Are you a beginner cellist? Are you looking for easy cello songs to learn and play? If so, you have come to the right place! This blog post will discuss some fun and simple tunes that are perfect for beginners. These songs are easy to learn, and they sound great when played on the cello.…
Vertigo Cello by Cinematique Instruments Cinematique Instruments continued with Vertigo Cello the Vertigo family. Vertigo Cello is a melange of 15 finely and thoroughly picked articulations of the cello. All of these playing techniques can be freely mixed and individually tuned, enabling your vision of cello sound in an intuitive and simple way. The overall…
Cello Wolf Tone Eliminator A “wolf tone” is a naturally occurring acoustic phenomenon where the sympathetic resonance of overtones clashes. This is a result partly of equal temperament, the preferred system of tuning in the modern world in which every note is as equally in tune as out of tune. In practice, this makes fifths…
Cello Practice: Thumb Position Thanks for watching our video on thumb position! Thumb position is a great way to expand how many notes you can play in a given hand position, and is all but essential for playing up high on the instrument. Playing the cello is far from a trivial pursuit, but it is…
Cello Technique: Spiccato Thanks for watching our video on the spiccato/sautillé bow strokes! These are essential ways of getting short sounds out of the cello, in contrast to the long, or legato, playing that we typically start with. Playing the cello is far from a trivial pursuit, but it is also an immensely rewarding experience…
Cello Posture Peg by Linda West Thanks for watching our video reviewing this posture peg made by Linda West, based out of Santa Barbara, CA. I finally tried this out a few years ago after seeing it pop up around some orchestras, and after getting kind of annoyed that the low c peg always got…
The Book of Pieces for the Cello Thanks for watching our video on the Joy of Music, a book of virtuoso and entertaining pieces for the cello! I had a lot of fun looking through this book, and there’s definitely some nice challenging pieces in there for the determined intermediate to advanced player. Playing the…
Fantastic Finger Guides Thanks for watching our video reviewing the Fantastic Finger Guides! Without frets or any visual reference, learning where to place your fingers on the cello and how to change positions has always been down to muscle memory, and occasionally dots or stripe tapes for beginners. Now, Fantastic Finger Guides has a product…
Shifting to Second, Third, and Fourth Positions on the Cello Thanks for watching our video on shifting to second, third, and fourth positions on the cello! One of the biggest road blocks I’ve noticed with early beginners is trusting shifting to different positions. And yet very little music can be played without this indispensable component…
Cello – Humidity and Weather Control Even relatively mild heat can actually melt the varnish on top of the instrument, or even the glue holding the instrument together. Similarly, too much humidity, or a sudden absence of humidity, can cause either similar disassembly or parts of the cello to crack. And not to mention a…
Cello Posture & Instrument Position Thanks for watching our video on cello posture! In this video, we take a closer look at a topic from our very first cello video. Cello playing position is important to get right, both so that you have the right mechanical advantage to play cello well and so that you…
Intonation Cello Concepts In this video we introduce some of the concepts around why intonation can be so tricky to get right, and how we can practice systematically and intuitively to make our playing more in tune. The most significant wrench in any of our plans to be in tune is first deciding what tuning…
Library Spotlight – Ashen Scoring Cello Ashen Scoring Cello is a solo cello library with an intimate tone, born out of insomnia and the idea of minimal post-classical compositions, trailer music, and post-horror soundtracks with its woebegone atmosphere. It concentrates on a highly expressive and emotive playing style.
