What is the Difference Between Cello and Bass
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
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If you’re trying to decide if you should choose between cello and bass, if you’re hoping to learn one then the other, or if you’re just a casual observer of this channel and like learning information, this video will help elucidate the differences between cello and bass.
First, to get it out of the way, they are very much different instruments, and you would have to learn each mostly from scratch. They are different tunings, different postures, different bow hold, and different fingerings.
Other than that of course there are many similarities of course. They are both upright bowed fretless string instruments, and the bass - or double bass as it's also called - was created in order to double the “bass” part that the cello provides in orchestras.
In most classical symphonies, it reads the same notes, but those notes actually sound an octave below the written pitch. Hence, it is the bass doubled, or double bass.
One of the distinctive features of the bass is its fatter sound, resulting from thicker strings. It is a beefy, full sound that is great for low drones, and - as you may know from jazz - amazing pizzicato or plucked sounds.
It has a harder time playing beautiful melody - it’s thicker strings are a bit unwieldy - but this hasn’t stopped virtuosic bass players from taking the musical world by storm, performing pieces meant for cello and even violin masterfully.
One of the helpful discussions this brings up for cello is what “bass” means in a musical context. When a cello is in a string quartet or string orchestra, it plays the low end.
This means simpler, slower musical lines, typically. It also means more parts that are the “roots” of the chords. In a chord, the name of the chord is its root, the most stable, basic note of the chord around which all the other notes give color and “meaning.”
Understanding root motion, as it’s called to go from chord to chord via this root note, is something that will then come more naturally to cellists than violinists.
In contrast to this advantage, understanding reading fast musical parts, or how to shape a melody, can be a little harder than with violinists.
And so bass instrument players - whether cello or double bass - should spend some time really learning how melody gets shaped, and use the greater chordal knowledge to understand musical context of a melody.
What’s nice about cello is it is very much in the middle of this dichotomy. It has a rich sound that is lovely to hear melodies on - and we are not even expected to play as fast as violinists typically.
We are unencumbered by the unwieldy low end of bass, though we still overlap with that range. So cellists can really understand quite a lot of what’s going on in an orchestra and help bring it to life for everyone.
So, if you’re trying to decide which to learn, consider whether you want to be part of the low end of an orchestra or group, or whether you want to play melodies more.
Also consider that a bass is much more difficult to move around, and you’ll need a hatchback car or SUV to lug it around.
There are two kinds of bows and hence bow holds the bass uses. The French style bow is similar to the cello bow - though thicker and shorter - held similarly.
The other style is German bowing. This is much more common and requires a cupped hold and gives a lot of power on up bows but is more difficult to move quickly.
The bass is also tuned in fourths, not fifths, and there is much more distance to finger in between notes. So really, there is no translatability between playing bass and cello, unfortunately.
Whichever you learn, we hope you stick around for more music lessons! Also be sure to check out Justin’s playing over at Justin Lepard Cello.
Helpful links:
Cello string order: (from thinnest to thickest) A string - D string - G string- C string
Tuning reference: www.get-tuned.com/online_cello...
Online piano: virtualpiano.net/
Justin’s channel: / justinlepard
#consordini #cello #cellolesson
Our website - consordini.com
Facebook - / consordini
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We hope you enjoyed our video lesson.
We will be waiting for your comments and suggestions!
Wow! What an amaaazing video! Thank you so much! I've been looking for such comparison videos for EVER! T H A N K YOU!!!♥️
Interesting, I only wish you could have played your cello and a bass for us to hear the differences. Because many times when listening to music I’m not quite sure whether I’m hearing a cello or bass in the background. It’s difficult to distinguish for those who don’t know.
Some Cello’s strings are higher except for one so if you here the deep background noise is bass idk how to explain it 😂
I came to educate myself because of the Dead South video. The video for the song "in hell I'll be in good company" has one band member playing the cello like a bass. My wife. (the musician) is triggered by the way he plays it. Me, (the know nothing) wondered why it bothered her so much. Your lesson was on point and exactly what I needed to understand the difference.
omg i love this song!
Wow! What an amaaazing video! Thank you so much! Ive been looking for such comparison videos for EVER! Thank YOU!!!♥️
Yes and no about the role (or lack thereof) of the contrabass in the baroque period (arguably, contrabass is a more accurate term since the origins of the string bass/double bass/upright bass we know today are so complex, it is better to denote the register-related range of the instrument). String instrument history is complicated. In the baroque period, you had what were known as violoni (singular: violone) which in Italian means "big viola". Viola was of course, the root word to denote any bowed string instrument and of course that name has not changed with the viola we know today. Anyways, the violone was the contrabass string instrument of the baroque period, and it doubled the cello an octave lower. HOWEVER, because what you could add to the basso continuo (bass line) of a baroque score was up to the discretion/choice of any given ensemble/conductor/music director/what have you, it is not that the contrabass voice wasn't used, it just MAY or may not have been used according to an individual's personal taste or preference. For example, there are many Handel recordings today following in this variable and subjective tradition in which you can hear that full-bodied bass line, and there are others in which you clearly have a smaller more intimate sound with just a cello as part of the continuo group (along with harpsichord and maybe lute). But generally, in the mid to high baroque, you start to see more the bass line doubled by a violone(i) and as the centuries progressed, makers experimented with tunings, fortifications for better projection, and voila. We eventually have the double bass we know today.
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The Double Bass has various tunings, it can also be tuned in Fifths like a Cello but an Octave down so that way it has better intonation.
What happens if i tune the Chelo in 4ths like the double bass? can i play the double bass or electric bass tunes?
Gosh, this really makes me want to learn double bass! But they cost a fortune! Do you have any suggestions on a cheaper but still a quality bass?
Love this guy
My cello is same size of the body of my double bass. And my cello is full size. It really is a huge instrument.
Check out the dead south to see a cello used as a bass, kinda.
Of course bass tunes sound great on the cello! The bass guitar is in the cello range! Baroque-funky!
I just heard that covid can be transmitted over ip through a video cough. Besides that, enjoyed the video very informative. 👍
In a nutshell: THEY ARE JUST BIG VERSIONS OF THE VIOLIN
No