Bad Habits

[reivilos92]

Ah yes, playing/practicing too fast is probably the most common bad habit I see. Its especially insidious because it keeps you from improving and encourages so many related bad habits (poor fingering, sloppy articulation, generally letting mistakes go without addressing them, and so on).

Runners-up would include dragging the basses, changing bellows direction during held notes, and over-dependence on written scores.

+1


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[Shand79MorinoMan]

You can hide a multitude of sins by playing fast. Playing strict tempo for dances are much, much harder !
Roy

 

[Geronimo]

Runners-up would include dragging the basses, changing bellows direction during held notes, and over-dependence on written scores.

With regard to changing bellows direction during held notes: this is actually a reason for preferring short notes in patterned bass as well: if you have pickup phrases, you definitely want to change direction before the pickup rather than on the beat. Decoupling bellows changes from the rhythmic stresses takes getting used to as well.

 

[JerryPH]

Runners-up would include dragging the basses, changing bellows direction during held notes, and over-dependence on written scores.

You have just mentioned my biggest thing. I dont play near enough, and on top of that there is so much that I want to play... So when I do play, it is pretty much always with the music in front of me.

I just dont have the extra time to memorize and keep remembering the music over long periods of time. It would be cool to be able to remember, however my life is so full and complex and my job is a job of 10 million things to remember that if I had to memorize music, the effort woukd drive me to just dropping it all.

Not to say that I cannot play without sheet music, I do have my 30-40 songs that I can play by heart, but there are several hundred songs that I can play, as long as I have the music in front of me.

 

[losthobos]

Happy Girl...thankyou...I'll send you a bunch...
Alan ... Don't worry 'Success' isn't necessarily a goal... however I am seriously considering an online course 'The Deschamps Technique' to discover and rectify the bad habits I've surely managed to teach myself...I think my actual playing as opposed to interpretation could seriously benefit from someone else's wisdom

 

[Waldo]

Thanks for everyones input (keep that elbow up). It's always useful (don't bend your wrist so much). I'm sure it'll be helpful for others to follow (watch that bellows timing!).
George; I too am a proponent of the positive approach. I do, however find benefit from the knowledge of what not to do. This is very important in pastimes like skydiving, shooting and SCUBA diving where mistakes are not looked upon favorably. Lacking an instructor to render observational criticism, I tend to rely on the experience and knowledge of others. Already, several posts have reminded me of things to pay more attention to.
Numerous of my posts are intended to compile a sort of reference guide for beginning accordionists, like myself, to help them streamline their progress. One can only ask a question after sufficient knowledge is accumulated to ask said question, by which time the habit may be well ingrained. If another to follow, can walk a different path, thus avoiding the quicksand, then so much the better. I wish all my questions posted so far had been addressed earlier in my career, but reality dosen't work that way. Good, Bad or the Ugly, I'd like to know about it.
Press on...
Waldo

 

[losthobos]

Let me illustrate: here (as long as concentration lasts), the first bass note in the phrase is slowly starved (well, we dont want to drop that hot potato on the ground), the chord is taken more in a red hot style and the counterbass is somewhat gentler taken.
<YOUTUBE id=qCETpEHaBaI url=>[media]</YOUTUBE>

Great little video to help explain bass pressures there Geronimo....nice..thanks...Id like to see loads of vids like this for different rhythms...helpful dynamics exercise

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Happy Girl...thankyou...Ill send you a bunch...
Alan ... Dont worry Success isnt necessarily a goal... however I am seriously considering an online course The Deschamps Technique to discover and rectify the bad habits Ive surely managed to teach myself...I think my actual playing as opposed to interpretation could seriously benefit from someone elses wisdom

If access to a live teacher is impractical, then yes, an online course can be something of an improvement over no teacher at all. But beware of strange approaches that have nothing to do with music and technique and beware of false claims on the part of the person or company thats running the course. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Let me illustrate: here (as long as concentration lasts), the first bass note in the phrase is slowly starved (well, we dont want to drop that hot potato on the ground), the chord is taken more in a red hot style and the counterbass is somewhat gentler taken.
<YOUTUBE id=qCETpEHaBaI url=>[media]</YOUTUBE>

Great little video to help explain bass pressures there Geronimo....nice..thanks...Id like to see loads of vids like this for different rhythms...helpful dynamics exercise

Gee, I was taught to play bass and chords like that! The analogy is that the bass should sound like an upright string bass and the chord should sound like a guitarist strumming gently on the afterbeat, sort of like you might hear in the rhythm section of a 40s big band. The bass gives a beat and harmonic foundation, while the guitar, while there and supporting the rest of the band (in our case, our right hand) doesnt interfere with it.

Alan

 

[losthobos]

Gee, I was taught to play bass and chords like that!
Alan

Nice one Alan....i really like the analogy if the big band...Id been given that tip a few years back and its an important one for sure...
Anyways as you appear a man of great knowledge do you think I possible you could make a little video (as Geronimo was so kind to do) to perhaps define your approach to the basses
Id be greatly interested to see your approach to say a foxtrot, quickstep, bossa etc....be really nice for people to perhaps see possibilities beyond the polka and omm pah pah
Just an idea as something I struggled with a while back amd found difficult to gain advice...and am still trying to master or id do myself
Thanks in advance and seasons best wishes...

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Gee, I was taught to play bass and chords like that!
Alan

Nice one Alan....i really like the analogy if the big band...Id been given that tip a few years back and its an important one for sure...
Anyways as you appear a man of great knowledge do you think I possible you could make a little video (as Geronimo was so kind to do) to perhaps define your approach to the basses
Id be greatly interested to see your approach to say a foxtrot, quickstep, bossa etc....be really nice for people to perhaps see possibilities beyond the polka and omm pah pah
Just an idea as something I struggled with a while back amd found difficult to gain advice...and am still trying to master or id do myself
Thanks in advance and seasons best wishes...

Hello Losthobos,
Knowledge? Me? Heck, Im only passing on what my teacher has given me. Actually, the tango video really says it all,. I really dont have an answer to bossa since I havent encountered it yet, and as for the others, its just strictly 4/4 at different tempos. Also, I dont own a video camera.

Alan

 

[JeffJetton]

if you have pickup phrases, you definitely want to change direction before the pickup rather than on the beat. Decoupling bellows changes from the rhythmic stresses takes getting used to as well.

Absolutely. As I was explaining it to one of my students just this past week, you sing Happy Birthday like this:

<COLOR color=blue><COLOR color=gray>[breath] Happy birthday to you <COLOR color=gray>[breath] Happy birthday to you...

Not like this:

<COLOR color=blue>Happy <COLOR color=gray>[breath] birthday to you, Happy <COLOR color=gray>[breath] birthday to you...

Bellows change placement should follow the same principle and be dictated by where the musical phrases begin and end, which is not necessarily where the bar lines are!

 

[george garside]

Indeed!

george