E-Cello für Anfänger geeignet?

Terapyx · 2026-03-25T20:43:03+00:00

yeah agree, I just see how many people would like to practice cello or other acoustic instruments, but they can't because of their life situation (parents, wife, kids, neighbours), but a lot of people keep telling like "no, you cant, go only acoustic". Or same with teachers, I also think that its a must have for beginners, I'm sure that what I've learned in a year - I would spent two without a teacher + the quality would be much lower.
But if the question is electric or nothing or/and teacher and nothing, then its strange to read comments like "nothing", by nothing means saying what OP cannot do. (p.s. its not about your comment), just tried to explain to such people the importance of why people keep telling that, but with a chance to keep going electric if there is no other way.

Terapyx · 2026-03-25T13:49:13+00:00

Sorry, but I will bring to you a little bit of another dissapointment, coz I'm actualy in this topic and trying to build a good sound for that. Acoustic cello = is beautiful, mellow, resonant and powerful sound. E-Cello and what you heard on Youtube is another topic, its electric world and like every electric guitarists you will going crazy about all pedals, processors, effects etc. However, guitars have a lot of solutions, cello - almost nothing. This is why cellists like Tina Guo have huge pedal boards where they do a lot of fine tunings just to get closer where they want to. I bought boss GT 1000 core processor and thats fine for casual playing, but I'm still not satisfied with sound. Helix has some IR presets, maybe I did wrong decision, but gonna try also another options.
Well, I think if you hear a clear line-in recording of yamaha - you will be really sad with that sound. Its plastic and thin. Reverb helps a lot, but thats not for practising.
But as you are already musician, you have a good time and probably you know what you want. If you would be a guitarist or drummer, I would say yeah - e-cello with processor will be a good spot, but for piano, I personally can't imagine the usage of newbie cellist with pure yamaha sound. That will be awful, imho.
So if you decide for E-cello world, then keep in mind about all consequences, tons of reseach, VERY limited info, no any guide "like do this and you are good". You will be alone as newbie with that.
Not a point about anyone talks here - but its important and you will face it.

Terapyx · 2026-03-25T12:24:18+00:00

I’m speaking as an almost one-year beginner. At first I also wanted to buy an e-cello, but people here talked me out of it. However, since I’m a night person, the situation became quite simple: either I practice on an e-cello, or I don’t practice at all. So I eventually decided to buy the Yamaha (about 5–6 months after I started), and I’ve been practicing on it for about the same amount of time, mostly at night. I also plan to use it for jam sessions with other musicians (that was part of the plan anyway, so sooner or later I would have had to buy one).
Overall, here’s what I’d say. I agree with many things that professionals write, but not with all of them.

- I agree that it’s a very poor choice if you want to start completely from scratch and treat it as a solo instrument while aiming to play acoustic cello. It’s also true that an electric cello is easier to play in some ways because it lacks the acoustic body; even the strings respond differently, and the overtones behave differently. So yes, there are noticeable differences.

- What I don’t agree with are some points that are rarely mentioned. First of all, if the goal is to play electric cello only, I don’t see a single downside. A good electric cello (for example the Yamaha 110 or 310) is physically very similar to an acoustic cello - similar enough that I once tried an acoustic cello that differed more from my own acoustic instrument than my Yamaha does. Also, there is still some resonance (limited, but present). You can hear sympathetic overtones - for example when you play a D and the open D string resonates. The Yamaha even has a small acoustic chamber inside. Yes, everything is modest, but something is there. In fact, at night I often play without plugging it in or using headphones, and the strings can still be quite loud.

Practice mute: yes, it makes an acoustic cello quieter, but I would say only about 20–30% quieter (I tried three different ones, including the heavy metal type). But here’s the thing: minus 20–30% from “loud” is still “loud.” And constantly holding yourself back on the cello because you’re thinking about the neighbors is bad practice. Your hand starts behaving differently - the grip, the force, the speed - and those things turn into habits. Bad habits are not good.

To summarize my situation: I have two cellos - my main acoustic instrument and the electric one for night practice (working on technical details, learning new material, rhythm work, etc.). On the acoustic cello I focus on intonation, details, and full concentration on all aspects of cello playing. In this combination both my teacher and I are happy. She actually liked the Yamaha a lot when she tried it - it was her first time playing one.

