I actually plucked up the courage and went and hired a cello at the weekend. I didn't think I'd be able to afford to learn to play cello till next year, but I've recently moved to a new flat with cheaper rent and the rent on the cello was only £60 for three months (though I can't extend the rental period - I have to decide whether to buy after that!).

I have my first lesson tomorrow: I'm so excited!

Was trying it out at the weekend, and am discovering things (which I'm sure will be able to be put right when I start lessons!) such as the strings feel a lot flatter than on a violin: I'm struggling to play the right string!; it is much harder work on my right arm than the violin is; and I keep bashing the bow against one or other of my knees.

I was very naughtily using my violin music to play the cello, which is clearly going to cause problems when introduced to bass clef tomorrow!

Yay

It's so exciting starting a new instrument sounds like you'll have lots of fun! I had a little go on my teachers violin in my lesson which apart from it's smaller size the strings didn't seem much different to my viola, so I presume the jump happens at the cello is this to do with how it is played?

Normally shops do let you extend the rental period over three months, if you don't buy after the three but still want to carry on playing, give me a shout I know somewhere that will let you rent for as long as you like and you get the first 8 months plus service charge off the cost.

I want a violin...

I have always wanted a violin, but was given a cello when I started secondary school because that was the only instrument they had spaces on. Didn't particularly like cello (too big and growly), but a still want a violin...

You aren't helping on the tempation front with all your new string instruments...(I wonder how much it will cost to get my car through its MOT...and if I could maybe squeeze a bit of spare money...)

I suspect it's something to do with me not playing it properly!



The place I hired from don't normally rent instruments out, but they had a student kit that they agreed to rent to me as a one off, hence why I can't extend the term. I know there is another place in my city that rent out cellos, but the place I went to I knew were reputable (I'm sure the other place is too: but I knew the place I went to was!) and also they are much closer to my flat!

You can have a shot of mine if you come to Leeds.



You see, this is why I can afford to play cello - I don't have a car to run! (Due to me being behind the wheel of a car probably being the world's worst safety hazard!) Sadly it does mean having to cart instruments on buses - not good with the manic bus drivers - try keeping your balance walking downstairs and then to the front of the bus just before your stop when your hands are full of violin.

Sell the car, buy a violin

Can't sell the car. Still have a bit of fieldwork to do for my PhD and the North Pennines aren't very accessible without a car. The problem will come if getting my car through it's MOT costs more than I've got saved up for it - there are a few things that need fixing. What I'm hoping is that it might be less than I've saved and then I could get a violin...

Hope you enjoy the cello false_harmonic. I really liked the G, D and A strings of my cello when I was playing in thumb position, but never liked the sound of the instrument in the lower positions, and my hands were too small for anything below 4th position.

Be warned - a better cello can make an enormous difference. When the school took away my 3/4 size cello (the music service wanted it for a smaller player in another school ) I was given an absolutely hideous full size. It was old and in poor condition, could only be used with gut strings because it couldn't take the higher tension of other strings, wouldn't stay in tune for more than 10 minutes, had a bridge that kept collapsing and the tailpiece was unstable. Was very glad to get a better cello when someone else quit...

Getting a new instrument is so exciting!

I decided to learn the violin and get lessons for that, of course I *could* have learned to drive but where's the fun in that! Plus I couldn't afford to run a car!

Us petrolheads may disagree ... then again you can get a decent Violin for less than a good sports / classic car ...

The bow-hold on a cello is slightly different to a bow-hold on a violin so this is something you will need to check with your teacher. I suppose you also know that you finger 1,3,4 (rather than 1,2,3).

Yes: though I actually only found out very recently after someone posted something about it on this forum! After having tried the instrument out though I imagine I would have worked this out even without prior warning - the notes are so far apart it would seem crazy to do anything else!

As a fellow cello player, I have to say you have made a great choice and are taking the first steps into an exciting world! You describe common challenges with the right arm aches and bowing without bashing into your knees. A good teacher will help you with this and make sure you develop optimal technique. Don't worry - muscle memory does kick in relatively quickly and you will find it natural before you know it. Do post and let us know how your lesson goes or went (it was today right?).

Aaah that makes a lot more sense now
Tried my friend's cello
Was truly hopeless
Would have helped if i wasn't doing 1,2,3 fingering and wondering how on earth cellists play in tune

Where I got totally lost was when my daughter moved out of first position.

With the violin you put your first finger where your third finger would have been and you get third position. With the cello you put your first finger where your fourth finger was and you get third position and if you put your first finger where the third finger was you get (according to her book) "upper second position" or "lower third position" and then there are things like "extended second" (or was it third). Although I suppose the advantage of this is that when I have tried some of her more recent pieces I really do have to just think about the interval and play by ear, whereas with the violin I always thought about what position I was in.

How did the first lesson go? I am dying to know and hear all about it!

It's tonight! So will relate it all tomorrow!

Last night was at a concert by the orchestras I played in while I was at school! It was a little disconcerting: really you go away for just seven years and everyone's changed. None of the tutors or conductors were the same, and of course I didn't know anyone in the orchestra, and only one of my old tutors was in the audience. Honestly you would think life would have the consideration to just stand still for a while!

Well, had my first lesson last night. It was really fun! The teacher pulled the spike out a lot further than I had been shown in the shop, and it felt much more comfortable as a result: the cello stayed in place better, and I didn't bash the bow against my knees!

I was shown the proper cello bow hold and left hand position, and the teacher was very surprised because I got it straight away (she said my bow hold was "perfect") because she said both things were things that violinists generally struggled with as they were different to what they were used to. I admitted to being a dreadful violinist and she laughed and said that that could be an advantage!!

I tried some simple pizzicato pieces first, all all open strings and then with fingering, and was then given "abracadabra" to try some bowed pieces. I got a bit muddled at first because I was not used to finding where the strings were and kept playing the G rather than D, as I was looking at the music and expected the strings to be further apart than they were, I think! But I got it eventually.

The teacher lent me abracadabra, and said not to buy any books as she expected me to get through abra very quickly and move on to "proper" music, so it wasn't worth forking out.

She then asked me what sort of music I liked to play on the violin, and what sort of level I was. And when I told her about my secret and unattainable aim to play the Prokofiev concerto before I was thirty, she laughed and asked what my cello aim for the same time scale was: the Elgar? (Answer: yes, and the JLW variations on Paganini's 24th Caprice). So she showed me how to do the opening two chords of the Elgar, which was very exciting as they give me shivers every time I hear them, and it was incredibly exciting to be producing the sounds myself!

She then said she had another adult beginner in before me, and in a few weeks she could get our lessons overlapping a bit so we could do duets!

So all in all a great lesson, and teacher seems to think I'm going to make fairly fast progress!

Thats excellent!

Hope you continue to progress as well and have as much fun

Glad it went well.

I'm getting seriously tempted by a violin and am started to feel distinctly left out with all these people starting the string instruments they've been wanting to play for ages.......

That is such a joyful post - I love vicarious cello lessons! And it sounds as though you have made a good match in both the instrument and your teacher. What are you going to focus on practising this week (I assume you'll be having weekly lessons)? Hope you continue to enjoy yourself - starting the cello as an adult was the best decision I ever made and has kept me sane through all sorts of experiences.

I was just going to practise c major scale, the various exercises my teacher gave me (pizzicato stuff mostly!) and some random pieces from Abra. Ideally the more tuneful ones! Next lesson is Monday because I'm going to the Theatre on Tuesday. But I have next week off as a holiday from work, so lots of time for cello, violin and theory practise. And lots of hillwalking too provided the weather's nice.