@Ilona  I am still playing my cello. I just know that I have gone as far as I can in lessons. I am not saying I am super good. I am saying that I simply cannot do what these more advance (for me) lessons and pieces are requiring. That is fine for me. I am really not interested in classical pieces, fast pieces, pieces that are full of 8th and 16th notes, super stretches, etc. I am just not capable of that. If I was still a kid, this is one of the things I could have taken  lessons for and succeeded. I really believe that. But, that is not the case.

I am perfectly content in playing songs that suit my abilities and working them until I am pleased, adding what I learned about shifting and vibrato, etc. to spruce them up. 

I also cannot bridge strings. That was the bain of guitar and banjo. It just is not possible for me to do it. That put an end to those because I could not find an instructor who was not in love with bridging. Apparently, cello has bridging of strings. It was not happening and I know when to say uncle. There is a big bump at the first and second finger joints, or a big dip between, depending on how you look at it. That section between the joints dow not push down on any strings. Just does not happen. Not for banjo and guitar and wasn’t for the cello piece. 

I also am now not doing super stretching and hurting my finger joints. Keeping my little finger on the F# on the C string and putting my first finger on A on the G string, and keeping that little finger in place because it gets played again, hurt my joint and it was not a matter of getting used to the stretch (That was just an example of a stretch). My joints and tendons are 65 years old. Not going to happen at this point if it wasn’t done when younger. I now just release one finger and move up a little so that I can make it work. That is a no no for a real cellist. I am much more comfortable with it now. 

Not looking for any Abrms rating or whatever serious musicians talk about. Just want to have fun and enjoy it, and I am. I figure when I reach this point in viola, I will do the same. I need some in my life to just enjoy it. 😁

@Robyn.fnq I am not experienced, s far as being a good cellist. I have had a lot of lessons, but I, too started t an older age than most. The joints just don't like to cooperate. 

I, too, like the Suzuki books 1 and 2. I am not completely ready for book 3. I like some of the easier Schroeder etudes. You are rhe only other person I have heard from tht knows about those etudes. I love that book of Schroeder Etudes that I have.

( know exactly the feeling of being able to play at hime at my own pace. That is why I knew it was time to stop lessons. I am not encouraging others to do that, for me, because of my goal and age, in order to be able to have some time to just enjoy picking my own songs to learn from or hone what I have learned, or to just enjoy,  and working out the kinks, it was time to do that. Currently, that is what I am doing with Suzuki books 1 and 2. Book 1 allows me to concentrate on my bowing and fingering accuracy. Book two is a little more difficult and gives me a chance for using the other skills I learned. 

So, it sounds like we are bout the same, and seem to be using some of the books.

@Ilona That B in 7th is tricky. If you can get it and start getting is consistently, the rest of the shifting on A will go much more smoothly, For me that A and B were the support beams for me shifting in the A string, but the B was particularly hard. It is a much more comfortable shift now. 

I was going from b and sliding to B, C and sliding to B, and back and forth, etc, Then the D and sliding to B, etc. Paid off, it is easier now, but I still miss the mark periodically. 

Don’t you just love shifting on the cello? I don’t play anything nearly as complicated as you are playing, but shifting is a blast.