Been playing this stuff for four years on piano accordion--gets mighty lonely sometimes. Looking to compare notes with whatever few others there are out there, esp. want to talk about left hand work. Have about 150-175 current tunes.
Johno - are you new here? Where do you live? I teach the piano box (for my sins) so what do you want to know? I may know the answer - then again I may not...
Thanks for all the replies. I am in Wisconsin, US, and am the only p. acc. player around that I know of who plays Irish Trad. I'm curious what people might do or not do with their left hand. The first session I went to I did bass-chord,bass chord on a reel and got shot down in a hurry. Ditto with jigs. Eventually I got people to accept the oom-pah, oom-pah on polkas, and a modified version of same seems to work with hornpipes--at least I like it. But I'm stumped with jigs and reels, and always just play melody, and feel like an amputee. My only role models are Jimmy Keane, who clearly is doing a lot with his bass but has been evasive in explaining just what on the few times I've actually asked him in person; Phil Cunningham; and Karen Tweed, who in her two CDs mosdtly gets around the problem by having honky-tonk piano accompaniment. Has anyone tried Tweed's tutorial CD from Mad for Trad? What I had in mind for reels, slow airs etc is the sort of bass line that button box players like Tony MacMahon and Joe Derrane use where it sounds like they're doing a whole different trip on the left hand, obviously with single notes only. Only I don't know where or how to start. Advice for new player is the above: "traditional" bass notation definitely OK for polkas, waltzes, I think OK for hornpipes, not for reels or jigs. Major instead of 7th chords sound better to me. For tune learning it's the same old dilemma, learn by ear or paper. Endless debate, not for this thread. Combination of both works best for me.
Not much to add to the two previous threads - lay off the left hand unless it is really necessary, play on your quietest register (preferably without wavy tuning) and try to play exactly the same notes as the person next to you.
PAs (in good hands) sound great for duets with pipes, fiddles, whistles etc.
Owt tha want to find art, ask.
Looked at the other threads. Message received. Use left hand sparingly unless you're the main act (I never see myself as such but sometimes there you are by default). Liked Lars comment on playing the occasional chord on the off beat. Thanks to Geoff Wright also.
Johno -I think you're on the right track, sort of. There is no right or wrong, depends on what you want your style to be. Tony MacMahon is using basses and chords quite often, played at the same time, not single notes.
In a session I often don't play my left hand, unless there's no other chord instrument - then I will some of the time. Sometimes I just throw in the odd bit - kind of like MacMahon, sometimes I play in a "piano accompaniment style" . If you like good Irish piano players like Charlie Lennon, and that whole concept of bouncy bass lines, then you can do that to great effect if you have a really good left hand. And people will like it if they have a taste for that style of backing. But if all they have heard is folk bands and guitarists playing lots of moody DADGAD and substitution chords they will probably label it naff.
I'd say it's their loss to have such closed minds. But even I don't want to hear Irish music played like this on the box set after set. (Scottish music, yes, but that's another story and OT)
I have heard Karen Tweed say that she listens to guitarists for LH inspiration. (I haven't seen the ROM tuitorial) I've tried a bit of that, and the results are interesting. You need to be able to play "jazz" chords with your LH to get much out of this. By this I mean playing Major and minor 6ths and 7ths, etc by pressing two chord buttons at once. Then, unless you've got a really good ear, you need to pick a guitarists brains (I generally use stainless steel finger picks for this, but a plastic plectrum will do in an emergency) to find out what the best tricks are on common types of tunes.
One thing I've found over the years is that by playing more solo RH - even when I'm playing by myself - I have a lot more interesting RH ideas. I listen to more fiddlers than I do box players, and as well as improving my ornamentation this has taught me the importance of the well placed double stop or drone note. This is often more effective without your LH going 90 to the dozen. To really grasp this it helps to listen to unaccompanied fiddle. I now love just implying the odd interesting chord change by occasionally touching an extra note with my thumb.
Pipers with their regulators are also a great influence on some box players, including me. Check it out!
