Learning the cello (or any other string instrument) as an adult

[gnimoyw]

Hello tuba friends -

Has anyone learned the cello (or violin/viola) as an adult after being a brass player for life? I've thought about this for years and just haven't done anything about it, but I think about it often and realize I'm not getting any younger. Obviously I can read music, etc... but I've never played a string instrument, classical or otherwise. Is this so challenging for my old brain, so different from playing a brass instrument, that I would likely be endlessly frustrated by slow progress? Thoughts on how to approach? Find a teacher? Join a Suzuki class for three-year-olds? End goal would be good enough to play in a community orchestra.

If people tell me this is a terrible idea, crash and burn is certain, I'll follow that advice. Thanks all!

[Three Valves]

It's not a bad idea if your hands can actually do it.

My fingers roll in on one another.

Even though I played upright bass earlier, even electric (short scale) has proved challenging.

Otherwise. I love the cello!!

[hrender]

I played cello in grades 8-12. I'd recommend getting a teacher, preferably someone who's used to teaching adults who are just starting out on the instrument. Your background playing will be a big help, although you might expect more of yourself. There are a lot of online resources now that didn't exist when I was a kid. Good luck!

[Worth]

I'm sure you will get a bunch of encouraging replies, but in my experience learning any brain to muscle type activity only gets more challenging with age. Take for example playing the piano, trumpet (and C tuba) fingerings, skiing, golf, playing the bass guitar, and slide trombone. I learned piano, skiing and trumpet fingerings at an early age. I can pretty much do those things well and on auto pilot, which makes them loads of fun. I took up golf in my early thirties, lessons, range time, etc. Although I can whack the ball, I suck massively and it's not fun. Same with the bass guitar and slide trombone, both taken up after 55. Also Bb tuba fingerings. Sure I can read the notes, etc but the brain has to be constantly going to even barely approach something I consider decent. Again, for me, discouraging. We're all different and for you, the cello could be a natural with how your brain works. It's an amazingly beautiful instrument when played well and if you do it, I wish you the best!

[tubanh84]

I've talked about it here before - I took up lute 4 years ago after 20 years playing tuba and well into adulthood. I thought it would be easier for me, because I have also played guitar and bass guitar as long as I've played tuba.

Maybe it was easier for me than someone who'd never played guitar, but it certainly hasn't been easy. I got a really good teacher who frequently teaches adults. My advantage has been my ear - I can hear the different voices in the music, and I can visualize what I want to hear come out of the instrument.

MAKING THOSE THINGS COME OUT OF THE INSTRUMENT is difficult. And because my ear is so much better than my technique, it can get frustrating knowing everything I'm not doing. But I'm learning it, and 4 years on, I'm pretty consistently making music rather than just plucking the strings.

[Nworbekim]

Go for it.... Find a teacher to get a good start on the fundamentals... And a properly set up instrument. I've seen so many beginners quit because of the action being wrong on the instrument.

I think learning new instruments will help my old brain stay flexible

I've learned guitar, dobro, hammer dulcimer, some bagpipe, working on the CC tuba, and there's a cello in the corner my wife isn't using that I've been eyeballing...

Just forcing myself to think and not be lazy

[the elephant]

I taught myself upright bass over the course of a year while playing in a traditional jazz band. I got pretty good after a few years and started gigging in a jazz trio that was quite decent. After that, I started learning the bow and applying all that to sheet music. I had only been reading lead sheets, change sheets, or playing by ear, and to be very honest, this helped me move along a lot faster. Of course, the chances of playing any of the other orchestral strings in a setting where you play by ear or read from a lead sheet are, admittedly, pretty rare…

Bass is a fantastic double, but it is every bit as frustrating to get from here to there as with a tuba, and in many cases, it is more difficult and time-consuming. Cello would be great, but it is quite competitive. I would look at the viola. I love mine and have become fairly decent. (My cats no longer attack me when I take it out of its case.) Viola is in many areas far less competitive, and if there is a community orchestra you could probably slip into the back of the section and fart around until the whole alto clef thing starts to gel in your brain. It is not as hard as you might think.

I play a 17" viola that was quite inexpensive, and my 1966 Kay upright was free. My cheap $75 bow cost me $75 more than the bass!

I STRONGLY encourage you to do this.

Have fun!

[Mary Ann]

I would not recommend violin or viola because your hands / body likely will not adjust to the positions they need to be in. (My degree is in violin and I had a lesson business teaching various instruments for about five years, with a lot of adult students as well as kids.)

