Is it possible to teach yourself to play cello, or is it better to have a teacher?

If you know about music to begin with, sure you can teach yourself. I had a teacher, but she just kinda shoved the instrument and music at me and didnt do much else... so I`m pretty much self-taught. I`m sure its better to have a teacher though, you`d learn the correct way to do everything, and you`ll prolly learn things you`d never have thought of on your own...

My perspective is much different. Learning to play an instrument on your own is like learning some obscure language on your own. There aren`t many resources, most that exist are crappy, and if you have questions or are doing something wrong, there`s no-one to correct you.

Sorry about the negative view. There is nothing in my glass.

Hi, I would just like to say, Elisabet your a total nut-case, you CANNOT learn the cello on you own, unless you dont read proper sheet-music AND if you play babyish songs like twinkle-twinkle little star. But seriously Elisabet, you CANNOT play a cello while walking around and you SHOULDNT put the endpin on your foot, thats totally wrong and you wont get anywhere doing that cos at some point you WILL be corrected if you want to play properly and correctly.

Alrighty then... I dunno about cello or anything, but you could possibly teach the basics to yourself by buying Essential Elements 2000 For Strings Book 1 I suppose it will be helpful, but after you have finished the book, and feel like you can move on by yourself, get the Essential Elements 2000 For Strings Book 2 and pursue on, I beleive there is also Book 3, but if you can, get a teacher when you finish book one or anytime, even at the start

I don`t believe this was helpful, but Essential Elements 2000 is a very, very good starter book and teaches you the position, fingerings, etc. and goes from doing long tone notes, to twinkle twinkle little star, and then even to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik just in the 1st book.

Elisabet,
Your cello teacher was that bad?!


Riki,
I agree, books like that are good, however the only things that your missing is a metronome along with a devise that has the ADG and C notes, just the A will do but if it has all four notes on it, that`s better, just to tune the cello.

-My metronome has the A note on it

Hmm, well yes, in fact, I AM a nutcase. And for your info, twinkle twinkle little star was the first song I played, yes. I`ve known how to read music in the bass and treble clef since I was about 7, so reading the music wasn`t too hard. Unfortunatly I dont have the joy of playing quite so mindless songs such as the one mentioned before, accept maybe for fun and to check my tuning in thumb position *shrug* I miss doing that, but unfortunately I have to work on a piece by Brahms for my audition for the Superintendants Honors Orchestra in a month that I just got today (An excerpt from symphony no3 in f, op 90... pretty fun =) ) as well as a solo and a piece for our octet that are both next week .

Its not proper to walk around playing the cello with the endpin on my foot? Of course its not! Its not really proper for a violinist to walk around while they play either, but I see them do it all the time! And for you saying you cannot do it, implying its not possible, I was doing it while practicing my scales in 3 octaves (gotta work on some of them on the 3rd octave... not always very pretty...) You say it like I`m going to be in the middle of a performance and I`ll decide to get up and walk around the stage... Trust me, I`m not THAT much of a nut. (though make sure you have one of those rubber things on the endpin, not just the sharp metal point... those tend to hurt)

I also believe I said that with a teacher you WILL learn things properly the first time around. I will admit, I didn`t learn to hold the bow correctly until last year, though I knew enough how NOT to hold it. It was a small thing, I just didnt put my index finger on the hair. That was the same day I learned what an extension was, though I did those right already anyway. No one will be completely perfect, and I wish I had the money to afford private lessons to get even better. Unfortunately, I grew up rather poor, which gave way to the teachers that couldnt tell me how to play. Hell, I`m teaching my teacher how to play cello now! Shes a great director, even if she can`t play any instruments, though she sings wonderfully. But I guess thats the price you have to pay for going to the second-worst high school in the district, but we still got straight superiors at district evaluation. When we did it last year, we had 5 beginners in a 12-person group, still got straight superiors then too, playing rather advanced pieces, and she got so many complements on teaching them so fast! But she didnt take the credit, and said that they have to congradulate the students, we taught each other, and basically ourselves, since we all started with the same teacher way back in middle school.

