Hi all
I need some insperation, being fairly new to a weltmeister 120bass accordian,i find locating the bass buttons when following fairly easy tunes quite easy however, i mess up on the key side,i have tried looking at the music then at the keys but this gives no flow to my playing,I am not impatient ,and practise at least one hour a day,aswell as having lessons once a week .Is it just the case of practise and more practice.
How long does it normally take to be able to play run of the mill tunes? p.s i am also learning to read music. any advise appreciated
thanx for your time,
Griff ltd
[committed to the challange]
Practice without the music. Learn it, then put it away. You want your brain and your ears to learn how to play the instrument, not just read the music. Eventually you can do both. Play scales like mad, and try playing them with both hands. Don't look at the keys too much because you want to build motor memory. Don't play something too many times in a row while making the same mistake or you'll learn the mistake and not the tune. Put it down once you stop making progress, then come back to it. Play with other people whenever possible. And in the meantime listen to as much music as you can handle.
Depending on your prior musical experience, you might pick up the tunes very quickly, or not quickly at all. I sold an old Weltmeister diatonic box last week to a 94 year old man, so nothing's impossible!
Take it slow. I note though you admit that may not be a strong suit. I had the same problem early on. You need to get your expectations under control.
Get the mechanics of the instrument under control. GW's third sentence above is really important. Play slow, focus on the difficult things, and work them out. Don't play the easy thiongs over and over at the expense of the challenges.
You might want to consider expanding your day. One hour is not a good increment. Your attention span at this point is probably about 20 minutes. You need to structure your practices into segments. Say 20 minutes. give the brain a rest for a while come back and focus on another skill or phrase for another 20 minutes.
I like to do a total of two hours or so. Though there are periods when you need to 'move things to another level' where you might put in more time- like three to four hours.
But the 'woodshed' appoach has limitied utility. My sense is the brain like to deal with bits, digest it and move on to something else.
I would suggest that you try to separate learning to read and learning the instrument. There are many good introductory books on how to read music. Get one with a workbook and learn it that way. You can then just use the notes to get the tune and for the moment learn some simple pieces more or less by ear. (by the way you don't mention if you know how to play piano. With the piano accordion knowing the piano is both a help and a hindrance, in different ways)
But the idea of 20 minute sessions is excellent. You will find one hour straight up is often not that much better than say forty minutes but three 20 minute sessions on one day are almost like three days of practising. That is the way to learn quickly.
Don't forget, also, that there are THREE parts to the accordion, the keys, the buttons, and the bellows.
Rather like more holy trinities, people often forget the third part, but the bellows are what you use to put in expression, both to accent and to mute. A good accordionist is one who does not always play at full volume - in fact you will be very unpopular if you turn up at a session and do so. The bellows are not just there simply to put the air through the reeds.
Someone at the factory has put a couple of rows of buttons on the left hand side of the box.
They really are inconvenient lying almost where the left hand fingers would fall if they were stretched just a tad beyond the comfortable. Worse still: some joker at the factory appears to have rigged them up with a set of comedy reeds. Every now and then I'll catch one by accident and get a "carhorn" or "whale-singing" or even "foghorn" noise straight off of one of those old tv sepcial effects LPs. It can be really off putting and embarrasing. You really would think that after 100 years plus of accordeonn making such obvious gaffs in the production process would have been caught by now.
Does anyone else have this problem?
If you're not sure, check you box out you may be surprised. They'll be somewhere inbetween the bellows and the strap on the left hand side.
I am a PA player turned button. While there are many exceptional box blayers who don't use basses, the basses add alot of dimension to what you are playing. Some of the really great ones use the basses very well, and the will also not use them at times.
The issue for someone scrambling up the learning curve is that the basses do add another level of complexity. You have a few challenges already in that you are also learning to sight read and get some sort of tune repertoire under your belt.
While everyone's aptitude and pace at picking things up is different, it usually helps to get a lock on the tune. By ear is the tradtional way and, btw, extremely effective once you do it regularly. I play professionally on other instruments and can sight read and find the tunes I was "paper trained" on don't 'stick as tight'.
Since you are learning PA, you have much more flexibility if you play the basses. So You should learn them. The folks who play Soprani layout on button have pretty good reason for avoiding basses. But I will temper that because I have heard a few Soprani bass players whose style is awesome. But the button and PA are basically different instruments in that respect.
It's like anything else in playing the music. Play what makes you happy.
At the beginning, slow and steady as my teacher keeps hammering into me. Tough advice to an ADD like me!
But right on the money.
Fairly new to the Accordian
Fairly new to the Accordian
Hi all
I need some insperation, being fairly new to a weltmeister 120bass accordian,i find locating the bass buttons when following fairly easy tunes quite easy however, i mess up on the key side,i have tried looking at the music then at the keys but this gives no flow to my playing,I am not impatient ,and practise at least one hour a day,aswell as having lessons once a week .Is it just the case of practise and more practice.
