So here's the deal, I just started playing cello, I already play a load of other instruments, mainly guitar, so I have the dexterity, disipline, I understand developing good techniques, theory, reading etc. and so on, the only question I can't seem to find an answer to is: 'what is the best way to learn finger placement.'

I got an ok ear, it's still in the making, so I know I'm playing a wrong note, I just don't know if I'm # or b (yeah, big problem). Any suggestions on learning placement faster?

Here's a couple possibilities:
1) Scales and Arpeggios- With your theoretical knowledge, you'll know how they SHOULD sound and will find them easier to compare.

2) Play familiar tunes- For example, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The first four notes are open strings (if you start on D) and you'll hear instantly when you are out of tune when it comes to the part involving putting down fingers.

3) A Tuner- Some might say it's the cheater's way out. I think it can be helpful, particularly on atonal passages. Just turn it on, and watch the needle as you play. Play out of tempo, and adjust until it says that note is in tune. Then, after a phrase or so, go back to the beginning and do it again, until you can consistently hit the note right quickly. Then after that, work on playing in tempo.

4) Imitation- try to imitate something you hear, a song, ar something the teacher plays, or something you play on your guitar.

5) Singing- yes, singing. The idea is that, because you can't just put down a finger, one really has to imagine the way the right note sounds before playing it. Try singing the next note, then playing it, and do it with all the notes.

6) Drones- have a computer, tuner, or another sustaining instrument play the tonic note (for example, if you are in C major, have a C drone). I think they have some on the web somewhere. As you play the other notes, it'll sound dissonant unless you're in tune.

7) Overtones- These are the notes that ring while you're particularly in tune. On the cello, the A, D, G, and C are the strongest (the open strings), and my cello has a rather nice one on E. These are the notes that you don't play, but echo at a different (or sometimes the same) octave that you play at. Just watch your G string as you play G on the D string. If it's in tune, the G string should vibrate like crazy, even if you are not playing it.


Hope some of these help!

I got an ok ear, it's still in the making, so I know I'm playing a wrong note, I just don't know if I'm # or b (yeah, big problem). Any suggestions on learning placement faster?

These are two separate questions. If you place your finger such that the note is out of tune, you can correct it subsequently by adjusting your finger position (assuming you know how it is out of tune), but the goal is to get it right the first time: Your listeners don't want to hear the pitch squiggle, and tone, rhythm, and general musicality will suffer if you're obsessively concerned with correcting pitch (correcting pitches after you've already played them that is). Essentially you learn "finger placement" on the cello the way you learn it on any other instrument: Your fingers have to memorize where to go. Forget about "faster": There are no shortcuts to musical sucess.

Yes, not knowing whether a pitch is too low or too high is a very big problem. How do you tune your guitar if you can't tell low from high? I suppose you use an electronic tuner--another big problem. My advice is to put the cello on hold until you can tune your guitar without an electronic tuner. Throw your electronic tuner away, in fact.

Thank you metallicacello, you were very helpful.

As for you scott, dude, advice isn't bashing someone's ability who said "I'm working on it,' it's giving suggestions as metallicaello did.

My suggestion is that you practice distinguishing low and high by tuning your guitar without the aid of an electronic tuner, and that you recognize that finger placement is mostly a matter of positional memorization (using your kinesthetic sense, your sense of where your arm--more than your finger in this case--is in space). Bear in mind also that nine-tenths of solving a problem is putting it in proper perspective.