I'm coming out of the closet to admit publicly that I have this strange habit of playing irish tunes on a D/G box. ... So now that I've got that off my chest, I'd like to ask any fellow 'melodeon' players their opinion on the best arrangement for the low notes on each row. My Hohner Erica came with accidentals as standard but I'd like to change this on my new Baffetti box to have low G,B,C and maybe F# for those great fiddle tunes which I currently just fake on the Erica.
Please don't tell me to play the B/C or C#/D box instead, cause this old dog isn't gunna learn new tricks ... and anyway I sort of enjoy my little idiosyncracy.
Cheers and commiserations to any fellow sufferers of the irish D/G box syndrome. I'm interested to hear your recommendations on recordings of irish dance tunes played well on the D/G box. My favourite is the late Simon Melia - hear samples of his art at http://www.acrosstheborders.com.au/cdshop-melia.htm
I believe Jackie Daly plays a D/G box, so any of his CDs would be good - though he also plays concertina, so it won't be box on all the tracks.
You might also take a look at a new band Mawkin. They're based in Essex, but they do play some Irish tunes (if in an English way), and I know the box player Andy plays a D/G.
Can't make any recommendations on the low notes, other than to have the box set as a 4th button Doh, so you've got an extra low button available. If you ask on Melodeon.net, I bet you'll get a lot of suggestions.
Fellow sufferer here. Likewise too long at the D/G to start again. I would recommend beginners to go for B/C or C/D. No better authority than Damien Mullane said so.
Great playing by Simon Melia, BTW.
Like you, Ian, I now admit to being a D/G box player and have been ever since I started playing. I have considered teaching myself to play B/C and have recently aquired a C/C# to see how that works. It needs some attention so that project is on the back burner at present. I have always retuned the lower buttons to give me low notes. My Polka Dot D/G has the following tunings below G on 'G' row:- push = D, E. pull = F#, C. On the 'D' row below D:- push = A, G. pull = C#, B. I bought a new Castagnari last year and had the lower notes tuned to, 'G'row:- push = D, B. pull = F#, C. 'D' row:- push = A,F#. pull = C#,B. I had made a mistake this time, the low F# should have been a G but I think the low B is O.K. I am now considering removing the D on the 'G'row and replacing that with an E in the hope that triplet runs (F#ED) might be made easier. I'm seeing a tuner this coming weekend and I am hoping he will be able to do something. Hope that might be food for thought.
I have always played bass end and over the years have improved playing across the rows, mainly to coincide with correct bases and to make runs faster and smoother. I am qute happy and also a little too long in the tooth to start all over again.
Thanks for the useful replies (especially hetty) - and if you're interested in following this thread further then check out the discussion at melodeon.net.
cheers,
Ian
Ian, have just got back from my trip to Chard, Somerset and whilst there had my Castagnari retuned to give me that low G on the push on the 'D' row. I can now play Ashoken Farewell and no doubt many others. There were concerns about retuning the D on the 'G' row as that meant a tune up of a whole tone. It transpired that the reed was good enough to take a whole tone retune without loosing any quality so I am now well over the moon. I now have an E on the push on the 'G' row which gives me the chance to play a good smooth triplet as found in the first bar of "Miss Monaghan", and in the first bar of "Farewell to Erin". have also found a tune called "Nine Points of Roguery" which also has a few triplets using the same notes. I would recommend that tuniong to anyone with a G/D box. P.S. how do I get into the discussions at Melodeon.net ?
look out for a good repairer/tuner who has had lots of experience playing, and not necessary Irish etc.and who has the bestvreputation. my tuner plays a fully Chromatic Continental Button Box and plays "Accordion" music!!! He's very good and knows what he is about. Nice job done.
I play a two-and-a-half -row Saltarelle Connemara in DG. I started with a Hohner DG Pokerwork but really found it no good for ITM - action too spongy, upper notes too tiny and squeaky. However, I saw Chris Parkinson playing ITM expertly on one of these with The House Band; his reeds had been (?) dry-tuned, i.e. sounded like Jackie Daly, and I imagine the box's action had been customised: I don't know whether he'd actually had any notes changed on the box. -Myself, I got a BC and tried it for years but couldn't get the hang; I accepted I belonged firmly in the DG groove, and got the Saltarelle. Its great advantages over the Pokerwork, for me, are its action, tuning, and the availability of a low reed to each note on the right-hand side, giving tunes more substance.
Just to conclude this discussion, I've been playing with this configuration for a year now and it works pretty well for me (I play a 19 row D/G box).
G row (push/pull): B/C D/F# G/E ... then as normal scale
D row : G/B A/C# D/E ... then normal scale
Having no F naturals means I can't play lots of great tunes and no G# can make it tough to play some tunes. A two-and-a-half row box might be my next development sometime in the future.
Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
I'm coming out of the closet to admit publicly that I have this strange habit of playing irish tunes on a D/G box. ... So now that I've got that off my chest, I'd like to ask any fellow 'melodeon' players their opinion on the best arrangement for the low notes on each row. My Hohner Erica came with accidentals as standard but I'd like to change this on my new Baffetti box to have low G,B,C and maybe F# for those great fiddle tunes which I currently just fake on the Erica.
