How to Play C & D Major Scales on the Cello

Part of the Video Series How to Play the Cello

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Learn how to play C and D major scales from a professional cello player in this instructional music video lesson.

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Posted by cphilps on Thursday, 18 October, 2007 at 10:37 AM

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Thank you so much for showing my son and I how to do the c and d major scales. We will refer to ousight often! He's (we're) just learning and this is a great resouce for us.

Video Transcript

How to Play C & D Major Scales on the Cello
Hello my name is Russell Squires and I’m here today on behalf of ExpertVillage.com. Right now I’m going to talk to you about the two major scales used in most cello playing, they’re the C major and the D major scale. The main difference between these two scales is that the C major scale contains no sharps whatsoever, or flats. And the D major scale contains two sharps and no flat notes. The practical application of this is in the finger patterns used. While in first position on the cello, two inches below the neck with the thumb, we play the C with fourth finger on the G string to open D, first finger E, then we go to second finger for F natural, fourth finger for G and open A, first finger for B and second finger for C. The D major scale is very similar, it begins with an open D, but we go to open D, first finger E, third finger F sharp, fourth finger G, open A, first finger B, third finger for C sharp and we end with a fourth finger D. This illustrates both no sharps and two sharps major scale.

About the Expert

Expert: Russel Squires has been playing cello for 14 years. Read More