Hi Pete
Polkas are easy and fun to play, such as Maggie in the Woods and the Kerry Polka. Also, jigs such as Out on the Ocean, Tripping up the Stairs, My Darling Asleep or The Lilting Banshee are good to start with. An easy reel is Rolling in the Ryegrass. Experienced players may dislike these tunes but I 've found it better to stick with tunes I can handle.
Heather
No tune is easy. It's how you play it. We have a mandolin player comes to our session who is technically a good player. What he lacks is a 'feel' for what he plays. No matter how technically good you are, the how you interpret the music is the most important.
I'd stick to what you feel comfy with playing ... and that'll be different to all of us. I've found some so called hard tunes easy to learn (on fiddle) and some easy tunes, not so.
Pete, what worked for me at first were simpler jigs and reels in G and A minor, and then later on, various tunes in Em & D (which are still hard and take more work). So, for example:
Any polkas you know, only played in C, G or Am
Nice rhythmic songs like Star of the County Down, or Some Say the Devil's Dead.
Common jigs like The Kesh, Out on the Ocean, The Blarney Pilgrim, The Reverend Brother's (Am), The Mist-Covered Mountain (Am) etc. One of my favorites is The Geese in the Bog (Em?), which should be easier than it is for such a straightforward tune...
Good reels could be things like: Over the Moor to Maggie, Sheehan's, The Banshee etc.; The Hunter's Purse, The Congress. Sporting Paddy is an Em tune that works really well on the box.
For D tunes, I'd stick to the simplest reels you can find -- The Old Concertina, the Monaghan Twig and things like that. I found that I could learn some more complicated D tunes, but I didn't have the fingering skills to actually play them even slowly, so I'd end up having to re-learn them with completely different fingerings after I'd progressed to the point where I knew how to play D tunes better.
Try and learn versions of tunes played by box-players. For example, the version of Cooley's that I played for many years on the flute isn't the best one for the box, and in fact the box version is A LOT easier.
Good luck! If you're interested, I thought the MadforTrad button box video was a good buy.
Thanks Guys for your replies, sorry I'm a bit late,been 3 weeks in Italy,France and Germany. (trucking), and didnt see a single accordian ?.. Downloading midi files for tunes as we speak.Thanks again will give them a go. Pete
Tunes for B/C novice
Tunes for B/C novice
Any ideas please for some jigs, reels and slow airs for a complete B/C button box novice. Thanks ,Pete.
# Posted on January 25th 2003 by mojo
Re: Tunes for B/C novice
Hi Pete
Polkas are easy and fun to play, such as Maggie in the Woods and the Kerry Polka. Also, jigs such as Out on the Ocean, Tripping up the Stairs, My Darling Asleep or The Lilting Banshee are good to start with. An easy reel is Rolling in the Ryegrass. Experienced players may dislike these tunes but I 've found it better to stick with tunes I can handle.
Heather
# Posted on January 26th 2003 by boxielady
Re: Tunes for B/C novice
No tune is easy. It's how you play it. We have a mandolin player comes to our session who is technically a good player. What he lacks is a 'feel' for what he plays. No matter how technically good you are, the how you interpret the music is the most important.
I'd stick to what you feel comfy with playing ... and that'll be different to all of us. I've found some so called hard tunes easy to learn (on fiddle) and some easy tunes, not so.
# Posted on January 26th 2003 by Susie-Lee
Re: Tunes for B/C novice
Pete, what worked for me at first were simpler jigs and reels in G and A minor, and then later on, various tunes in Em & D (which are still hard and take more work). So, for example:
Any polkas you know, only played in C, G or Am
Nice rhythmic songs like Star of the County Down, or Some Say the Devil's Dead.
Common jigs like The Kesh, Out on the Ocean, The Blarney Pilgrim, The Reverend Brother's (Am), The Mist-Covered Mountain (Am) etc. One of my favorites is The Geese in the Bog (Em?), which should be easier than it is for such a straightforward tune...
Good reels could be things like: Over the Moor to Maggie, Sheehan's, The Banshee etc.; The Hunter's Purse, The Congress. Sporting Paddy is an Em tune that works really well on the box.
For D tunes, I'd stick to the simplest reels you can find -- The Old Concertina, the Monaghan Twig and things like that. I found that I could learn some more complicated D tunes, but I didn't have the fingering skills to actually play them even slowly, so I'd end up having to re-learn them with completely different fingerings after I'd progressed to the point where I knew how to play D tunes better.
Try and learn versions of tunes played by box-players. For example, the version of Cooley's that I played for many years on the flute isn't the best one for the box, and in fact the box version is A LOT easier.
Good luck! If you're interested, I thought the MadforTrad button box video was a good buy.
# Posted on January 27th 2003 by Gzeg
Re: Tunes for B/C novice
Thanks Guys for your replies, sorry I'm a bit late,been 3 weeks in Italy,France and Germany. (trucking), and didnt see a single accordian ?.. Downloading midi files for tunes as we speak.Thanks again will give them a go. Pete
# Posted on February 17th 2003 by mojo