think I had better get my Royal School of Music Theory book out of retirement and have a read.
Just a quick overview of this stuff would make a great bass solo!
It is actually an alto clef, the tenor one is a stave line higher
rami
Senior Member
Username: rami

Post Number: 949
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Tuesday, December 07, 2010 - 11:36 am:   Edit Post

That piece is well transcribed in "J.S. Bach for Bass". It also has tabs which help for positioning.

There's some really great stuff. Cello Suites, Violin Partitas and Sonatas - all transcribed for the electric Bass.

Good luck - :-)

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