When I was young and going for accordion lessons I was always encouraged to play the basses steady and staccato. However, that is because like most accordion players in Scotland I was learning to play Scottish music, which is mainly a type of dance music. Marches (usually 2/4, 4/4 or 6/8), two-steps, jigs, reels, strathspeys etc. - all types of tune for dancing too. Now I don't mention is often enough, but I will now, Scotland has a marvellous accordion tradition, a very old and rich tradition. From the East Coast style (Shand), the West Coast style (MacLeod), the music based on fiddle tunes (Scott Skinner music etc.), the Pipe music tradition and Gaelic airs. That's not to mention the many fine accordionists - hundreds of them from the far North to the Borders. And even today the traditional music scene is very vibrant. There is no shortage of good young accordionists. There's a champion player round every corner it seems. I would even say there are perhaps more Hohner Golas and Morinos in Scotland than almost any country outside Germany. Scotland was and is one of the accordion capitals of the world in my humble view. And virtually all for traditional music with stradella bass. But the key thing in Scottish dance music is this - a rock solid tempo. I was always taught (by a truly wonderful accordion teacher called Mr. Peter Farnan) to
lead with the bass. Think bass, he used to say.
Attack those basses. I will never forget those words. It was crisp, intentional and rhythmic bass playing all the way. He was some teacher, but he got results. I would reckon he taught more Scottish champions than perhaps any other accordion teacher in the country. Dozens of them. I am embarrassed to say it, but even I was fortunate to have been both a Scottish and United Kingdom champion in Scottish accordion categories back in the dim and distant past. But there were no legato basses there. But that was for a certain type of Scottish music. That style is all about a crisp, attacking bass that is keeping the fine Scottish melodies on track. Just saying.
Now, after that trip down memory lane I will make a brief attempt at the actual subject of conversation.
If you want to play a legato note sequence, you just execute the sound by playing in a smooth and connected way. That's how I see it. It's about making the sound, I don't criticise other's systems for it. I just enjoy what I have. I am sure Jerry is right, one system is not better or worse, most of the time it's the technique of the individual that is better or worse. At the end of the day we are all accordionists who love the instrument.
What I do think is useful about the chromatic converter is that you get one repeated note on every 4th row (in the chromatic sequence), which may be useful for enabling comfortable finger work. You then also have two rows of stradella to help out with the low notes if the chromatically arranged notes are too far away from your current finger position. I like it, good system, especially for the button accordionist, and I do like the C griff version in particular in the Italian classical accordion tradition.
However, in the interest of fairness, I would also point out that on quint converter with it's different philosophy, not of semitones but of fifths, every single note will typically have additional repeat notes over the space of the bass board. Unlike the broadly vertical arrangement of notes on chromatic systems the quint system works on a more horizontal plane, and so requires a slightly different technique to regular stradella bass (and very different to chromatic converters), because of the new pathways available. This allows a large range of notes to be accessed with minimal movement. So the position of your regular C fundamental bass on stradella to the typical position of G7 - that's a 36 note stretch. That's why for quint players a wrist glove for the bass is a bit of a fashion accessory (please don't tell Grayson I said that
) as wrist sliding is minimal.
I hope to get the opportunity to play a chromatic converter accordion some time, but they are quite rare here - but hopefully soon. I wonder if playing piano and button accordion would make me a multi instrumentalist
. I think I would like to do that.
