I've wanted to play cello for aslong as I can remember, And as i've decided to delay college for a year, nows the best time to start. I receantly bougth a cello, and Tommorow im off to meet the man who will hopefully be my future teacher.
I'm living with a friend over the next year who can easily pay the rent himself and is fine with me not working.
Becuase of this im a SERIOUSLY going to spend AT BARE MINIMUM 4 hours a day practacing, hopefully closer to 8

i am very seriouse about this, and I'm just wondering what sort of standared i can expect to be at by the time I re-apply fo college this time next year if i stick to my practice schedule?

3 Years of guitar, I can read treble cleff as such

I can't really say where you'll be in a year. I started playing cello 9 months ago and I'm going to start learning the Bach Suites soon... however, I played the violin for three years before that and previous bowed string instrument experience really helped.

I just wanted to say, regarding the 4 - 8 hour practice idea - take it slow!! The longest I can play at a stretch is 2 hours. Most beginners can only play for 20 - 30 minutes before their arms get sore. So when something hurts, STOP! This is so important, because if you push yourself, you could injury yourself and then your cello dreams could be seriously set back.

Just try half an hour for a few months, and (slowly!!) work your way up from there.

Good luck! You'll have the time of your life learning cello, I certainly am.

Yes, there is good advice. At least a month with no longer than thirty minutes at a stretch and probably no more than an hour or so a day until you've been playing nearly a year. Don't try four hours a day until you've been playing several years--and even then be wary.

Also: Enjoy the process and try not to get hung up about how good you'll be at such and such a time in the future.

You'll learn quicker if you have had experience on another instrument (and are good at it). A girl in sixth form at my school is Grade 6+ I think on the trumpet, she started cello in September 2007 and is doing her Grade 5 this week. She won't have done a huge amount of practice, since she has very imortant tests going on, but she must've put in a fair amount of practice if she is doing her grade. Just to give you an idea. I don't really know how fast you will get good, it depends on you, your teacher, and how fast you pick up things.

It is clear you are willing to practice lots, but don't do too much that you get tired of it and begin to see it as a chore. 4 hours is a very long time to start of with...maybe half an hour (like other people have suggested) would be a bit better.

It's a bit like running on a treadmill, start of slowly and for a short time. Then as you do it more you can build it up, whilst getting stronger and learning good techniques. You will begin to enjoy it more, and going for longer will become easier. Once you reach the peak of it, people will envy you for how far you have gone, and how good you have become.

Now we are playing cello, not running, but you get the giist of it. Enjoy it, it isn't a race to get to Grade 8. Getting good will take a long time, no matter how much practice you do, there are techniques you can only learn by doing it over time.

Hope this helps

You better be super dedicated cause your going to have to know how to shift,play in thumb position, read bass,tenor and treble clef and switching from cleft to cleft takes a while to get use to specially bass and tenor...Vibrato should'nt be hard...stringed instruments are not the easiest to find notes in high positions...liked if you played a 1position B then have to go to a high high high D or something it will take awhile to get use to sliding back and forth...You will have to probably play pieces like dvorak,Elgar,bramhs..etc even if you were to play in an orchestra theres a good chance you would have to still do alot of those things...playing 8hours a day will probably kill your fingers cause they are sensitive at first...i remember my fingers were red and hurting when i first started playing the cello....GOOD LUCK!

whatever you do DON'T start off with four hours practice a day, take it slowly else you will get blisters on your fingertips and trust me they are very painful! Also don't practice too much until you get your teacher to check your technique - you could be teaching yourself the wrong way. I'd say that at the very least you could be up to grade 2 by the end of the year, but if you are determind then you could probably get further. good luck and keep playing

im only a teenager, but i really dont think that practising for 4 hours a day is going to doanything for you.
8 hours, and you will probably do yourself a serious injury. you dont need to practise for that legnth of time.
personally, i feel that there are only 24hours in a day. if you spend 4 of those practising your cello, you arent going to have time for much else. you do need to sleep, eat, earn money, and most of all relax. if you practisedfor 4+ hrs a day, you wouldnt have much of a social life, would you?