If I were still totally uneducated, and have no idea what I`m talking about, as you imply, I dont think I would be on my way to Juilliard for college, with the lowest school I`ll go to being Carnegie. (yes, I`m a TOTAL nut-case, but its gotten me places before) I plan on getting my masters in music performance and education. Gunna play in some symphonies some day, and then go teach, for those who cant pick it up as easily as I did.

Sorry for such a long rant, but maybe that will help people understand where I`m coming from on my posts. Some of its relevant, some totally irrelevant, but maybe like I said, it will help everyone get me =) (Also, I apologize for any total bitchyness to everyone, I don`t like to be that way, but sometimes it just comes out)

The concept of playing: Making a sound of an instrument.
The concept of playing wrong: An idea of a puritists, who thinks they`re above all, and are in position to judge without even hearing one play.

The truth about learning to play cello by own is that it is possible. The skill that you need for playing a synphony is NOT TO READ THE SHEETS, but the motorics, ears and knowledge. The notation is there only to help when you don`t know what to play. And I know millions of guitarists (I know that some of you think it`s a lower cast instument, but it still is an instrument that is based on same thing as cello) who can`t read notes or even a tabulature, but they still play like hell, and it sounds friggin` good. I personally have taught my self to play guitar by watching and asking while others play, and I concider myself as an average guitar player (and my biggest lack of playing is the motorics part).

My opinion of teching one self to play cello is a matter of will, and logic, for every instrument in the world (expecially the ones with strings) is based on some logic, and therefore it can be figured out. I personally haven`t played any fretless intsrument, but I would like to get one so I could. And if it`d be cello, I could always ask my friend for advice as foor figuring things out my self. Propably I could meet more people who play cello and learn different thing from them.

as a counterpoint to most of the replys here, if you know how to read music, learning an instrument on your own develops a uniqe style, which can be a great asset. im a self tought guitarist of ~11 years and now learning the cello. now the cello has way more things to learn about it than a guitar so it would be best to at least take a few months of lessons to learn the technique and instrument care.

To play the cello well you must have a teacher. Sure you can get a sound out of it but there is a lot of difference between a self-taught twinkle twinkle little star and a well taught one at any level. Don`t get frustrated get a teacher!

Get a teacher. Period.

A teacher will teach by example as well as by plain instruction, and that`s something nothing else can really do.

You absolutely need a teacher.

well i agree with Elisabet, if you`re talented enough at music, you`d get the hang of it in like 4 years, but if you`re like me and are very impatient, i suggest that u geta teacher. You`re a nut-case as well Jesse Lee. lol.

You could probably teach your self twinkle-twinkle-little star like i did, but if you want to be good and learn pieces with more then just 1 messure then i would deffinitally recomend a teacher, playing in a school band or group can help alot too.

I mean no disrespect to any of you who have responded negatively. I am 33 and only three years ago I purchased a studen cello. This was my first intrument purchase and I could not read music. After studying music theory and much practice, adhering to a dedicated schedule, I am now proficient. The evidence of this is my recent employment in a string quartet that includes one member from the local orchestra.
Resulting Theory: It is possible to teach one`s self to play cello.
Best of luck. Ignore the nay-sayers.

If you already can read music and can play another stringed instrument (fretted or otherwise) I don`t see why you couldn`t teach yourself to play cello. Find the notes and play them. What`s the big deal? If you`re starting from scratch, it may be another story. The hardest part about playing an instrument is learning music for the first time. Once you`ve learned music, it should only take a few weeks to get the basic technique of a new instrument down.

If you are disciplined you can teach yourself practically anything. In college I started Norwegian classes at third year level after working on my own with a couple cassette tape courses I bought by mail order. At my first job after college I learned enough about Excel, a program I had never used before, by reading "Excel for Dummies" for a couple weeks that my skills totally smoked those of my supervisor who had been working in that same office for years. The managers started bypassing her and came straight to me for their software help.

One thing I have learned is if you are motivated and intelligent the herd will only slow you down. Teachers, especially in classes, must cater to the herd and therefore are sometimes an obstacle to progress rather than a facilitor of it (I was a teacher for two years so I know what I am talking about).

Once you know what you are doing, find others to play with, though. Playing for your walls gets boring after a while.