Bass or Cello for begginers?

>>17859814
I have played string instruments for about 12 years now(school orchestra's etc., but nothing career wise, just hobbies), both are great instruments, but each have their pros and cons. It really depends on what you like, I played violin because I always enjoyed the higher pitch range that was associated with the smaller instruments. A cello and bass are lower pitch, notably the bass naturally. I think it really depends on what music interests you, for it can be reflected in the instrument(IE; cello of Yo Yo Ma or the swing bass of 50's rock and roll haha). I hope I could at least give some insight into the thought process!

>>17859814
Electric bass is the easiest and most accessible.
An upright bass is more expensive and a bit trickier to learn and play one. The electric has frets so that you can see what note you're playing, an upright is fretless so you'll have to go by intuition and/or experience. That said you can always start with an electric and cross over to the upright with ease.
Cellos are cheaper than upright basses, but is slightly harder to learn, especially if you are going to be self-taught. Also bow technique etc. You'll also be less likely to get to play gigs with the cello if that's something you're considering. Most people start playing cello from like 10, and they clog up most of the spots in orchestras. Plus theory is a bitch

>>17859842
Thanks for your thoughts, definitely helpful!

>>17859814
Anon here studying cello performance at university and playing bass casually ever so often. It really depends on what you want to do. I would say cello is the least physically demanding to play, whilst double bass is the most difficult to play in tune due to the wider interval spacing and lower pitch, speaking from from my own personal playing experience. If you have a wide range of musical interests spanning classical, jazz, and Latin, then I would say double bass is a good option and would enable you to alternate easily to electric bass guitar should you wish to play funk, fusion, rock, metal, ska or any contemporary popular styles. Cello is perhaps the best if you wish to have an in depth exploration into classical repertoire, given there are more works written for cello in terms of solo, concerto and chamber repertoire than double bass, although its common practice to transcribe works such as Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations for bass. A

Cello is hardcore and respectable, but very difficult and probably less likely to come in handy. I'd go for electric bass since it's accessible and immensely useful--even if you're only average, you'll be getting gigs left and right simply by virtue of playing an underplayed but very important instrument. Just don't pick guitar, literally everyone plays guitar.

Double bass if you can, because then it's hardcore AND really useful. But whichever attracts your passion is the way to go.