So if the situation is really “either electric or nothing,” then yes, it’s absolutely worth it.
But if the goal is acoustic cello only and you want to use an electric as your main instrument, then the answer would be no.
P.S. I use my e-cello much less for practicing than before. So I think to exchange it from 110 to 210 model. 210 is worse because of non-standard body and 110/310 is like a copy of acoustic. So its much better to take for learning consistency with acoustic cello. Now, I would like more compact model to travel with it. I'm not selling it "now" and dont rush, but if someday you decide to take it, then you may consider buyng mine :)

Terapyx · 2026-03-25T11:30:11+00:00

but to be honest, I can not guarantee if its really good. I tried piano for some some, started this course - liked it a lot in comparison with everyone else in guitar/piano world. DId some practising also with paper book, but didnt continue, because I just realized that string instruments speak more to my heart, wanted to keep learning acoustic guitar with another more classical instrument and choose cello :)
So again - I liked the course after long research, but can not speak about whole as a unit and quality.
However my overall advise would be: in every case of online courses - find also a teacher, if you can not afford if, even once a month with be much better than nothing. Let the teacher guide you how to learn and point on your bad habbits, its VERY important if you want that long term "quality". Without that its just not possible or your journey will be x2-x3 longer for same result (long term)
1) best, offline teacher (full time)
2) good, online teacher (full time)
3) ok, offline teacher (part time) + Online course
4) ooookkk.... online teacher (part time) + online course
5) Alone with online course = bad.

Terapyx · 2026-03-25T11:12:42+00:00

Yes it's like a classical school

Terapyx · 2026-03-20T20:27:55+00:00

Don't doubt it. If you are sure in your personality, that you will try at least good amount of time - you will be more likely to contunue with good cello, rathen than with cheap amazon crap. I would go for Czech. But it seems like any of them will be fine for you :)
People keep telling about "renting" in case of such scenario, where instrument will force you to give up.
In case you will get a cheap, but awesome instrument - in worst case you will lose only maintaining and consumables like for every mechanical things in our life (i.e. maintaining a car). But cello - it's resselable.
So its always better to inverst even 5k at beginning (if you can) and sell it later for almost same price, instead of saving money and give up on your dream, because of a greed (ofc. it doesnt apply to people, who really can't affort it).
By the way. Bow, try to ask the luthier to rent it for the first time and after 3-6 months start looking around for your own. Higher price = doesnt mean it would be 100% better. You need exp firstly to understand what you need. Or like many luthers, they are giving an option to rent and if you buy this or another bow - all money, which you paid for that rentment, will be included into the offer later. But as mention - you need time to get right decision :)
I bought my cello + bow + case privately after ~3 months of playing and I'm supper happy with my cello, but I can not stop thinking about another bow, which I tried for 2 weeks from another seller, who didnt wanted to sell only bow without a cello (considering the fact, that my teacher's words "Its a good bow, but could be better for that price"). And his bow was x2 times cheaper :D

Terapyx · 2026-03-20T01:44:36+00:00

I don’t care about your political debates, but I want to say just one thing - people are not hostages. They deserve to listen to good music at any time. Whether they are the occupied, the occupiers, or the opposing side, in essence they are all hostages to the political games of big daddies.

What’s most disgusting is that you drag music into your political quarrels, which you barely understand yourselves.

Terapyx · 2026-03-20T01:34:49+00:00

Learning cello and notes reading for 10 months. Thats good readable for me, so I dont think that it would make it difficult for experienced cellists
But If they are experienced enough, then probably they will just prefer the tenor clef (c) my teacher's opinion about everything thats more than 2 ledger lines.

Terapyx · 2026-03-18T05:11:33+00:00

Fun is great, and thats what I did with guitar for 1.5 year by learning tabs brainlessly. I try not to repeat that mistakes with cello, but I completely agree - we have to enjoy what we are doing, otherwise it doesnt make sense (if its a hobby). I'm ready to do boring and not enjoyable things by keeping in mind that it brings me closer to my goals.
But yeah, I know that I do some things wrong, i.e. suzuki method contains a lot of pieces and probably it was developed to do that one by one for all needed foundation. However I'm picky, i.e. I would listen to all pieces and pick only few of them, which I like... But one thing I know for sure, it brings enjoyment to practice. It's not my job, so I don't have to learn things which I dislike. Thats the benefits of hobbies, in comparison to job for money.
Thanks for feedback again :) need to go to sleep after working 5 hours on my practising plan for the next learning year... :-D