How long does it normally take to be able to play run of the mill tunes? p.s i am also learning to read music. any advise appreciated
thanx for your time,
Griff ltd
[committed to the challange]
# Posted on October 21st 2009 by GRIFFLTD
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
Practice without the music. Learn it, then put it away. You want your brain and your ears to learn how to play the instrument, not just read the music. Eventually you can do both. Play scales like mad, and try playing them with both hands. Don't look at the keys too much because you want to build motor memory. Don't play something too many times in a row while making the same mistake or you'll learn the mistake and not the tune. Put it down once you stop making progress, then come back to it. Play with other people whenever possible. And in the meantime listen to as much music as you can handle.
Depending on your prior musical experience, you might pick up the tunes very quickly, or not quickly at all. I sold an old Weltmeister diatonic box last week to a 94 year old man, so nothing's impossible!
# Posted on October 21st 2009 by gravelwalks
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
Take it slow. I note though you admit that may not be a strong suit. I had the same problem early on. You need to get your expectations under control.
Get the mechanics of the instrument under control. GW's third sentence above is really important. Play slow, focus on the difficult things, and work them out. Don't play the easy thiongs over and over at the expense of the challenges.
You might want to consider expanding your day. One hour is not a good increment. Your attention span at this point is probably about 20 minutes. You need to structure your practices into segments. Say 20 minutes. give the brain a rest for a while come back and focus on another skill or phrase for another 20 minutes.
I like to do a total of two hours or so. Though there are periods when you need to 'move things to another level' where you might put in more time- like three to four hours.
But the 'woodshed' appoach has limitied utility. My sense is the brain like to deal with bits, digest it and move on to something else.
good luck
# Posted on October 21st 2009 by zippydw
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
I would suggest that you try to separate learning to read and learning the instrument. There are many good introductory books on how to read music. Get one with a workbook and learn it that way. You can then just use the notes to get the tune and for the moment learn some simple pieces more or less by ear. (by the way you don't mention if you know how to play piano. With the piano accordion knowing the piano is both a help and a hindrance, in different ways)
But the idea of 20 minute sessions is excellent. You will find one hour straight up is often not that much better than say forty minutes but three 20 minute sessions on one day are almost like three days of practising. That is the way to learn quickly.
# Posted on October 21st 2009 by nfldbox
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
If you are learning Irish tunes, don't bother with the bass buttons--most of the rest of us ignore them!
# Posted on October 22nd 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
Don't forget, also, that there are THREE parts to the accordion, the keys, the buttons, and the bellows.
Rather like more holy trinities, people often forget the third part, but the bellows are what you use to put in expression, both to accent and to mute. A good accordionist is one who does not always play at full volume - in fact you will be very unpopular if you turn up at a session and do so. The bellows are not just there simply to put the air through the reeds.
# Posted on October 22nd 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
On my box there appears to be a mad design fault.
Someone at the factory has put a couple of rows of buttons on the left hand side of the box.
They really are inconvenient lying almost where the left hand fingers would fall if they were stretched just a tad beyond the comfortable. Worse still: some joker at the factory appears to have rigged them up with a set of comedy reeds. Every now and then I'll catch one by accident and get a "carhorn" or "whale-singing" or even "foghorn" noise straight off of one of those old tv sepcial effects LPs. It can be really off putting and embarrasing. You really would think that after 100 years plus of accordeonn making such obvious gaffs in the production process would have been caught by now.
Does anyone else have this problem?
If you're not sure, check you box out you may be surprised. They'll be somewhere inbetween the bellows and the strap on the left hand side.
- Chris
# Posted on October 22nd 2009 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Fairly new to the Accordian
GRIDDLTD
Some good and some...well humourous.
I am a PA player turned button. While there are many exceptional box blayers who don't use basses, the basses add alot of dimension to what you are playing. Some of the really great ones use the basses very well, and the will also not use them at times.
The issue for someone scrambling up the learning curve is that the basses do add another level of complexity. You have a few challenges already in that you are also learning to sight read and get some sort of tune repertoire under your belt.
While everyone's aptitude and pace at picking things up is different, it usually helps to get a lock on the tune. By ear is the tradtional way and, btw, extremely effective once you do it regularly. I play professionally on other instruments and can sight read and find the tunes I was "paper trained" on don't 'stick as tight'.
Since you are learning PA, you have much more flexibility if you play the basses. So You should learn them. The folks who play Soprani layout on button have pretty good reason for avoiding basses. But I will temper that because I have heard a few Soprani bass players whose style is awesome. But the button and PA are basically different instruments in that respect.
It's like anything else in playing the music. Play what makes you happy.
At the beginning, slow and steady as my teacher keeps hammering into me. Tough advice to an ADD like me!
But right on the money.
# Posted on October 23rd 2009 by zippydw