ABC Notation for Diatonic Accordion

[kslaggs]

Hello,
First time poster. I am considering buying and learning the diatonic accordion. I don't own one yet but a doing my research on the subject before I do anything. I've been reading and experimenting with ABC notation for tunes available on the numerous ABC websites out there. One question I have is it seems they almost universally do not include the bass notes. Just the melody / trebble side. Is this typical and if so, how does one determine the bass side of songs? or perhaps I am I missing something being a complete newbie at this.

Thanks!

 

[george garside]

Hello and welcome to the forum. You will find a great deal of info on diatonic boxes on melodeon.net ( aka melnet) which is linked to this forum.

If you are thinking of buying a small 2 row BC box the bass are not used by many players as they are of very limited use. If you are thinking of a DG,CF or GC box the bass can be used to drive a rhythm in the home keys and for a limited amount of harmony. on either of these instruments the chance of playing bass as written is very limited unless the dots are specific to the particular instrument

If you are thinking in terms of a BCC# 3 row box they nearly all haave stradella bass same as piano box

This is not intended to put you off a diatonic as there is a lot to be said for them particularly for folk and traditional music

George {} :ch

 

[dunlustin]

There are mixed views re how appropriate it is to "chord along" with traditional tunes.
Some say pipe and fiddle tunes In particular may not be enhanced by such treatment.
On the other hand, if you want to learn Diatonic playing, there is a wealth of music/learning material using "Tab" which covers both left and right hand.
As you're staring out it may help to know that:
Semitone "boxes" are mostly linked to Irish music these days and the Bass side is apparently better designed than in the past.
D/G boxes are commonest in England and G/C in mainland Europe.
As above, "melodeon.net" is the place for (mostly) English diatonics but "accordion diatonique" will throw up lots of other music too.

 

[TomBR]

Hello,
One question I have is it seems they almost universally do not include the bass notes. Just the melody / trebble side. Is this typical and if so, how does one determine the bass side of songs? or perhaps I am I missing something being a complete newbie at this.

It is typical. There are often different chords that can be used to accompany the same tune. (In traditional music songs have words - instrumental items are generally referred to as tunes.) In many cases there is a very simple chord structure that will sound fine, but a player can choose to make it more complicated, change chord more often, use a wider range of chords, and put in more bass notes as well as chords.

If you choose a diatonic accordion system such as D/G tuning, as used for English music, the instrument itself will give you a lot of help in the early stages because as you get different treble notes depending on whether you push or pull the bellows, so the left hand chords available change to the ones generally suitable for those melody notes.
(You could say that learning to transcend the limitations of that link is part of the process of becoming an advanced player. Instruments that play the same note whichever way the bellows are going, such as a piano accordion, dont have this help but they dont have the limit either.)

If you learn tunes by ear without worrying about the names of the notes you may find that you learn to play bass chords in the same way, by what sounds nice.

On most instruments that can play both tune and harmony theres a lot of physical link between the right and left hands that may be unconscious to the player. Your left hand knows what to do based on what your right hand is doing - no conscious thought involved!

If youd like a big collection of tunes with chords shown try Paul Hardys session tune books.
http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/
Theyre very good, partly because youll quite soon learn to disagree sometimes with the chords he gives! (I think they are computer generated and tend to use too many minors where the IV chord is needed. What does that mean? Its all part of a very enjoyable journey!)

One bit more - if you are the type of person who likes doing research, likes to have things written down etc, you might find that you get on better with piano accordion, or Continental Chromatic button accordion than with a push/pull diatonic accordion which tend to suit people who learn by ear.

Good luck!
Tom

 

[kslaggs]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm mostly interested in mazurkas (french etc) so I purchased yesterday a GC 2 row+2 box. Should be here in a few days. I think a lot of my confusion about the bass and bass chords stems mostly from being a complete beginner and not having the instrument in front of me to try this out. I tend to get antsy when I'm going to learn a new instrument. I suspect that it will become more clear when I sit down with it... that, and everyone's advise was greatly helpful.

Wish me luck!