Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Still, quite nice...
Wot...? No basses?🤔😯
- Thread starter Dingo40
- Start date
Dingo40
Been here for ages!
Another?
With basses
With basses
Thomas N
Well-known member
Second video is Johnny Kerry from the U.K. I've followed him for awhile and my wife contributes to his website so he can continue to make albums.
Apparently he cannot read music and meticulously plays everything by ear. His Victoria accordion jazz sound always sounds incredible to me and he also can sing well. I've seen videos where his bass-playing does not sync up with what I am hearing but this one seems spot-on.
"Accordionists" who do not play the left hand drive me insane. It's 50% of the instrument. I understand when playing with backing tracks that the accordion bass can become messy so I can forgive that scenario. But the band keyboardist that has no idea how the accordion bass works and doesn't touch the buttons and plays the right hand always seems to make me roll my eyes!
Apparently he cannot read music and meticulously plays everything by ear. His Victoria accordion jazz sound always sounds incredible to me and he also can sing well. I've seen videos where his bass-playing does not sync up with what I am hearing but this one seems spot-on.
"Accordionists" who do not play the left hand drive me insane. It's 50% of the instrument. I understand when playing with backing tracks that the accordion bass can become messy so I can forgive that scenario. But the band keyboardist that has no idea how the accordion bass works and doesn't touch the buttons and plays the right hand always seems to make me roll my eyes!
I'd even dare say that on the Stradella side, it is also the easier side to learn than the right hand!
The Stradella side certainly was not easier for me than the right hand when I was 7 years old. I was memorizing those buttons that just didn't make any sense to me. No one ever mentioned circle of 5ths, 4ths or 3rds. After I started again, after 70 years and realized the 2md bass row goes up by 5ths, down by 4ths, and the 1st base row is 3rds from the root chord, the whole stradella bass just fell apart for me -- very simple.I'd even dare say that on the Stradella side, it is also the easier side to learn than the right hand!
ChromaticPaul
Member
Accordionists who insist on playing the left hand when accompaniment is being provided by a band or backing track DRIVE ME INSANE. In my opinion it's one of the major reasons why bands do not want accordionists, which helped contribute to the general unpopularity of our beloved accordion as an instrument. At the peak of the accordion's popularity (1950s) we saw the rise of rock and roll as well as jazz bands, a time when the special qualities of the accordion could have greatly contributed to performances, but was cast out because of them insisting on drowning out well orchestrated accompaniment played by talented guitarists (both rhythm and bass) and keyboardists with what in comparison seemed like primitive bass noises. I applaud anyone today who, as in the above admirable video, properly plays lead accordion against a well orchestrated backing track by not touching their bass buttons. Indeed, I feel that played in that manner the accordion is well suited to play lead. The above high quality video performance makes me think of how popular our accordion as an instrument could have been had accordionists only been willing to play cooperatively with other instruments by NOT playing the bass buttons.
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"...It's 50% of the instrument."
Not all of them by any means.
Perhaps you need to look at Paul De Bra's postings on that topic.
Strange how he apparently can't read music, yet there is a keyboard there with a book of music on the stand
JeffJetton
Prolific poster
Oh, I don't know. A band situation isn't too different from a backing track situation. If there's place for the LH to fit in, then by all means. But in a lot of cases that function is already taken care of by the bassist, guitarist, and drummer. No need to stomp all over them. Just the RH can often be the most musical, tasty way to contribute. (Not to mention it makes the instrument a lot easier to mic!)
Really not too different from a jazz piano player who plays the full keyboard in a solo setting, but then plays much more sparsely in a combo. Or rock keyboardists who bring just the top section of a Hammond B3 along, leaving behind the unnecessary bass pedals (I wonder if people complain about that on organ forums?
)Now not playing the LH because you just refuse to learn it is another story. Such folks need our encouragement more than anything else though.
Jaime_Dergut
Well-known member
Thomas is absolutely right.
I never considered a song officially learned if I can't play the bass side as well. It just feel incomplete.