Finally, I think you would be making a mistake to say "I'll do polkas like this, and reels like that, etc." Look for what's in each tune.
I came across a book called 100 Irish Tunes for piano accordion by David DiGiuseppe. The great thing I found about it is that it has real left hand arrangements as well as the melody arrangements. It's been a great help to my playing because it gets away from the usual oom-pah-pah type of playing.
What part of Wisconsin are you in? I'm in North Central Illinois, and wouldn't mind possible getting together sometime to see if you can help me learn from what you have. I play whistle and flute, and when I was a kid i had learned piano accordion... As I pick it up now and try to play the trad tunes with it, I find I never learned proper hand patterns or even know what to really do and how to get around quickly, so if you'd be open to helping a 30-something guy out, let me know. <smile> I have Karen Tweed's CD-ROM, but it doesn't really cover much of this really... And yes, I lay off the bass side myself unless doing something solo, and then sparingly and only if I can do it tastefully, which at this point is seldom the case.
Hi Steve,
I'm in Madison, be happy to get together anytime, only I can't travel much; but if you get up here let me know at john1149@tds.net. We have public sessions as listed at www.celticmadison.org--1st and 2nd Sunday ones are for beginners/intermed.; others for pros. Also have sessions periodically at my home. Email me privately for a chat. Regards, John O.
Looking for other piano accordionists
Looking for other piano accordionists
Been playing this stuff for four years on piano accordion--gets mighty lonely sometimes. Looking to compare notes with whatever few others there are out there, esp. want to talk about left hand work. Have about 150-175 current tunes.
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by john o
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Well I don't play personally, but my brother is just starting on it. Any tips for him?
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by natharious
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
John -Where do you live? There are a few good ones around London at the moment.
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by ragaman
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Move to Leeds, West Yorkhire. You'll get to know a lot of piano accordion players including small kids.
See these threads:
http://thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3306
http://thesession.org/discussions/display.php/4921
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by slainte
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Johno - are you new here? Where do you live? I teach the piano box (for my sins) so what do you want to know? I may know the answer - then again I may not...
Kris
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by kris
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
if in london, contact me if you like
we've a great player (christian 'the dark lord') in our band, whose also active on the session circuit
and there's others around as observed by 'Capra aegagrus'
# Posted on January 8th 2005 by lisaniska
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Thanks for all the replies. I am in Wisconsin, US, and am the only p. acc. player around that I know of who plays Irish Trad. I'm curious what people might do or not do with their left hand. The first session I went to I did bass-chord,bass chord on a reel and got shot down in a hurry. Ditto with jigs. Eventually I got people to accept the oom-pah, oom-pah on polkas, and a modified version of same seems to work with hornpipes--at least I like it. But I'm stumped with jigs and reels, and always just play melody, and feel like an amputee. My only role models are Jimmy Keane, who clearly is doing a lot with his bass but has been evasive in explaining just what on the few times I've actually asked him in person; Phil Cunningham; and Karen Tweed, who in her two CDs mosdtly gets around the problem by having honky-tonk piano accompaniment. Has anyone tried Tweed's tutorial CD from Mad for Trad? What I had in mind for reels, slow airs etc is the sort of bass line that button box players like Tony MacMahon and Joe Derrane use where it sounds like they're doing a whole different trip on the left hand, obviously with single notes only. Only I don't know where or how to start. Advice for new player is the above: "traditional" bass notation definitely OK for polkas, waltzes, I think OK for hornpipes, not for reels or jigs. Major instead of 7th chords sound better to me. For tune learning it's the same old dilemma, learn by ear or paper. Endless debate, not for this thread. Combination of both works best for me.
# Posted on January 9th 2005 by john o
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Not much to add to the two previous threads - lay off the left hand unless it is really necessary, play on your quietest register (preferably without wavy tuning) and try to play exactly the same notes as the person next to you.
PAs (in good hands) sound great for duets with pipes, fiddles, whistles etc.
Owt tha want to find art, ask.