Cello will be much less difficult to learn physically but you will need some strength. Depends on how old you are; I am still learning new instruments in my 70s and see no reason why someone cannot. If you are a musician and you can do it physically, you will get music out of whatever instrument you study. I do recommend getting a teacher to keep bad habits from forming, and an attitude of patience with your body as it figures it out. Adults learn faster than kids but have dramatically different expectations than kids do, because they know what it's like to be good at something, so they generally have a patience problem due to their perceived slowness of learning, even though it is faster than the kids at the beginning.

So..have at it, and get the teacher first so you can be guided to a decent instrument. If purchasing, Southwest Strings in Tucson, AZ, is a very good source. If you were here I'd get you started with a lot of encouragement.

[gnimoyw]

I'm sure you will get a bunch of encouraging replies, but in my experience learning any brain to muscle type activity only gets more challenging with age. Take for example playing the piano, trumpet (and C tuba) fingerings, skiing, golf, playing the bass guitar, and slide trombone. I learned piano, skiing and trumpet fingerings at an early age. I can pretty much do those things well and on auto pilot, which makes them loads of fun. I took up golf in my early thirties, lessons, range time, etc. Although I can whack the ball, I suck massively and it's not fun. Same with the bass guitar and slide trombone, both taken up after 55. Also Bb tuba fingerings. Sure I can read the notes, etc but the brain has to be constantly going to even barely approach something I consider decent. Again, for me, discouraging. We're all different and for you, the cello could be a natural with how your brain works. It's an amazingly beautiful instrument when played well and if you do it, I wish you the best!

I totally agree with that, which is why I asked the question. I've noticed that hobbies I've tried to adopt as I've gotten older are harder to commit to, skills are harder to acquire, and so on, exactly as you described. I'm still very much thinking it over.

[gnimoyw]

I would not recommend violin or viola because your hands / body likely will not adjust to the positions they need to be in. (My degree is in violin and I had a lesson business teaching various instruments for about five years, with a lot of adult students as well as kids.)

Cello will be much less difficult to learn physically but you will need some strength. Depends on how old you are; I am still learning new instruments in my 70s and see no reason why someone cannot. If you are a musician and you can do it physically, you will get music out of whatever instrument you study. I do recommend getting a teacher to keep bad habits from forming, and an attitude of patience with your body as it figures it out. Adults learn faster than kids but have dramatically different expectations than kids do, because they know what it's like to be good at something, so they generally have a patience problem due to their perceived slowness of learning, even though it is faster than the kids at the beginning.

So..have at it, and get the teacher first so you can be guided to a decent instrument. If purchasing, Southwest Strings in Tucson, AZ, is a very good source. If you were here I'd get you started with a lot of encouragement.

Thank you - and I'm only considering the cello, not the violin or viola (I only included those as bowed string instruments distinct from learning the guitar, for example). I'm only 40, but even that feels pretty old to me to take something like this on, but as I said, I'm not getting any younger! I'm looking around and planning to talk to a teacher or two without making a commitment, and thanks for the tip about Southwest Strings, I've heard very good things about them.

[Worth]

I'm sure you will get a bunch of encouraging replies, but in my experience learning any brain to muscle type activity only gets more challenging with age. Take for example playing the piano, trumpet (and C tuba) fingerings, skiing, golf, playing the bass guitar, and slide trombone. I learned piano, skiing and trumpet fingerings at an early age. I can pretty much do those things well and on auto pilot, which makes them loads of fun. I took up golf in my early thirties, lessons, range time, etc. Although I can whack the ball, I suck massively and it's not fun. Same with the bass guitar and slide trombone, both taken up after 55. Also Bb tuba fingerings. Sure I can read the notes, etc but the brain has to be constantly going to even barely approach something I consider decent. Again, for me, discouraging. We're all different and for you, the cello could be a natural with how your brain works. It's an amazingly beautiful instrument when played well and if you do it, I wish you the best!

I totally agree with that, which is why I asked the question. I've noticed that hobbies I've tried to adopt as I've gotten older are harder to commit to, skills are harder to acquire, and so on, exactly as you described. I'm still very much thinking it over.

Life is short and other forum members do make valid points. That in mind, why deprive yourself of something that might bring you enjoyment? Much of it really depends on how critical you are of yourself as you progress. Perhaps you know someone or some organization (church, school, etc) that has a cello you could get your hands on even for a weekend to see "how it feels" before making the leap on a purchase.

[Doc]

It's not a terrible idea at all.

