This is by far the most famous movement of the suites. It starts off with a simple yet beautiful arpeggio pattern and becomes complicated fast. A technical challenge for sure, but totally worth the exercise. Bad-ass thumb position included!
The melody lines of this Allemande make a beautiful movement between highs and lows. A great practice for scales, has a few not-so-simple position movements, but no finger-twisting madness.
A vivid French dance in a 3/4 rhythm. This is a great uptempo exercise with some really difficult intervals. Better warmup those fingers!
A slow but oh-so beautiful piece, a perfect warmup with a few triads and a simple yet powerful melody. This is a great piece to get started.
A very open, gentle, and friendly melody. Another movement in 3/4 - typical for minuets - which is not too difficult. If you've never played Bach on your bass, start here. Make sure you learn Minuet 2 as well, they belong together.
The second part of this suite's Minuets, the only minor movement of Suite 1. It has a few difficult intervals jumping between the outer strings, but definitely doable. Play it together with the first Minuet.
A happy uptempo piece in a 6/8 meter, a train of eight notes with some tricky 16ths.
This prelude is so much fun to play. It sets the the theme with the first 3 notes, a humble minor triad. But this movement quickly takes you on a breathtaking journey of triads and arpeggios. Not extremely difficult, but definitely a challenge.
This is a tough movement, your hand will be jumping all over the fretboard. It sets off with a powerful minor chord and a beautiful descending melody line. It also has a great line of 32th notes if you want to work on your virtuoso skills.
This courante is a very exciting movement. Lots of 16th notes which are supposed to be played in a challenging tempo. Don't start practicing this one too fast in the beginning, and don't forget to appreciate the beautiful melody lines!
A Sarabande which is very dark and rich. Getting the mood right is the challege here, not so hard on the finger movements, so you can focus on your tone control.
A pretty intense Minuet with a very clear harmony and an interesting bass line. If double and triple stops are your thing, you'll find plenty in this movement.
This simple, inviting, light-footed second Minuet is a stark contrast with the first one. It is very melodic, no chords, just a single double-stop. One of the technically less challenging pieces, great for focussing on the melody and timing.
A rhytmically exciting, lively piece in 3/8. Has a few really difficult measures, including thumb positions and single string melodies over a pedal. One of the reasons it's only availably in Dm and Am .
This prelude starts off with a 2 octave downward major scale and arpeggio ending on the tonic C. After this quarter note, you'll be playing 74(!) measures of 16th notes. Scales, arpeggios and an amazing pedal part. The last measures are a combination of silence and chords (originally quadruple stops, unplayable on bass, so I adapted them a bit) to end again with the opening motive.
A very lively piece due to the 16th/32nd rhythm pattern. Apart from a tricky pedal on C, this one is not too difficult to master.
Like the first 2 parts of this suite, it starts with a descending pattern, an major arpeggio this time. There are 2 very interesting sections near the end of both halves. At speed, this piece has a great drive. Definitely not easy, but not extremely difficult either.
Beautiful Sarabande. Not too difficult, a great exercise for tone, phrasing and chords.
This bourrée is a very happy, lively piece. A very dancy feel as well. If you follow my handpositions, you'll encounter a few position switches that may feel a bit akward at first. Until you get the hang of it, then it's just such a joy to play.
With its minory key and its long beautiful phrases, this second bourrée is the perfect complement of the first one. An easy piece to play on bass guitar as well.
There is so much energy in this Gigue. It has a few very lively 16th notes passages where the notes of the melody is alternated with a fixed note. On the cello they can use open strings, but don't let that spoil the fun!
DIFFICULT
