so....anyonw out there know any good classical peaces to play on a solo bass?

BACH!
thats all you'll ever need :P

also im wondering if anyone know some more details on the "elgar cello suite"
i only know the name, and want to have a listen to it, its ment to be the hardest cello piece ever composed

Yeah, the Bach cello suites are pretty much the best selection for bass stuff.


I know Chromatic Fantasy, which was written by bach(If I'm not mistaken) then later transcribed to bass and played by Jaco.

there are a couple Tb'ers that do a lot of work with classical music.

David Grossman in particular, uses 6 and 7 strings to get extended range, for stunngingly accurate and precise transcriptions.

I believe Michael Manring did the Boureé, but I don't know if he did it solo bass.

Chip, do you mean Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor?

Ooooh, I love playing classical music on the bass. I play a lot of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Simandl. I'm getting up the will to teach myself Franck's Sonata in A (Allegretto poco mosso), not sure how it'll sound on bass, but it's worth a try.

im not sure, my teacher just mentioned it in a practice horror story, where this girl practiced this one part she couldnt do for 8 hours straight, after that could never play the cello again :\

speaking of Bach on bass, who's done versions of Toccata and Fugue? I've checked out Fred T Baker's version that's on the Shuker basses website http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/ - which is okay, but the tone is horribly thin.

Depending on what you classify as 'Classical' I play many pieces on electric bass, Beethovens piano sonatas are very difficult to play on bass. Try the second mvmnt to 'The Tempest'!!

Bach's Cello Suites are great fun on bass - no real need to get a version transcribed for Electric Bass, unless you want to pay more for it... I used the Cello version for reading practice for years - on four string bass you just have to move the low Ds and Cs up an octave, which is fairly easy to do, and fairly good practice in its own right.

The other book that's great fun if you've got someone else to play with is the Bach two-part inventions. There are also three part inventions which you could do (not tried those) and I think four part inventions too...

Michael does a very fine version of Cello Suite number 1.

cheers

Steve
www.stevelawson.net

I'm primarily a soloist of avant-garde classical music for the
bass. Aside from having
commissioned about 100 works there are a few "older" pieces that i can recommend.

First - George Crumb's cello sonata. You will have to do some scordatura but other than that you'll be fine.

Second- John Cage's composed improvisation for electric bass. this is a fun piece.

third - Christian Wolff's bass solo "Untitled" (written for me I might add..)
and also his "Bass exercise out of Bandiera Rosa."

I know it's not quiet the same, but I believe Engie Malmstein did some amazing classcial renditions on his electric axe... ;)

Originally posted by Howard K
I know it's not quiet the same, but I believe Engie Malmstein did some amazing classcial renditions on his electric axe... ;)

If my brother saw that spelling he'd hunt you down for sure. He's a full on Malmsteen (cant spell the first name) nerd, always practicing his stuff. He even developed repative-strain-injury according to the doc (saw him a few days back) from playing '14 hours a day' since he left college...

PS - that toccata recording by Fred Baker sounds good!

To Borknagar - the intro to Cryptopsy's 'Phobophile' (assuming you like them due to your screen name) kind of has a classical feel to it and is easy to play. The bass part is only a bar or so long (you could learn the 10 sec piano intro too I guess).

It's Yngwie Malmsteen.

I'm trying on the prelude to Bach's Cello suite no 4 (Eb major) right now. If I can nail it convincingly on fretless, I'll be a happy man. A happy, suprised man. :)

The legato bits are causing me lots of trouble.

When you guys play the solo cello/violin stuff by Bach on the bass, do you guys transpose it to make it more "playable" or do you play it in it's original key? Guitarists play those pieces as well, but some change the keys of a suite to enable the addition of thier own original counterpoint to the original melody. Sometimes it's also just for convenience, ie suite no 4 in Eb to E.

I can't remember the site, but there was this one guy who was planning to record the cello suites on a six string bass. I'd have to get back to you on that one because I have to re-find the site. It's got lots of Bach arranged in MIDI.

