The previous article and video documented my first attempts to use a bow on the cello. Now, a full week later and after taking a couple of lessons, I’m playing a C major scale, some exercise, and doing some fiddling around. As a keyboard player, I find a few things to be challenging.
One is this idea that I have to change hand position to a new string to play more notes. I’m used to being able to slide my hands left or right on the keyboard with the notes just kind of laid out one after another. The idea that they might be side-by-side — more like “overlapping” — is challenging. Not phased too much by having to do different things with left hand and right hand — that’s something we also learn in piano 101. Though I’ve never played a guitar, I can imagine that it would be way easier to “hit the right note” if there were frets on the fingerboard. The cello is truly a challenge in terms of intonation. There’s nothing telling me in advance I’m going to put my fingers in exactly the right spot to hit that desired note. I hear it “after” I make my selection of position. Yikes!
I made a short recording improvising on the cello, in Logic Pro (think GarageBand) and then threw it away. I’ll document that kind of thing later on. It was truly terrible.
I think that sounds pretty good to tell you the truth, especially after just a week.
After awhile your fingers will go to the correct position to get the right pitch without having to hear it first. I played trombone in junior and senior high school (until I got braces on my teeth) and positions of the slide are similar.
Your facial expressions says it all. Have fun fingering it out with out getting bow-tied.