How to Play Thunderstruck By AC/DC Like 2Cellos Overall, this is a medium level difficulty piece, which means that it will come with challenges, but is accessible at most skill levels with enough time working it out slowly. In this video I show you all the main parts, with useful tips on how to play…
How Much Does a Cello Cost? Thanks for watching our video on cello pricing, good brands, and finding a beginner cello! It’s important to understand pricing so you don’t end up paying more than you need to in the end. Hopefully, the information is helpful to you, and we’d love to hear any comments or…
Cello Technique: String Crossing Thanks for watching our video on string crossings! It can be a pretty frustrating part of playing the cello that you have to change strings you are playing; starting a whole new engine practically. This is why it is so common to experience unintended sounds and just all the gnarly effects…
Cello Double Stops Thanks for watching our video on double stops! Double stops can be thought of as chords on the cello, although usually with fewer notes than chords on piano or guitar. The ‘stop’ part of the name comes from the imagery that when you play a note your finger stops in that location…
How to Stop Pegs from Slipping This can be a frustrating experience as you’re trying so hard already to play in tune, and then the peg slips and your string is useless until you bring it back up – if it stays. Well, there are two main reasons the peg will slip, and both come…
Ashen Scoring Cello for Kontakt Player Ashen Scoring Cello is a solo cello library with an intimate tone, born out of insomnia and the idea of minimal post-classical compositions, trailer music, and post-horror soundtracks with its woebegone atmosphere. It concentrates on a highly expressive and emotive playing style. Every note is sampled with multiple dynamics…
What is the Highest Note You Can Play on Cello What is the highest note you can play on cello! For this video I decided to push the limit on my instrument, because I had never actually tested what the highest note I could get to “speak” is. As it turns out, it’s an E,…
Louré or Portato Bow Stroke on the Cello hank you for watching our video on louré, or portato, bowing. In our lessons series so far we’ve mainly covered legato, or long bowing. But in between long, connected bows and separated bows there is an in between, where separate bows can be articulated without changing bow…
Is Cello Hard? In this video, we discuss the question that is not just common, but reasonable to ask in pursuit of learning the instrument. As I discuss towards the end of the video, the best place to start is with an attitude of humility for all the people who are trained from a young…
Difference Between Cello and Bass If you’re trying to decide if you should choose between cello and bass, if you’re hoping to learn one then the other, or if you’re just a casual observer of this channel and like learning information, this video will help elucidate the differences between cello and bass. First, to get…
Best Cello Rosin. 5 Rosins Compared Thanks for watching our video on which cello rosin is best! Rosin is a crucial part of cello playing – you can’t get any sound from the bow without it! In this video we review five of the most popular rosins on Amazon, covering the cheapest to most expensive…
How to String a Cello Totally stringing a cello from scratch is best left to the professionals! Look up a luthier or violin shop in your area to get your instrument set up (and hopefully get your instrument from them too!) However, putting strings on your cello, putting them back on if they slip, replacing…
How to Play the Detaché Bow Stroke on Cello The detaché cello bow stroke is one of the most commonly used bow strokes. It simply means detached, and is in contrast on either side to legato, which means connected or slurred, and marcato, which means accented. To play detaché we will need to first have…
How To Hold A Cello Bow Learning to hold the cello bow is one of the most important – yet challenging – aspects of playing the cello. In this introductory cello bow guide, we get you started on how to hold the bow – the proper bow hold – and basically cello bowing technique. The…
How to Tune a Cello Learning how to tune a cello is one of the essential first steps in playing a cello. It’s a lot harder to play with the strings out of tune – and even harder if they aren’t even on the right pitch! Standard tuning for the cello is listed above, ADGC…
Getting Started Reading Cello Sheet Music Learning how to read music can seem like a daunting task at first, but in this lesson, we break down the beginning steps to associating written music in bass clef to the strings of the cello, and introduce the basic rhythmic values. Unfortunately, “cello clef” doesn’t really exist apart…
How to Play the Bach Suite No. 1 on Cello (Prelude) The prelude of the first cello suite by Bach is probably the most famous piece for the cello written ever. Also famously was how the legendary Yo Yo Ma began learning cello right from the beginning – learning bar by bar one bar a…
What is the Difference Between a Cello and Violin Whether you’re trying to decide between learning cello and violin, or if you just like learning new information about music, we discuss the differences between violin and cello in this video. Firstly, there is some relatability between the two instruments, as they are both tuned in…
Beginner Repertoire for Cello After desiring playing cello only to find the grunt work involved in finding a cello, learning how to set it up, learning how to use your hands for it, and trying to get a sound and some basic scales, the itch for actually playing some music can be quite strong. It…
How to Play First Position on Cello Learning where first position is the essential starting place of learning to actually play melodies on the cello – after all, it’s the first one! Why it’s called first position is that it makes playing in the keys of the open strings really easy – no finger extensions…
How to Play First Position on Cello Learning where first position is the essential starting place of learning to actually play melodies on the cello – after all, it’s the first one! Why it’s called first position is that it makes playing in the keys of the open strings really easy – no finger extensions…