# Posted on January 9th 2005 by geoffwright
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Looked at the other threads on this subj. Mess
# Posted on January 9th 2005 by john o
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Looked at the other threads. Message received. Use left hand sparingly unless you're the main act (I never see myself as such but sometimes there you are by default). Liked Lars comment on playing the occasional chord on the off beat. Thanks to Geoff Wright also.
# Posted on January 9th 2005 by john o
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Johno -I think you're on the right track, sort of. There is no right or wrong, depends on what you want your style to be. Tony MacMahon is using basses and chords quite often, played at the same time, not single notes.
In a session I often don't play my left hand, unless there's no other chord instrument - then I will some of the time. Sometimes I just throw in the odd bit - kind of like MacMahon, sometimes I play in a "piano accompaniment style" . If you like good Irish piano players like Charlie Lennon, and that whole concept of bouncy bass lines, then you can do that to great effect if you have a really good left hand. And people will like it if they have a taste for that style of backing. But if all they have heard is folk bands and guitarists playing lots of moody DADGAD and substitution chords they will probably label it naff.
I'd say it's their loss to have such closed minds. But even I don't want to hear Irish music played like this on the box set after set. (Scottish music, yes, but that's another story and OT)
I have heard Karen Tweed say that she listens to guitarists for LH inspiration. (I haven't seen the ROM tuitorial) I've tried a bit of that, and the results are interesting. You need to be able to play "jazz" chords with your LH to get much out of this. By this I mean playing Major and minor 6ths and 7ths, etc by pressing two chord buttons at once. Then, unless you've got a really good ear, you need to pick a guitarists brains (I generally use stainless steel finger picks for this, but a plastic plectrum will do in an emergency) to find out what the best tricks are on common types of tunes.
One thing I've found over the years is that by playing more solo RH - even when I'm playing by myself - I have a lot more interesting RH ideas. I listen to more fiddlers than I do box players, and as well as improving my ornamentation this has taught me the importance of the well placed double stop or drone note. This is often more effective without your LH going 90 to the dozen. To really grasp this it helps to listen to unaccompanied fiddle. I now love just implying the odd interesting chord change by occasionally touching an extra note with my thumb.
Pipers with their regulators are also a great influence on some box players, including me. Check it out!
Finally, I think you would be making a mistake to say "I'll do polkas like this, and reels like that, etc." Look for what's in each tune.
I daresay this is enough information!
# Posted on January 10th 2005 by kris
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Kris,
Thanks for all your input--especially the last. Really appreciate it! I'll get some stainless steel picks...
# Posted on January 10th 2005 by john o
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Anytime, johno!
# Posted on January 10th 2005 by kris
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Re bass side of the piano accordion
I came across a book called 100 Irish Tunes for piano accordion by David DiGiuseppe. The great thing I found about it is that it has real left hand arrangements as well as the melody arrangements. It's been a great help to my playing because it gets away from the usual oom-pah-pah type of playing.
Hope this helps
# Posted on February 22nd 2005 by Little hands of Calabria
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Hi Johno!
What part of Wisconsin are you in? I'm in North Central Illinois, and wouldn't mind possible getting together sometime to see if you can help me learn from what you have.
I play whistle and flute, and when I was a kid i had learned piano accordion... As I pick it up now and try to play the trad tunes with it, I find I never learned proper hand patterns or even know what to really do and how to get around quickly, so if you'd be open to helping a 30-something guy out, let me know. <smile> I have Karen Tweed's CD-ROM, but it doesn't really cover much of this really... And yes, I lay off the bass side myself unless doing something solo, and then sparingly and only if I can do it tastefully, which at this point is seldom the case. 
Best, Steve
# Posted on March 10th 2005 by N9YTY
Re: Looking for other piano accordionists
Hi Steve,
I'm in Madison, be happy to get together anytime, only I can't travel much; but if you get up here let me know at john1149@tds.net. We have public sessions as listed at www.celticmadison.org--1st and 2nd Sunday ones are for beginners/intermed.; others for pros. Also have sessions periodically at my home. Email me privately for a chat. Regards, John O.
# Posted on March 20th 2005 by john o