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Double Bass Which Bach Cello Suite?
- Thread starter Eli_Upright12
- Start date
IMHO the Gigue from the 1st suite, transposed into C major (Sterling/Peters edition) is the simplest place to start. It is fairly straightforward and only goes up to A. Don't use the printed bowings though- they make ties instead of slurs. If you want suggestions for bowings, check a cello edition or recording. And take it SLOWLY!
The suites are what I call "lifetime" pieces- you spend a lifetime learning and perfecting them, if you can ever get near perfect. For me, they are the must satisfying music I have ever played.
They are all extremely taxing, both musically and technically. If anyone ever tells you that one is "easier" than another, walk away quickly; you will learn nothing useful from him/her.
I love to play the Sterling edition, although many bassists play them higher. To me, the bass "fits" better with the Sterling. I am working on #1 for a recital next spring. I've been playing these for almost 40 years and have tremendous respect for this music.
I'd start with #1, then #3, then 5, 2, and finally 6. Enjoy the journey!
They are all extremely taxing, both musically and technically. If anyone ever tells you that one is "easier" than another, walk away quickly; you will learn nothing useful from him/her.
I love to play the Sterling edition, although many bassists play them higher. To me, the bass "fits" better with the Sterling. I am working on #1 for a recital next spring. I've been playing these for almost 40 years and have tremendous respect for this music.
I'd start with #1, then #3, then 5, 2, and finally 6. Enjoy the journey!
I love the prelude to #2, I can't play it too well, but somedays I just get into the bach mode and play through it. There's another movement from #2 I like, I can't remember exactly what it was. A very slow one though.
That's the one, my girlfriend always makes fun of me when I add a few letter and accidently call it Sarable
Suite #3 I play the Courante, Bouree and Gigue, but transposed down as the notes fall on the bass. Tough but doable, and I have found some of Bach's ideas applicable to jazz soloing, a wonderful benefit.
- Jul 3, 2007
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- Disclosures
- Author of "Soul Fingers." I'm the Duck Dunn expert.
I've been playing the suites for years, and still haven't perfected them.
But that isn't on bass. It's on the euphonium. Still, it has given me way more facility than I thought it could do. I used the prelude from the first one as a warm up. That helped me with big leaps. The list from movements from all across the six suites has done similar things.
I started this in my sophomore year in college. I play a few movements now for auditions. It may take years, but I think it would be good.
I remember reading the liner notes from Meyer's recording, and he says somewhere that he started practicing these at an early age, and it was something like 16th note=60. I think he said something about waiting something like 15-20 years or so (can't remember exactly) before he recorded the suites. I think I may do the same thing with them to add to my improvement with a bow. That sounds like a plan.
Nick
But that isn't on bass. It's on the euphonium. Still, it has given me way more facility than I thought it could do. I used the prelude from the first one as a warm up. That helped me with big leaps. The list from movements from all across the six suites has done similar things.
I started this in my sophomore year in college. I play a few movements now for auditions. It may take years, but I think it would be good.
I remember reading the liner notes from Meyer's recording, and he says somewhere that he started practicing these at an early age, and it was something like 16th note=60. I think he said something about waiting something like 15-20 years or so (can't remember exactly) before he recorded the suites. I think I may do the same thing with them to add to my improvement with a bow. That sounds like a plan.
Nick
I played Bouree I and II from suite 3 for a recital and read them in as if they were in tenor clef (they're in bass clef) and added a sharp, so I clef-transposed them from C to G. Playing them was (and is, as it is a life-long process to play, improve, and perfect any mvmt. from any cello suite) a great exploration of the middle of the fingerboard on ALL strings (say, roughly, from "d" on the g string to "c" in thumb position, but across the fingerboard on all strings). Playing Bach will do wonders for your articulation, bow agility, and overall ability to interpret.
Yeah Ive noticed that, but I have started with a new teacher and he has Diana Gannett's bowings which are a lot better.
Eventually you'll understand which notes are melody, which imply a bassline or help outline harmony, which are really just ornaments, etc. and you may begin to change your bowings accordingly to suit how you hear it. Remember each movement (except the preludes) is written in a dance form. That helped me hear what's going on much more clearly. What are you working on?
I have always loved the suites because they are such great MUSIC. Some of the stuff written for bass sounds like just that, stuff written for bass.
I started with the Minuets from the first suite, transposed down a fifth, to C major/C minor. These lay well in the mid-register and are great fun. Then I went to the Prelude to the second suite, again transposed down a fifth, to G minor. Again, it lays well on the bass and corresponds approximately to how the music lays on the cello (in terms of difficulty).
As others have mentioned, there are many examples of others messing around with keys on these pieces. All this happened with my former teacher, a true monster, guiding me with fingering, bowings, and encouragement.
I found that the strength of the lines helped my bebop playing, too! I didn't anticipate that benefit, but it makes total sense in retrospect - what is baroque but bop with a different rhythmic continuum and slightly different harmonic landscape?
I am just getting into the challenge of playing them at original pitch. I will never sound as good as Edgar Meyer, though. Great fun...great pieces.
I started with the Minuets from the first suite, transposed down a fifth, to C major/C minor. These lay well in the mid-register and are great fun. Then I went to the Prelude to the second suite, again transposed down a fifth, to G minor. Again, it lays well on the bass and corresponds approximately to how the music lays on the cello (in terms of difficulty).
As others have mentioned, there are many examples of others messing around with keys on these pieces. All this happened with my former teacher, a true monster, guiding me with fingering, bowings, and encouragement.
I found that the strength of the lines helped my bebop playing, too! I didn't anticipate that benefit, but it makes total sense in retrospect - what is baroque but bop with a different rhythmic continuum and slightly different harmonic landscape?
I am just getting into the challenge of playing them at original pitch. I will never sound as good as Edgar Meyer, though. Great fun...great pieces.
I agree. I've always felt that the suites were one of very few examples of music in the world which speak for themselves. I know some people believe they are "just music", but I find them to be somewhat more than human. If god exists, there is nowhere in the world he is more present than in the suites.
Don't start with that attitude. True, many people will never reach that height of playing, but at least one person did. Therefor, it is entirely possible that another might. Never limit yourself. Just find the sound you want, and work tirelessly to achieve it.
I am 57, and I have been playing about six years, the first four of which I had weekly private lessons. I have really enjoyed the two bourees from the third suite.
I have not found them overly difficult and find them most rewarding, but I play them directly from the cello book, because I have never learned the tenor clef and I am not really confident in thumb postition, except for basic arpeggios.
I have spent most of the six years playing in a community orchestra, and lately in a salsa big band, and jazz quintet, so I have had little time for study of the serious solo repertoire.
Never the less I find those two pleasing in the cello key, and quite playable.
I have not found them overly difficult and find them most rewarding, but I play them directly from the cello book, because I have never learned the tenor clef and I am not really confident in thumb postition, except for basic arpeggios.
I have spent most of the six years playing in a community orchestra, and lately in a salsa big band, and jazz quintet, so I have had little time for study of the serious solo repertoire.
Never the less I find those two pleasing in the cello key, and quite playable.
