Just wondering more ADVANCED ways to get better at the Cello, I have been playing for about eight years, and currently am in High School. Our orchestra consists of about twelve cellos, and I am fourth chair. I was wondering if anybody can enlighten me on advanced techniques to get better while practicing. Please nothing obvious such as scales and sight reading. Just better and/or popular techniques.

Hmm...I steal from violin pieces on the guitar, so I would venture a guess the reverse is also possible. Is it possible to sweep on a cello? Maybe see if you can hammer/pull-off, that opens up trills. Integrate them into a nice fast scale, that'd sound pretty wicked (does on a guitar at least, especially with some taps).

The way I have always practiced to get better at guitar is just do normal scales, and keep in time with a metronome. After awhile you speed it up, and keep doing it until u can hardly play it good anymore, than practice at that speed till you can. After that I try playing music with strange/hard fingerings and practice those kind of things till i get good at them also. I guess all I basically do is find my limit at something, go a bit above it and practice like that till i can handle it, and then repeat.

GET A TEACHER.

You aren't going to get any better at a classical string instrument by asking on a diablo ii board. Get a qualified teacher who can give you the material and guidance to better yourself.

bass is better

all u have to do to start bass it tip the cello to the side and cello u got a bass

Uhm, no, not really.

i played violin through high school, i was always envious of cellists. whether you own or rent your cello, youve got to take it home and play it. my main problem was lack of practice outside of class; when i bought my first guitar i played at home every night and got much better than i ever was on violin within the first few years. when you practice classical (or any piece chosen by someone else) you might feel more like doing a chore than playing whatever you want, but the discipline is necessary if you want to move up to 1-2nd chair.

reward: in those two seats everyone looks at you when they hear the cellos stick out. and you gotta love sitting right in front of your conductor. good luck friend.