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Musicians needed - muso questions
Topic Started: Mar 14 2012, 12:32 PM (278 Views)
Aware-Adult


A shot in the dark, but does anybody out there play (/ or know) ‘cello?

I’ve received conflicting information about where the ‘positions’ lie on the fingerboard. Rick Mooney’s ‘Position Pieces has lots of examples of playing in ‘Lower Second’ and ‘Upper Second’ position, but I can’t work out where the index (=first) finger should normally fall.

Help <eh??>





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Aware-Adult


With Western music it all comes down to 12 notes, so most instruments can play most tunes to some extent. Guitar, ’cello, it’s still the notes that count <mohawkguitarist> <violin> RUMBABA

Harmony is a bit more tricky for wind instruments and those with limited numbers of strings. But the main difficulty is how tuition often relies on visual ‘shapes’ and finger position patterns which disables the musical part of the brain from concentrating on the auditory elements of music. Some guitar manuals use ‘box’ illustrations or ‘Tab’ for the shape your fingers should make - <doh> aaaarrrgghhhh!

I found this picture of Five positions [click here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4TKpBEyRpTcbTUtTk1GalVUT3FGVGp0VzVQcGdYZw ] which looks convincing and seems to give the note names for the first finger to start on. ‘Cellos are tuned in fifths (like violins) to C,G,D,A so it should be simple enough to find quick routes around the intervals <technicolourcocktail>




Edited by Aware-Adult, Mar 15 2012, 11:51 AM.
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rumbaba
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Not my instrument, I'm afraid AA.
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Aware-Adult


Thanks, it is still western 'tempered' music though. You tune in 4ths (apart from the B, and some alternative tunings), 'cello is in 5ths (mirror image of some guitar strings)

What are your views on 'Tab' or playing scales ad nauseum when it comes to playing with musical sensitivity? <whistles> <eh??>




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rumbaba
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Scales are like any sort of practice: you get out of it what you put into it. If you just bash through them , you get next to nothing out of it but, for guitar away, it is critical to everything. You need to vary it though and not just play scales. I like tab if it has been transcribed well, it saves a lot of time if you want to learn a particular song. You can play around with it later but it is good not to have to do a lot of trial and error. I think it would only work for a fretted instrument though - do you get cello tab?
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Aware-Adult


My experience is that the ‘scale-meisters’ become very good at…. playing scales <yikes> Next time you have a go at a major scale, or natural minor, over three octaves mind, try playing each note with real belief and care :wub: Don’t just plonk through the notes but make each one sing with its own voice for as long as it wants to. Suddenly even E maj can sound musical.

I’ve seen attempts at ‘cello ‘TAB’, and even the image on my previous post is a sort of representation of ‘cello notes based on their physical position. Fretless bass music is written in TAB, so not worth fretting over frets. But quite honestly most music is written in standard notation so you may as well make the effort to learn this rather than some half-way house which will never lead very far (IMHO).

Jazz notation is a bit weird though with the Harmony written out C#-, F#7, Eb demented above the tune. It’s worked for nearly a century now, so I guess has merit as a genuine way to communicate music <guitarist>




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rumbaba
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You are dead right AA about the quality of the notes when playing a scale, and getting the timing as perfect as possible too. That's what I mean by not just bashing through them.
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Aware-Adult


I also mentioned ‘tempered’ music - that’s for when the damn string breaks <doh> No, it’s the way Western music has been pummelled into 12 semitones.

I dabble on Sitar occasionally and there are notes tucked in between the basic tone/semitone. There are 212 microtones - or something ridiculous. But hey, bluesman, you gotta bend the rule sometimes <mohawkguitarist>




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