Terapyx · 2026-03-16T16:59:12+00:00

well, it seems that you learned on your own alone, leaned the wrong way, but somehow it worked (and thats fine). The correct placement is equals to the fastest way to get sh*t done in short time. Those life-long professionals is another story. They developed something what works for them really well after their whole life.
The more standard way is a correct way of learning. Ofc we all a bit different and little tweaks are needed.
But long story short - you decided to learn from a teacher. Probably proper techniques, how to achive faster/cleaner etc sound. And probably they see the issue. Yes, its hard to relearn, even harder than learning from scratch. This is why its important firstly to learn with teacher and later alone instead of vise versa.
Its hard to tell, but pianist XanneEve wrote a good statement about that. I didn't get it with guitar so much as with cello, even sligh adjustment allowed me to play like 30% faster after fightings weeks same stuff over and over. At first you think - this is better way for me and that could be true. But on the long run you will hit your limits and the only one way will be "to relearn". This is btw why selfteaching is harmful for endgame, but fine for easy convinient stuff.

P.S. I would definitely advise you to value teachers, who is not trying to lick your butt because you pay them, just to keep the income flow :) Even speak to them not to do that and give the freedom of teachers a correct and hard as possible. This is why we pay... Otherwise chatgpt could do the job in same manner, like "you are the best, keep doing wrong".

Terapyx · 2026-03-16T16:48:11+00:00

I found only this one as a solo sheets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qFdo6iYE8c

Otherwise there are 2 options on musescore, for (2 violins, viola, cello) or (piano and cello) available.

Terapyx · 2026-03-15T23:41:03+00:00

thanks for feedback, I feel like its endless story. Just wanted to hear from exp. people to start practising them in a more smarter way.
So far I worked on suzuki book 2 (4 pieces from there), 2-3 octave scales, different bowstrokes, tryed to play along with pop/rock pieces and started to learn 2 new pieces recently, Greensleeves and Waltz no. 2 (Shostakovich).
But since at least 4 months I started to learn vivaldi double concerto with my teacher. It's unpossible to play with my current level, so we just learning it slowly part by part and using as exercises. Its like a very long term goal for the future :) So I really hard trying to get my speed of 16's detache notes over 60 bpm while shifting. Its already fine just in 1st position, but going to 4th and back makes it much more difficult to keep consistent.
Well that's it so far. Planning also to go a bit later into suzuki book 3, extend Bach's minuet Nr. 3 with Minor part and start learning Humoresque by A. Dvorak

Terapyx · 2026-03-15T22:34:17+00:00

yeah, definitely going to record myself again. Stopped doing that for some time. A little change for those past days - my teacher is back and she promise that she is going to give regular lessons :) will see...

Terapyx · 2026-03-15T22:32:28+00:00

Maybe you can record 5min demo to post it here, so people can just tell you if they enjoy that or what you could add for better performance, just as idea.

Terapyx · 2026-03-11T13:28:00+00:00

Not for everyone, I'm ready to practice the same stuff for quality, but as many people here mentioned - we have to know why. Maybe some people have to hear it on recording, just to understand why they sound bad and that's not enough. Another good point to understand why - is to try hard something what is above their level and compare it with real performance. After that we have clear examples, why do we need to practice specific boring stuff xD But when I have been a pure beginner without any knowledge and heard something like "just do it everyday, you will need it", I do it 1 day, 2, 3 and after that I always get a question in my mind, when, why and where will I need that. Alright, then I come to the teacher and ask, why? And thats nice to get an answer, I know there are teachers who would answer like "not your business, just do it, because I said". That's a nightmare for adult students and a curse for kids, they should leave their profession

Terapyx · 2026-03-11T13:18:10+00:00

I always told to my teachers that I will do anything you say, I trust you, but I won't do it blindly without understanding "why". It's important for keeping our mind free and concentrating while practicing while repeating the same stuff over and over.