The mexicans in Chicago often ask their diatonic accordions to not have a bass side installed. My mentor accordionist believes they shouldn't feel afraid of learning to play both sides, but it has been like this for years.
Thomas N
Well-known member
I did a characteristically poor job of trying to explain my point.
I definitely understand where the bass would muddy the waters and should be excluded. What I was trying to say was that I will watch an occasional local band and I will see a keyboardist and he'll come out with a smaller piano accordion for a song and start playing the right hand. It takes about 30 seconds to figure out that he/she doesn't know how to play the accordion (bellows movement, left-hand placement high up on the strap with fingers nowhere near the buttons, etc.) and it's just a pet peeve where somebody will say that he plays the accordion.
Well, he plays the right hand of the accordion. Much like a keytar, essentially. Using that logic you could say that I play the chromatic accordion. Sure, I have no idea how the right hand works but I'd feel quite at home on the bass side.
Ventura
Been here for ages!
regarding the Norteno and Mexican style "no reeds in the bass" accordions
is more from a practial sense, in that it was impressed upon me in Juarez that
these oftentimes street musicians and "for tips" mariachi bands playing in the
bistro's and bars have an intensly protected pecking order
(they are often impoverished, and kind of need to control what they can)
if the accordionist tried to play Bass he might make the BajoSexto
player feel imposed upon.. his position is perhaps even threatened
(a quartet can split the tips better than a quintet)
and as a result young accordion players who do not know better
are sometimes told that if they play the Basses, they will end up
with broken fingers
(who knows if this is a BoogieMan type threat or serious intent)
so i am saying it is not the accordionists of latino Music who make this
choice, but rather the society of musicians and life around them
is more from a practial sense, in that it was impressed upon me in Juarez that
these oftentimes street musicians and "for tips" mariachi bands playing in the
bistro's and bars have an intensly protected pecking order
(they are often impoverished, and kind of need to control what they can)
if the accordionist tried to play Bass he might make the BajoSexto
player feel imposed upon.. his position is perhaps even threatened
(a quartet can split the tips better than a quintet)
and as a result young accordion players who do not know better
are sometimes told that if they play the Basses, they will end up
with broken fingers
(who knows if this is a BoogieMan type threat or serious intent)
so i am saying it is not the accordionists of latino Music who make this
choice, but rather the society of musicians and life around them
hais1273
Well-known member
Sometimes I find I don't need the left hand, particularly when playing with a melodeon, (Hohner and Castagnari basses can be very assertive) or another accordion This leaves me to be able concentrate on the melody and any ornaments. I guess this would apply if I used some sort of a midi system as well. However, if you can only play right hand half of the instrument is missing, the left hand adds so much. The left hand makes the instrument complete.
I own a CBA without basses. I love that instrument. It is compact, lightweight and looks and sounds amazing. It is also authentic for the style that I use it for. But, I do have another accordion with the bass section and always learn tunes with both sides. I can perform them either way.
This reminds me of a story I heard from an old bass teacher. He attributed it to renowned jazz bassist Ron Carter, but he also embellished a lot. Supposedly, a young pianist was setting up for a gig and Ron Carter walked over to him. Ron asked "Is that a Steinway?" to which the young pianist nervously replied "yes." Ron Carter pointed at the piano, and said "OK, don't play anything below the "S". That's my territory." I don't know if that's a true story, but it made me smile thinking about it.
This reminds me of a story I heard from an old bass teacher. He attributed it to renowned jazz bassist Ron Carter, but he also embellished a lot. Supposedly, a young pianist was setting up for a gig and Ron Carter walked over to him. Ron asked "Is that a Steinway?" to which the young pianist nervously replied "yes." Ron Carter pointed at the piano, and said "OK, don't play anything below the "S". That's my territory." I don't know if that's a true story, but it made me smile thinking about it.
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Since the bass side is for "accompaniment", if the accompaniment is already provided, then playing the left side becomes less important 
