Classical Music Transcriptions

[tenortoad]

I came across this video quite some time ago, back when I was feeding my huge Flecktones addiction , and I was absolutely floored. I would like to think that a performance like that is solid proof of why classical music has been around for 300-400 years. I was also impressed by how Bela made the point of the underlying musical integrity being the same, regardless of what instrument was used to play it.

Anywho, I am always looking for new things to practice, and I figured: what better way to practice musicality than to transcribe a solo piece from those eras for electric bass guitar? Unfortunately, I'm not as well-versed in that type of literature as I'd like to be, so I'm not aware of what's out there. Another concern I have is overcoming the limitations of my guitar (4-string, 20 frets). Have any of you tried this before? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

 

[BassChuck]

You'll get a lot of responses about the Bach Cello suites. If you go for these, get the original cello music. They have been transcribed for Bass but, depending on the edition, they can have a lot of tenor clef writing (they are done for double bass and the understanding is that double bass players read tenor clef because its used in orchestral parts). I recommend doing them in keys other than the original, but that subject is the point of a good bit of discussion. Generally if you can place them in a key that has as the dominat an open string on the bass, they are easier to pull off.

All string music by Vivaldi is worth looking at. There is a cello piece that is quite good (search YouTube for "Rabath").

Rachmaninoff "Vocalise" is a good piece, and difficult.

Check BassBooks for Bach and you'll find lots of transcriptions that are fun to play. Some are done well.

 

[tenortoad]

Thank you very much for your help! I did all of the searches and I found some really beautiful pieces. Investing in a book of transcriptions seems like a really good idea too. I think I have plenty of material to work with now.