I've heard Edgar Meyer tackle 3 of the cello suites (no 1, 2 and 4). I like what I hear, but you have to bear in mind that I don't play double bass so I can't judge on the technical merits. I also had a gaze inside Double Bassist magazine and saw a review of a double bassist (who's name escapes me) that recorded a double Cd of all 6 cello pieces. The editor unfortunately gave it a horrifying verdict with two thumbs down. I've heard BWV 1001 - 1006 and BWV 1007 -1012 played on the guitar and lute plenty of times, but I have yet to come across a recording of the Bach cello and/or violin solo pieces for the big Db (aside from Meyer). I'm really eager to hear it one day.

----------------------

Hi Don Z, are there any pieces composed for unaccompanied bass from your commissions?

"I also had a gaze inside Double Bassist magazine and saw a review of a double bassist (who's name escapes me) that recorded a double Cd of all 6 cello pieces."

What I ment was all 6 cello suites, ooops..... :eek:

there's a quicktime video clip of John Patitucci playing Bach's G major prelude on Yamaha TRB6 string on this site-
http://www.aic.se/basslob/

99% of my commissions are for solo bass.

Hi Don,

When you play your solo pieces, are there lots of classical DB-ists watching as well? Some people can get pretty conservative when people play solo music on bass guitar and DB...but that's good that you're doing stuff like that.


-Jerome

I've been a soloist for 13 years now. My audience is very small; usually college music dept. types... Usually because I'm playing their compositions.

There are always Db'ers in the crowd and to be honest in playing contemporary classical music most of the players are very open minded; they have to be to be playing this kind of music.

Every so often a db'er will give me some flack so I just ask if I can try out his or her bass and that usually settles it...

Originally posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator
speaking of Bach on bass, who's done versions of Toccata and Fugue? I've checked out Fred T Baker's version that's on the Shuker basses website http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/ - which is okay, but the tone is horribly thin.

If anyone's interested - I've typed out the first 1 min 50 (whole thing = 2min 50) of 'Fred Bakers' version of 'Tocatta' on guitar pro including tab+notation.

You'll ned a 5 string bass to play it though, I did try doing it for a 4 string with a bit of detuning but its not really possible past a certain point :'O(

reply here/pm me if you want the GP file/ascii tab file + midi file.

Yoshi, please PM your mailing address to me so i can send you those score.

and..The Bach is possible on a 4 string- just tune it C G D A - like a 'cello. I Do it all the time !

Originally posted by DonZ
Yoshi, please PM your mailing address to me so i can send you those score.

and..The Bach is possible on a 4 string- just tune it C G D A - like a 'cello. I Do it all the time !

Hi again, I PM'd you my email address, thanks by the way!

Thanks for the tuning suggestion too. This music editing softwares pretty good actually, I figured out a way to change the string number to 4 and the tuning to CGDA and it moved all of the notes to the suitable fret position!

I now plan to set my old bass up in CGDA tuning and I'll learn Toccata on that!

Thanks again

- ps if anyone wants ther tocatta file in either 5 string standard or 4 string CGDA just PM me!

If my brother saw that spelling he'd hunt you down for sure. He's a full on Malmsteen (cant spell the first name) nerd, always practicing his stuff. He even developed repative-strain-injury according to the doc (saw him a few days back) from playing '14 hours a day' since he left college...

Really! Blimey! I thought your brothers type were all long gone! The guitarist in my band has produced a large quantity of Malsteins albums, I've heard some interesting stories about "wingnut", as he's known to those who work with him. Apparently he is as tasteless and crass in person as he comes accross in his music. Just an opinion of course ;)

Originally posted by Howard K


Really! Blimey! I thought your brothers type were all long gone! The guitarist in my band has produced a large quantity of Malsteins albums, I've heard some interesting stories about "wingnut", as he's known to those who work with him. Apparently he is as tasteless and crass in person as he comes accross in his music. Just an opinion of course ;)

Sadly not. Worse still, probably the only two malstenites in a 500 mile radius and their both in my band...

