Double Bass How do I buy a cello?

[Tom Lane]

Will do! One thing I imagine is that it will force me out of being lazy and playing familiar patterns, because those patterns no longer work.

Say it, brother! IMHO, all improv revolves around breaking patterns and only hearing and realizing in your mind's ear, melodies. Still on that quest! Looks like a ways to go for me.

 

[Bisounourse]

That's a good point. I could see it being easy to get buried.

It's not really that, my experience is that it worked as a black hole and ate all those frequencies, thus losing all the 'swing'/'groove'/... of the song.

But... I tried it out with the combo tonight! The band is normally guitar, vibes, drums, and bass (me). I told them that I was messing around with the cello, so they encouraged me to bring it. And the drummer's son is learning bass and progressing nicely, so he played with us too.

It's kind of an experimental band anyway. We play whatever the guitarist writes -- modern jazz compositions, plus transcriptions of new material, etc. It's kind of a "workshop," for instance if someone wants to work on some particular thing, the band will oblige. So it's a great chance to try out something new.

I hope it 'll turn out for the best (I started as a cello player, so I do have an affection with the instrument).

So now I get to figure out how to play jazz on cello. Some "problems" for me to solve: First, I just have to get my chops back, in terms of what I hear in my head, coming out of my instrument. I have to be able to switch between 4ths and 5ths tuning, which wasn't a problem when I played both cello and bass in high school. I want to make it sound not like fiddling. And, I've never before had to think about what to do when I'm not the bassist.

I still remember a remark my DB teacher gave me in the first months of learning DB; F# is with a 4th finger, not with your third...

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Sorry Joe.
A $300-500 cello is not unlike a $100 electric bass. I see you are borrowing from a friend ...it may be fine. Let us know how it goes.