bach2bass.com

markmeeus

markmeeus

Nov 7, 2018
5
69
4,551
Antwerp, Belgium
#1
Hi everyone,

Long time visitor - first time poster here.
Recently, I have been studying Bach's Cello Suites on bass guitar.
It's amazing study material, and since I'm a software engineer, I decided to give something back.

It's called Bach2Bass.com, it is very much a work in progress, but the end goal is to have a place that has all required resources to study the cello suites.

I'm at the point where I need to get feedback from the community.
I know there are some people on talkbass who have studied these pieces too.

So here's my question, if you have a minute to sparen, would you like to take a look at bach2bass.com?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I'm looking for feedback about the study pages, but I would love any comments or ideas.

thanks in advance!

Mark
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: bluejack, ProfFrink, Avigdor and 49 others
#2
Wow. That's very fine work indeed. Well-laid out and easy to use. Thank you for putting all that work in, and best of luck with continuing the project.
I haven't tried any cello studies since my early days on bass, and I gave up on them too soon as my reading wasn't up to it and frankly I hadn't the patience to work through them.
Your site just may be my way back...:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Luigir and ObsessiveArcher
#3
Nice!

I've been dabbling with this stuff for years, never taking it too serious. But you raise some very good points about "why" one should study Bach. I first learned Prelude #1 in C Major and Sonata #1 in G Minor, and just these two pieces helped me improve in all three areas you mention.

There is a lack of online resources for this type of material as it relates to bass---keep it up!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ObsessiveArcher
#4
Beautiful website. You're off to a great start. :)

My only suggestion is, I think it's worth explicitly mentioning somewhere that bass is a transposing instrument which sounds an octave lower than the cello. A lot of beginners don't know this, and when they read cello music for the first time, they think it's weird that "bass only goes down to E, but cello goes all the way down to C."

I noticed when I selected the original key of G, the TAB fingerings were an octave higher than written (i.e. sounding in the original cello octave), but when I selected the transposed key of D, the TAB fingerings were in the same octave as the standard notation (i.e. lower than the range of a cello). This is totally fine, but I think a brief explanatory note would be helpful. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Morrighan, ObsessiveArcher and LeeNunn
#11
Very cool. Did you author the HTML5/Javascript framework that creates the tab, moving fretboard diagrams and the moving cursor from midi, or did that already exist?

Songsterr is similar but only generates tab (Not standard notation).

I see plenty of additional value in it as a teaching platform if/when users are able to upload their own (non Bach) tunes?

But thanks for the Bach. I should re-visit as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Henrik Horneber
#14
markmeeus said:
Hi everyone,

Long time visitor - first time poster here.
Recently, I have been studying Bach's Cello Suites on bass guitar.
It's amazing study material, and since I'm a software engineer, I decided to give something back.

It's called Bach2Bass.com, it is very much a work in progress, but the end goal is to have a place that has all required resources to study the cello suites.

I'm at the point where I need to get feedback from the community.
I know there are some people on talkbass who have studied these pieces too.

So here's my question, if you have a minute to spare and would you take a look at bach2bass.com, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I'm looking for feedback about the study pages, but I would love any comments or ideas.

thanks in advance!

Mark
Click to expand...
Wow! This is the good stuff! I love the format, especially the way the screen layout ties together the music audio, the written notes, and the fretboard positions. Good job, I will use this for sure. I have band practice tonight, not sure how they will react when I suggest we learn the Brandenburg suite but we'll see!
 
  • Like
Reactions: RiffwRiter
#16
i just peeked at the courante from suite 1 -

first of all, it's a wonderful thing you've done and i - as a bass player, musician, teacher, Bach lover - want to say thank you.

when i hit play it would be nice to hear a performance appropriate tempo, then have the ability to slow it down for rehearsal.

also why change the key? the original works fine i think. it's not necessarily easier, and any student ready to take this on would probably be well advised to do it in the original key.

I would strongly encourage the use of phrase markings as well - the free score from IMSLP has good bow markings for this - those phrase markings help enhance the structure of the piece and bring it to life.

looks great. keep it up. I look forward to checking in on it regularly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Henrik Horneber and HolmeBass
#18
groooooove said:
also why change the key? the original works fine i think. it's not necessarily easier, and any student ready to take this on would probably be well advised to do it in the original key.
Click to expand...

I'm not the OP, so please don't consider this an "official" answer. ;)
  1. If you play in "cello octave": The high G is mission-critical (especially in the 1st Suite Prelude!), but the highest note on a 20-fret four-string is Eb. :(
  2. If you play in "bass octave": You can't play the dramatic "contra-bass" C's and D's, unless you have a 5-string or utilize drop tuning. :(
The OP has done a really, really, really nice job offering the Suites in a variety of octaves and transposition-keys.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Henrik Horneber
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back