:mad: :bawl: ;)

Originally posted by Steve Lawson
Bach's Cello Suites are great fun on bass - no real need to get a version transcribed for Electric Bass, unless you want to pay more for it... I used the Cello version for reading practice for years - on four string bass you just have to move the low Ds and Cs up an octave, which is fairly easy to do, and fairly good practice in its own right.

The other book that's great fun if you've got someone else to play with is the Bach two-part inventions. There are also three part inventions which you could do (not tried those) and I think four part inventions too...

Michael does a very fine version of Cello Suite number 1.

cheers

Steve
www.stevelawson.net

The cello suites are good reading, and sound great, and as others have mentioned, CGDA tuning, or a 5 string make them possible as written.

The inventions are fun like you say. A guitarist friend of mine and I have done inventions 1 & 8 together, and this summer we plan to record all 15 to CD. That should be a great project, as they are great pieces of music.


I really must hear Michael's version of the prelude to cello suite 1, as I've played that one, though I've forgotten most of it.

Hey guys, check out

www.bassplace.com/AC020.html

It's a book by a BG'ist named Bennett L. Cohen and it's called "Great Instrumental Works of JS Bach - Transcribed for Solo Electric Bass". The book's collection is as follows:

Sonata No. 2 in A minor for solo violin (BWV 1002)
Grave
Fuga
Andante
Allegro

Partita in A minor for solo flute (BWV 1013)
Allemande
Corrente
Sarabande
Bourree Anglaise

Partita No. 3 in E major for solo violin (BWV 1006)
Gavotte en rondeau (<==real nice song! - J)

Chorale from Cantata No. 147 (BWV 147)


Book:
$ 9.95 (US)

As to whether these solo arrangements are any good, I absolutely have no idea.

-Jerome

Originally posted by Borknagar
so....anyonw out there know any good classical peaces to play on a solo bass?


I arranged the Bach two part Piano inventions for 7 string bass in the mid 1980's. I had to change some of the octaves to fit into the limitattions of a 7 string , 4 1/2 octave bass. The fingerings were taken from my 9 and 10 string fingerings , 4ths tuning from the 1970's.

Keep in mind that your left hand plays the left hand piano part and your right hand plays the right hand piano part. It requires the use of all four fingers of each hand . If you are interested in deveolping your two handed independence ,this is the way to go.

Please feel free to email me if you are interested in hearing / seeing invention #1 peformed on 7 string bass on a home video and learning how to approach these great Bach works adapted for 7 string bass.

At the risk of having TB'ers jump all over me , I will say that to my knowledge , my adaptations of these inventions to 7 string bass guitar are the first ,most accurate , if not the only ones available. I made a home video of me performing invention #1 in C major which will be posted somewhere as soon as I can figure out how to get a quicktime move posted somewhere.

Ninestring: I'm very interested in seeing that.

How large is the file, and is there any chance of converting it to a more windows friendly format? Either way, if it's not too big I can possibly host it.

This reminded me that I was watching the Proms on TV from the Albert Hall last month and there was one Prom devoted to British Music in honour of thr Queen who was attending and the Orchestra played a piece by Mark Anthony Turnage which had bass guitar - so at one point the cameras even focused on the bass guitar player and he was really pulling the strings - like the pop in slap/pop!!

The piece was called "Momentum" - try this link :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/eventsbyday/30july.shtml

Originally posted by MontyP
Ninestring: I'm very interested in seeing that.

How large is the file, and is there any chance of converting it to a more windows friendly format? Either way, if it's not too big I can possibly host it.


I hvae Final Cut Pro and Premier and can save it in most standard fromats . if I cut it down to one piece of music ,it shouldn't very to large to send.I am not to familar with either of these programs yet, so any suggestions are appreciated on format,etc, Thanks

Actually you likely know more than I do about video editing - I've got next to no idea. I just like a media format that I can play in Windows Media Player, even though I do have Real and Quicktime. I like avi's and mpegs, but I've got absolutely no idea how one compares to the next.

If you can get it to 4megs or under for the one video file, I can host it I think. PM or email me for more details.

