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Hi, I'm sort of new to the concertina world. During my freshman year of college I acquired a fairly cheap 20 key anglo concertina from a yard sale type thing the school had going on. After almost a year of use I know I really like the instrument, but maybe someday want to upgrade to a better quality duet (I would like that "play anything" type feel that it gives). I would like some suggestions of easier tunes that have an accompaniment that a 20 key C/G anglo can play, so I can get in the practice of playing both parts on the instrument. I feel like there is great limitation with it only being 20 buttons and being an anglo (the push/pull playing different notes thing). So some suggestions and help would be great!

 

(First post btw guys!)

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Hey! Welcome

 

I would very much recommend you check out Gary Coover's books (he is in this forum too) https://www.amazon.com/Gary-Coover/e/B01BH1DEMQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1497369041&sr=8-1

 

I also recommend you pick up a 30 button anglo as soon as your budget allows.I've been learning for a year or so and started on a cheap 20b anglo, and i promise you it is far more pleasurable to learn with 30+ buttons and on something of decent quality.

 

My last tip would be to investigate a tutor. I have been/ am being taught by Jody Kruskal over Skype - he is fantastic and really patient too. http://www.jodykruskal.com

 

Most of all - have fun!

 

The concertina is hands down the most fun instrument in my opinion!

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Hey! Welcome

 

I would very much recommend you check out Gary Coover's books (he is in this forum too) https://www.amazon.com/Gary-Coover/e/B01BH1DEMQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1497369041&sr=8-1

 

I also recommend you pick up a 30 button anglo as soon as your budget allows.I've been learning for a year or so and started on a cheap 20b anglo, and i promise you it is far more pleasurable to learn with 30+ buttons and on something of decent quality.

 

My last tip would be to investigate a tutor. I have been/ am being taught by Jody Kruskal over Skype - he is fantastic and really patient too. http://www.jodykruskal.com

 

Most of all - have fun!

 

The concertina is hands down the most fun instrument in my opinion!

 

Thank you for the suggestions! I do have this book:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871668696/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

which helps a lot. I will look into others. Although I think that when I go to upgrade to a newer concertina I'm going to get a duet. The keys make a little more sense in my opinion, and it offers a lot more flexibility than the anglo's push/pull system (unless I am totally wrong). And I will try to get a tutor, although I am extremely busy with schooling and have recently just been hired to work at a summer camp. So I don't know how much time I'll have to practice. I try my best to make time every day, but it's really difficult sometimes. XD

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Welcome to the not-as-limited-as-everyone-thinks 20-button Anglo!

 

I know there are lots of confusing books out there, but FYI "Civil War Concertina" has 60 tunes, most with full accompaniment, that can all be played on the 20-button. And "Easy Anglo 1-2-3" has over 20 tunes that fit the 20-button. There are some free samples from both books sprinkled about here on cnet, and Amazon's "Look Inside" feature will probably show a few as well.

 

Yes, other types of concertina (English, duet, etc.) might be more flexible, but I find the Anglo to be a lot more fun and challenging to play. Try to meet up with other players and try other instruments whenever you can.

 

Best of luck getting some great sounds out of your new noisemaker!

​Gary

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Thanks for the response gcoover! I will definitely look into those books and hopefully buy them when I get the money! Maybe I'm being too quick to judge on the anglo because I don't have the experience yet and most of the songs I find on the thesession.org have c# and notes I can't play. I suppose it would be possible to transpose music so that it would work, however I have never actually transposed before and don't even know what key to transpose into for my instrument. Thanks though for the suggestion! I found videos of the songs that are in Civil War Concertina and am really amazed! Will definitely try buying it!

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if you are looking for tunes that fit your 20 button, try C major and G major of course, but E minor, A minor, and D dorian also tend to work. Those would also be the keys to aim for when transposing. Transposing isn't very hard really, if you take the time to write it out. If a tune is in D major, then transposing to C major is just a matter of moving everything down one whole step, so that D becomes C, E ->D, F# ->E, G-F, A->G, B->A, and that pesky C# becomes B. It is more challenging to transpose in your head while reading the original. It is possible, and I do it sometimes, but if I have time I often I write it out in the new key, or type the tune out in a program like MuseScore2 and then use the transpose function.

 

The Session.org is primarily (but not really exclusively) focused on Irish traditional music and D major is very common in that genre, so that is why you are seeing so many with a C#. You might try looking for English folk tunes instead, since G major tends to be more commonly used there in my experience. Also many American old-time tunes are in G major, since Banjo players often use an open G tuning, although Fiddle players seem to prefer A major. Scottish tunes tend toward A major, and Canadian tunes are often in A major as well, (Fiddle players again!) but G is common enough. You'll soon find that although these five genres have distinct styles, they also have significant cross-over, and there are many tunes that are claimed by more than one region, and some tunes claimed by all of them, although perhaps under different names.

 

Cajun music is another fun place to look for tunes that fit a 20 button. After all, the Cajun accordion is a one-row melodeon, which means that most Cajun tunes can be played using just one row of your instrument. The one-row Cajun accordion usually has a very simple base side, so the chords tend to be simple too, which is great for finding a workable harmony with the 20 button. For example, a Cajun tune in G can usually be harmonized with just G and D, or maybe notes from the G chord on the push, and notes from the D chord on the pull, and if the need for a C chord comes up on the pull, just slide by using that low G pull note. (note: Cajun music is related to Zydeco, but Zydeco music has more blues/jazz influences, so those tunes rarely fit the 20 button!)

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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My "Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook" has 500+ concertina-friendly tunes as melody with chord suggestions, free for download. A lot are in G or C, but I also provide the ABC file with all the tune definitions, and a page saying how to use free music software to play them to you. The same software (e.g. ABCExplorer, or EasyABC) has simple commands to transpose music, so if you have a tune in D that you like but can't play, you could transpose it to G or C and print out a score in that key.

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My "Paul Hardy's Session Tunebook" has 500+ concertina-friendly tunes as melody with chord suggestions, free for download. A lot are in G or C, but I also provide the ABC file with all the tune definitions, and a page saying how to use free music software to play them to you. The same software (e.g. ABCExplorer, or EasyABC) has simple commands to transpose music, so if you have a tune in D that you like but can't play, you could transpose it to G or C and print out a score in that key.

That's really awesome! Just checked it out! There are a lot of tunes there, and I feel the Christmas tunes will come in handy too when that season approaches :lol:! Thanks so much for this!

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