The stark reality: Life is short, and it's chock full of disappointment and pain. When you have an opportunity to enjoy something, and possibly share that joy with others, you're a damned fool not to do it. Work as little or as hard as you want at it, but enjoy it thoroughly. Take lessons if you want. You may not be Yo Yo Ma by next week, but you may very well be able to play in that community orchestra with some direction, practice, and a little excitement and inspiration. And there is this: what if you listen to naysayers and throw in the towel...? You'll always wonder what it would have been like if you had tried it and given your best effort. You'll wonder what you missed out on. You'll wonder just how much you could have accomplished, if even for your own entertainment.

Stop wondering. Start living. Invite us to your first concert. We promise to only throw tomatoes at the other sections.

[Mary Ann]

Well....I took three years of oboe lessons in my late 50s. Worked my butt off for three years, got good enough to join a community band and not sound like an unhappy duck. Various disastrous illnesses intervened for a good ten years, but in January I lucked into a truly wonderful English horn. I have progressed rapidly on it and am starting a double reed trio with some friends, both of whom also play other instruments so we're anticipating a LOT of fun. If you are only 40, geez, dude, you are a young thing still. Worst that can happen is you find out you don't want to nearly as badly as you thought you did.

[Charlie C Chowder]

I play the cello with the Native American flute group. I play the sax with a blues group. I play a lot of things with other people... ie I play them well enough to be allowed to. Going from the classical guitar to the cello was easy if I do not use a bow. I can go to a bass as well. But the hairy stick that most people call a bow is an art form in itself. Find a teacher to guide you through the hairy stick. It is the hardest thing I have had to learn of all of my toys, and the one I spent the most time taking lessons on. Like a wind instrument, you will need to do a lot of long tones. '
Barrow or rent a cello until you are sure you want to buy. Then buy the best you can afford. One that has the voice that makes you proud to own. Used is good as like most wooden instruments they get better with the playing in.

Go for it, we don't know how many lives we have,
CCC

[Ricardo]

I have thought about learning the double bass, mainly because any community orchestra would literally beg me to play with them if I could play in time and in tune. I played tuba in a community orchestra and in all honesty it’s was really boring, but playing in a brass band is a lot more fun.

With the double bass I am thinking of giving myself 5-10 years to learn to play well enough to make community orchestra enjoyable

[JESimmons]

My local area lost all its tuba players, so after decades on trombone, at 70 I took up tuba. As there are no other tuba players here, I had no teacher. It’s been a great experience, mind expanding, and it’s made me a better trombone player, too. This forum has been very valuable. I did, though, have to learn that my previously injured right arm can’t handle upright valves. I’d encourage you to do it.

[hrender]

I play the cello with the Native American flute group. I play the sax with a blues group. I play a lot of things with other people... ie I play them well enough to be allowed to. Going from the classical guitar to the cello was easy if I do not use a bow. I can go to a bass as well. But the hairy stick that most people call a bow is an art form in itself. Find a teacher to guide you through the hairy stick. It is the hardest thing I have had to learn of all of my toys, and the one I spent the most time taking lessons on. Like a wind instrument, you will need to do a lot of long tones. '
Barrow or rent a cello until you are sure you want to buy. Then buy the best you can afford. One that has the voice that makes you proud to own. Used is good as like most wooden instruments they get better with the playing in.

Go for it, we don't know how many lives we have,
CCC

All of this.

[gnimoyw]

I have thought about learning the double bass, mainly because any community orchestra would literally beg me to play with them if I could play in time and in tune. I played tuba in a community orchestra and in all honesty it’s was really boring, but playing in a brass band is a lot more fun.

With the double bass I am thinking of giving myself 5-10 years to learn to play well enough to make community orchestra enjoyable

Totally agree re tuba parts in community orchestras are really no fun. At least in the ones I've played in, the string sections end up having all of the fun! I'm hoping to join them one day.

[bloke]

Pick one and go with it.
bravo !!!
(There are actually some pretty amazing Chinese instruments at reasonable prices.)


attention benefactors:
If some generous person decided to gift me that amazing Buescher bass saxophone that is on eBay right now, I would tear into it hard, and see how much progress I could make in a year.
(I have spent more time than you might expect playing all of the other saxes over the years, and I have to be able to play them in order to repair them well.)

[Ricardo]

I brought this up with some musos tonight at a concert. They agreed with me in that if I could play a double bass in time and in tune (but not technically brilliant) every amateur orchestra nearby would be on to me. They suggested I start on a fret less bass guitar, do that for a few years then switch over to double bass and start learning bowing. But at the same time it looks like the local orchestra has a tuba vacancy, some interesting music scheduled and they pay, which makes the orchestral tuba playing more appealing.