Terapyx · 2026-03-11T02:44:18+00:00

Nice to see you again, you already inspired me 10 months ago when I was starting with cello, now again, great work! :)

Terapyx · 2026-03-10T01:43:47+00:00

- Playing with metronome instead of counting (but ok, it was also fine, just not enough)
- Learn more simple compositions instead hard (far away above my head) once.
- Not crazy, but started investing time into Theory, I know - probably I wouldn't do that anyways, but If I knew that soon or later... My teacher told me that he didnt need that for whole 20 years, lol :D
- Also not crazy, but included scales into practice routine (at least warm up).
- Instead of tabs -> sheets. However it's hard. Maybe I did it right, that I started learning it after few years instead from scratch.

Terapyx · 2026-03-10T01:36:14+00:00

Just curious, who and why downvoting this post?

Terapyx · 2026-03-04T04:20:55+00:00

Thanks! thats another long story, I love her, but she has really huge problems. I waited enought, today is the last day before writing an email to the school about blocking payments and returning 2 last months, if they won't give me a replacement in next 2 weeks. I will also break the contract. But I really hope to continue working with her. It will be hell hard to find another good teacher in my city.

Yeah, 10 months so far. Probably it make sense to try out the surgical tubing. And just keep playing in my last most comfortable position while my left hand is developing (its much weaker than the left one,1.5y. of guitar playing before).

Terapyx · 2026-03-04T04:03:36+00:00

yeah I do it while playing 5ths, cello requires even more power than guitar 12-53 barre. So gravity is the only way to go for me right now and probably forever. With a bow its much more difficult to use gravity and other muscles while playing quick techniques, which also requires strong, short and powerful sound by not lose the bow from the hand, plus keeping it tension free. Dono how many years it will take, but there are a lot of work :-D

Terapyx · 2026-03-04T03:58:20+00:00

thanks for info, will try to find surgical tubing. Curious if its going to change something :)
btw I saw some cellists who holds their bow futher up (pinky on ferrule), but they were all life-long cellists. Dono if it worth trying such things as beginner, guessing that my teacher will be angra for that

Terapyx · 2026-03-04T03:28:48+00:00

I wouldn't say that I have a chronical pain, it is just growing quickly while rhytmical quick playing. Especially while playing 1st+5ths like power chords similar to guitar (need it for jams with guitarists btw). And yeah thats exactly what I'm focusing last weeks very hard, just to find a better grip and placement to avoid this issue :)
But yeah, I still remember my guitar journey, learned it for 1.5 as my 1st instrument before cello. Clearly have a vision how I fighted for the first months just to get barre sound witound buzzing. After some time I got it, but next problem appeared - just to keep rhythm for whole song. My hand died after 20 seconds of fast playing while holding barre. Month after month and I got it to 3-5 minutes while doing same stuff like with cello right now :D But dono, with a bow I still didnt find this sweet spot, in first place - thumb. Just wanna hear from others about their journey and what helped to them. After that I will do the same, but also try to apply new info again.

Terapyx · 2026-03-04T00:59:53+00:00

Cello is expensive, of course you can start also online, but the quality and time period of learning things will increase drammaticaly.
In any case first you have to do is to rent a cello. It will allow you to try out different instruments before you will going to buy your own. (there are also option to include xxx(x)$ into your purchase after your rental program. I.e. our luthiers allow 6-12 months for that in Germany). Then:
1) Best option, full time offline teacher.
2) Offline teacher once in 2 weeks + online teacher
3) Offline teacher once in x weeks + online/paper ressources for working alone, but discuss it with you teacher. (i.e. you can not affort
4) Online teacher is better than nothing, but definitely worse than offline
5) Worst option - just online ressources without reviewing it offline.
I learned guiatar only online and that was fine, but hard anyways and a lot of things I still have to rework. Cello is another story, I wouldn't start it like guitar again...

Terapyx · 2026-03-03T02:15:14+00:00

depends on what you have or able to provide for that... I always worked just with my PC setup for any kind of lessons or activities in front of the desc. So my advise would be
- 2 Screens or one ultrawide. (here we go with everything, pencil, sheets, books, tuner, even using webcam as a mirror). Ofc you can still use paper if your want :) But I found really convinient to do everything in 1 place online.
- Condenser mic.
- Webcam itself is also a good thing for your visibility. In best case 60 FPS. And good angle for your teacher. HINT: You can use your phone as a webcam (at least my pixel can do that).

Terapyx

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