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I Would Like To Learn A Tune But Need Help


Jay-Jay

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Hey all :) I have been learning the concertina for a good good while now, I heard a tune/song that I would love to learn and it's called amazing grace, I think it would be just lovely on the concertina, so this is where I need help, I can't transpose it to the concertina, I find it very difficult and honestly I can't read abc notation, I have been learning tunes by simple abc a' b' c' a- b- c- that kind of way and I'm happy with that, would anyone be willing to record amazing grace slowly and simply and with notes, I play anglo C/G and if so I would happily make a donation to cnet for the effort and time, thanks for reading

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What key are you trying to play it in? Are you trying to learn it from a recording? If you don't care what key you are in, it's easy to play in the row- you only need 4 buttons. For example, start by pushing the highest note on the middle row/left hand. Then push the lowest note middle row/right hand twice. Then go up one on middle row/right hand and push then pull, then back one and push, and up one and push. That should get you started. The only other button you will need is the middle one on middle row/right.

Edited by Bill N
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Gary Coover published "Amazing Grace" in his Civil War songbook.

He made Youtube videos of those tunes.

He plays the tune fairly slowly with a clear view of the right hand.

The tune is in the key of C.

 

I looked at a Gospel Song book by Ondrej Sarek on Amazon.

On the US Amazon website, the 20 button version lets you "look inside."

Amazing Grace is shown in the key of C.

There is a youtube video of this tune by a Japanese woman named Akane Sato.

 

 

Edited to add the information about the Ondrej Sarek book and Akane Sato video.

Edited by Mary B
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Music, ABC and a sound file are available here:

 

https://thesession.org/tunes/2749

 

It's in Gmaj, so easy to play on your C/G concertina.

I appreciate the help, but as I was saying in my post I find it very difficult understanding abc even reading the guides it's like a different language.

 

You don’t need to be able to read abc to use thesession. Just click the “Sheet Music” button and you have dots. Although this particular tune seems to have been entered by somebody with an imperfect understanding of how music notation works, hence the rhythm is all wrong and the 2nd note should be a G rather than an A.

 

If you also can’t read music notation, I would give a high priority to remedying that situation. Otherwise you will continually find yourself as helpless as you seem to be here every time you hear a new tune you want to learn.

 

[Edited to add the last 12 words in the first paragraph.]

Edited by David Barnert
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Slightly off topic...Here's an interesting history of the tune and it's Irish origin story: "The haunting hymn “Amazing Grace” was penned by the anti-slavery advocate John Newton when he landed in Donegal, safe, having survived a shipwreck. His arrival on Irish shores marked the beginning of his conversion to Christianity and the start of a life of good work. He wrote the first verse in Buncrana, County Donegal."

 

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/lough-swilly-tribute-commemorates-amazing-grace-author-226728601-237781741

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Hi everyone :) I appreciate everyone's help, the thing is I can't read music or understand tablature, it hasn't really stopped me from learning the concertina, I do learn a certain way and I'm happy with the way I am learning.

 

To Gary, I love your version of amazing grace it makes my heart smile, but I can't understand the tabliture :(

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I can't sight read anything like fast enough to play along to written music. What I do is write the notes above the music score and then learn 5 notes at a time, practise till I know them and then move on. Eventually I know the whole tune. The timing is no problem because I can imagine this in my head from hearing the music played a few times. Finally I bung the ABC into ABC Explorer, slow it down and play along to it; slowly increasing the speed until I can play it at its usual tempo. This method has served me well so far.

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I found a youtube video of amazing grace on the English concertina, it's really easy to follow and understand and it plays nicely on my anglo c/g concertina. Thanks for the advice I will try that approach of learning a few notes at a time and not be overwhelmed by the whole score, thanks again

Edited by Jay-Jay
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I can't sight read anything like fast enough to play along to written music. What I do is write the notes above the music score and then learn 5 notes at a time, practise till I know them and then move on. Eventually I know the whole tune. The timing is no problem because I can imagine this in my head from hearing the music played a few times. Finally I bung the ABC into ABC Explorer, slow it down and play along to it; slowly increasing the speed until I can play it at its usual tempo. This method has served me well so far.

 

Moi aussi - can't sight read fast enough - can't sight-read at all would be nearer the truth...

 

This is pretty much the same approach as the one I have developed/adopted, except that I insert tabs (as

opposed to the note 'names') directly into the ABC script (I use EasyABC as opposed to ABCExplorer). I can

then see the dots, see the tabs, and play the MIDI all at the same time...

 

There is more than one tabbing system - I use a slightly modified form of the one on the Australian Bush Music

site (see: http://www.bushtraditions.org/tutors/inrow.htm for some examples of this easy system ).

 

Some ABC guides are a bit opaque, but there's an excellent set of step-by-step tutorials by Steve Mansfield at:

http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm.

Edited by lachenal74693
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ABC is simply a text-based means of writing and sharing music on a computer. Whilst it is possible to read it off the page, most people use a program such as ABCExplorer or ABCNavigator to convert it to musical notation. The program can also transpose it into different keys (use trial and error if you can't work out how much to transpose by) and most usefully will play it back - OK it may sound a bit wooden but it will give you an idea of how the tune goes. You can even control the speed of playback so you are comfortable playing along.

For people who aren't confident at reading musical notation (like me!) ABC is great. Using it also helps develop your understanding of musical notation.

 

Another useful tool is the Amazing Slowdowner which will allow you to slow down a sound recording without altering the pitch. Audacity is sound recording program and can also do this.

 

Alternatively, since I'm sure you are already familiar with the tune, just hum it to yourself until you find the key which matches your concertina and work it out from there.

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