Originally posted by MontyP
Actually you likely know more than I do about video editing - I've got next to no idea. I just like a media format that I can play in Windows Media Player, even though I do have Real and Quicktime. I like avi's and mpegs, but I've got absolutely no idea how one compares to the next.

If you can get it to 4megs or under for the one video file, I can host it I think. PM or email me for more details.

will do -do we want Bach invention # 1 on 7 or 9 string ? Thanks

How about both? If it won't be too large, I don't mind.

I'll see how big the file is. I'll PM you when it's complete.I'll post some notes on the video here once you get it. Thanks.

you can play bach's violin sonatas and partitas on bass and they sound quite beautiful, as well as the mozart violin concertos. mmmmmm

scarlati's cello sonatas sound freaking awesome on bass.

I played Bach's partita #3 Gavotte en Rondeau for my sophomore recital, it works great transposed to A. Remind us when you get up the video of the Bach invention, I'm working on tapping both parts of #4 right now. It's killing me :D

Invention # 4 is a good one. If you play the left hand part on your bass as you would a normal bass clef part and play the right hand part and fit the treble clef part on to your bass ,you will see what you have to work with as far as rearranging octaves. I originally played theses on a 7 string and now I still run out of notes on my 9 string. Even with the high Eb string you have to make adjustments when playing both parts together ,as they were intended to be played.
I am on a mini tour and will be back the 11th.We will try to get invention #1 up soon after that and perhaps invention #4 as well.
You just have to be patient as you work on these,but the work is well worth it.

Well I'm playing it on six string so there aren't any notes out of my range. Some of the fingerings I'm having to use in order to keep the upper strings free are a little odd though. Great music though, it's well worth the challenge.

Originally posted by ole Jason
Well I'm playing it on six string so there aren't any notes out of my range. Some of the fingerings I'm having to use in order to keep the upper strings free are a little odd though. Great music though, it's well worth the challenge.

I don't have the range on my 41/2 7 string bass. In order to play the Bach two part inventions smoothly with two handed independence, I had to change some of the octaves. I do have the range on my 51/3 octave 9 string. I strill choose to change some of the octaves so I don't have to deal with cross handed playing.It still sounds great ,but I drop the bass part down inorder to make use of the full range of the bass. A listener knows its not a guitar when they hear a recording.
I have spent a number of years working out fingerings that work best for me and give me the experience a pianist gets playing these pieces.

After much time spent messing with Adobe Premeire,Final Cut Pro,Media Cleaner and a few others video editing program,I was able to make a 30 second clip,It is only a section of Bach two part invention #1,. Played on 9 string ,that would be 3 mb in size and be easy to email. The one minute version took up 17 mb and even compressing it reduced it to 9mb.(I could get a job as a video editor after that nightmare)

The visual lags behind the audio,but it will give you an idea of what I am doing.. It is a section where the left hand part will wind up on the same string as the right part,and the "work around" was not fun,so I dropped a few notes an octave to keep it flowing.

I realize that my fingering may not be as good as some of the heavy weight 7 and 9 string players on TalkBass who may be playing these inventions , but they work well and are easy to play.

If anyone would lke to know more on how I approach two handed independence on the 6+ string bass guitars,feel free to email me. I also have a 7 string version i worked out about 20 years ago,which is one of the reasons I thought of having a 7 string bass built back then.

Playing these inventions and having them sound good on a 7 is a challenge because you are limited to only 4 1/2 octaves. If you want me to email the Quicktime movie to you,send me your email address that can handle a 3mb file.

take a look at Victor Wootens piece he did called "Classical Thump"...great song from the classical era that he redid...i was wowed

Originally posted by yoshi
If anyone's interested - I've typed out the first 1 min 50 (whole thing = 2min 50) of 'Fred Bakers' version of 'Tocatta' on guitar pro including tab+notation.

You'll ned a 5 string bass to play it though, I did try doing it for a 4 string with a bit of detuning but its not really possible past a certain point :'O(

reply here/pm me if you want the GP file/ascii tab file + midi file.


You can send it to me at rterry@tesc.edu if you want.