High Flying Polka Licks and Fills

[dangast]

TLDR: How do I create high flying clarinet style runs and fills while playing polkas?

I am a longtime saxophone player turned guitar player. I recently joined a polka band in which I play banjo. The band has accordion, guitar, drums, keys, bass and banjo. I thought I could dust of my sax, or even get a clarinet and add some of those over-the-top fast lines that are prevalent in polka music. But I don’t know how to create those lines.

For some time now I have searched terms like “polka clarinet runs and fills” or something to that effect. However, since there is a song called “the clarinet polka” any search just leads me to videos or music for “the clarinet polka.”

Today I was listening to some polka music and realized that those very same style of lines are often played by the accordion player as well, with the right hand. So, I thought this might be a good place to ask the question.

Here is a concrete example: this is a link to “Just Because”

At the 30 second mark the lyrics start. After each of the first two lyrical phrases there are accordion fills while there is no singing. To illustrate further, the song goes like this 0:30 : “Just because you think you’re so pretty” *fill #1* “Just because you think you’re so hot” *fill #2*.

I especially like fill #2, I could see using it in almost any polka song. But it’s so fast I can’t work it out for the life of me.

These fills are very fast and hard for me to work out with my not-so-great ear. Is there any advice that these forums could offer? Are there polka books that explain these fills and how to make them? Does anyone have a list of standard all-purpose fills that they use in polka music? Are they simply runs in the major scale of the key in which you are playing. Are they runs along the scale of the current chord, arpeggiations, major pentatonics? All of the above? How do you develop the ideas and practice these runs?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JerryPH]

Do you write/read music? If so, with a bit of effort, you play it on the clarinet, transpose it and practice and play those same fills on the accordion side... that and a lot of oractice would be ONE way. Someone with a good ear could hear it once and a few test runs later have arrived at the same place via a different route.

Leverege your existing skills or chose a method that works for you and go for the gold.

Most that I hear are based off of major or major 7th arppegios. How are they developed? For the most part, just a lot of repetition, but thats a danger too. i know of an accordion band in Slovakia that uses them so often, that no matter what song they play, they all sound the same, ypu don't want to be repeating these things all the time. Like everything else, too much of anything is simpy not good. Used in 1, maybe 2 songs adds something nice. Hearing the same fill over and over kills the piece even more than if you made 50 mistakes while playing the song as you sound mechanical and unimaginative.

If I can predict when you are going to do it... You've done it one too many times