Please don't tell me to play the B/C or C#/D box instead, cause this old dog isn't gunna learn new tricks ... and anyway I sort of enjoy my little idiosyncracy.
Cheers and commiserations to any fellow sufferers of the irish D/G box syndrome. I'm interested to hear your recommendations on recordings of irish dance tunes played well on the D/G box. My favourite is the late Simon Melia - hear samples of his art at http://www.acrosstheborders.com.au/cdshop-melia.htm
# Posted on January 9th 2006 by dogbox
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
I believe Jackie Daly plays a D/G box, so any of his CDs would be good - though he also plays concertina, so it won't be box on all the tracks.
You might also take a look at a new band Mawkin. They're based in Essex, but they do play some Irish tunes (if in an English way), and I know the box player Andy plays a D/G.
Can't make any recommendations on the low notes, other than to have the box set as a 4th button Doh, so you've got an extra low button available. If you ask on Melodeon.net, I bet you'll get a lot of suggestions.
# Posted on January 9th 2006 by Martin Milner
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Fellow sufferer here. Likewise too long at the D/G to start again. I would recommend beginners to go for B/C or C/D. No better authority than Damien Mullane said so.
Great playing by Simon Melia, BTW.
# Posted on January 9th 2006 by Rudall the time
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Like you, Ian, I now admit to being a D/G box player and have been ever since I started playing. I have considered teaching myself to play B/C and have recently aquired a C/C# to see how that works. It needs some attention so that project is on the back burner at present. I have always retuned the lower buttons to give me low notes. My Polka Dot D/G has the following tunings below G on 'G' row:- push = D, E. pull = F#, C. On the 'D' row below D:- push = A, G. pull = C#, B. I bought a new Castagnari last year and had the lower notes tuned to, 'G'row:- push = D, B. pull = F#, C. 'D' row:- push = A,F#. pull = C#,B. I had made a mistake this time, the low F# should have been a G but I think the low B is O.K. I am now considering removing the D on the 'G'row and replacing that with an E in the hope that triplet runs (F#ED) might be made easier. I'm seeing a tuner this coming weekend and I am hoping he will be able to do something. Hope that might be food for thought.
I have always played bass end and over the years have improved playing across the rows, mainly to coincide with correct bases and to make runs faster and smoother. I am qute happy and also a little too long in the tooth to start all over again.
# Posted on January 9th 2006 by hetty
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Thanks for the useful replies (especially hetty) - and if you're interested in following this thread further then check out the discussion at melodeon.net.
cheers,
Ian
# Posted on January 13th 2006 by dogbox
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Ian, have just got back from my trip to Chard, Somerset and whilst there had my Castagnari retuned to give me that low G on the push on the 'D' row. I can now play Ashoken Farewell and no doubt many others. There were concerns about retuning the D on the 'G' row as that meant a tune up of a whole tone. It transpired that the reed was good enough to take a whole tone retune without loosing any quality so I am now well over the moon. I now have an E on the push on the 'G' row which gives me the chance to play a good smooth triplet as found in the first bar of "Miss Monaghan", and in the first bar of "Farewell to Erin". have also found a tune called "Nine Points of Roguery" which also has a few triplets using the same notes. I would recommend that tuniong to anyone with a G/D box. P.S. how do I get into the discussions at Melodeon.net ?
# Posted on January 14th 2006 by hetty
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
look out for a good repairer/tuner who has had lots of experience playing, and not necessary Irish etc.and who has the bestvreputation. my tuner plays a fully Chromatic Continental Button Box and plays "Accordion" music!!! He's very good and knows what he is about. Nice job done.
# Posted on January 14th 2006 by hetty
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
I play a two-and-a-half -row Saltarelle Connemara in DG. I started with a Hohner DG Pokerwork but really found it no good for ITM - action too spongy, upper notes too tiny and squeaky. However, I saw Chris Parkinson playing ITM expertly on one of these with The House Band; his reeds had been (?) dry-tuned, i.e. sounded like Jackie Daly, and I imagine the box's action had been customised: I don't know whether he'd actually had any notes changed on the box. -Myself, I got a BC and tried it for years but couldn't get the hang; I accepted I belonged firmly in the DG groove, and got the Saltarelle. Its great advantages over the Pokerwork, for me, are its action, tuning, and the availability of a low reed to each note on the right-hand side, giving tunes more substance.
# Posted on August 1st 2006 by nicholas
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
By "tuning" at the end of the above note, I meant the instrument's sound. I haven't had any reeds re-tuned.
# Posted on August 2nd 2006 by nicholas
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
Just to conclude this discussion, I've been playing with this configuration for a year now and it works pretty well for me (I play a 19 row D/G box).
G row (push/pull): B/C D/F# G/E ... then as normal scale
D row : G/B A/C# D/E ... then normal scale
Having no F naturals means I can't play lots of great tunes and no G# can make it tough to play some tunes. A two-and-a-half row box might be my next development sometime in the future.
# Posted on March 7th 2007 by dogbox
Re: Arrangement of low notes on D/G box
you know I meant a 19 button D/G box ...
# Posted on March 7th 2007 by dogbox